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Extracting the Ham from Spam

Extracting the Ham from Spam. David J. Young. Introduction. History Spam Terminology ASSP Benchmarks Demo Questions. History. Where did the term “spam” come from?. SP iced h AM. SPAM sketch. http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=spam+monty+python.

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Extracting the Ham from Spam

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  1. Extracting the Hamfrom Spam David J. Young

  2. Introduction • History • Spam • Terminology • ASSP • Benchmarks • Demo • Questions

  3. History Where did the term “spam” come from?

  4. SPiced hAM

  5. SPAM sketch http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=spam+monty+python http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=spam+monty+python • Scene:  A cafe.  One table is occupied by a group of Vikings wearing horned helmets.  Whenever the word "spam" is repeated, they begin singing and/or chanting.  A man and his wife enter.  The man is played by Eric Idle, the wife is played by Graham Chapman (in drag), and the waitress is played by Terry Jones, also in drag. • Man:You sit here, dear.Wife:All right.Man:Morning!Waitress:Morning!Man:Well, what've you got?Waitress:Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam; spam bacon sausage and spam; spam egg spam spam bacon and spam; spam sausage spam spam bacon spam tomato and spam;Vikings:Spam spam spam spam...Waitress:...spam spam spam egg and spam; spam spam spam spam spam spam baked beans spam spam spam...Vikings:Spam! Lovely spam! Lovely spam!Waitress:...or Lobster Thermidor a Crevette with a mornay sauce served in a Provencale manner with shallots and aubergines garnished with truffle pate, brandy and with a fried egg on top and spam.Wife:Have you got anything without spam?Waitress:Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.Wife:I don't want ANY spam!Man:Why can't she have egg bacon spam and sausage?Wife:THAT'S got spam in it!Man:Hasn't got as much spam in it as spam egg sausage and spam, has it?Vikings:Spam spam spam spam... (Crescendo through next few lines...)Wife:Could you do the egg bacon spam and sausage without the spam then?Waitress:Urgghh!Wife:What do you mean 'Urgghh'? I don't like spam!Vikings:Lovely spam! Wonderful spam!Waitress:Shut up!Vikings:Lovely spam! Wonderful spam!Waitress:Shut up! (Vikings stop) Bloody Vikings! You can't have egg bacon spam and sausage without the spam.Wife:I don't like spam!Man:Sshh, dear, don't cause a fuss. I'll have your spam. I love it. I'm having spam spam spam spam spam spam spam beaked beans spam spam spam and spam!Vikings:Spam spam spam spam. Lovely spam! Wonderful spam!Waitress:Shut up!! Baked beans are off.Man:Well could I have her spam instead of the baked beans then?Waitress:You mean spam spam spam spam spam spam... (but it is too late and the Vikings drown her words)Vikings:Spam spam spam spam. Lovely spam! Wonderful spam! Spam spa-a-a-a-a-am spam spa-a-a-a-a-am spam. Lovely spam! Lovely spam! Lovely spam! Lovely spam! Lovely spam! Spam spam spam spam!

  6. Spam Spam Spam lyrics • Lovely spam, wonderful spa-a-m,Lovely spam, wonderful S Spam,Spa-a-a-a-a-a-a-am,Spa-a-a-a-a-a-a-am,SPA-A-A-A-A-A-A-AM,SPA-A-A-A-A-A-A-AM,LOVELY SPAM, LOVELY SPAM,LOVELY SPAM, LOVELY SPAM,LOVELY SPA-A-A-A-AM...SPA-AM, SPA-AM, SPA-AM, SPA-A-A-AM!

  7. What is spam? • Unsolicited Bulk e-mail (UBE) • Unsolicited Commerical Email (UCE) “The abuse of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited, undesired bulk messages”

  8. The cost of spam • Productivity – It is estimated that 80-85% of all email is spam • Payload may contain malware (virus, worm, trojan, etc.) • Internet bandwidth

  9. How do spammers gete-mail addresses? • Replying to a spam e-mail • Auto-responders (vacation) • Viewing HTML spam (web beacons) • Clicking on URLs to websites listed in spam • Chain e-mail (MUA virus) • Mining • Usenet postings/message boards/chat rooms • Usenet article message-IDs • Company or personal websites • DNS SOA records • whois database • Opt-out websites • E-mail worms harvesting address books • Shady businesses selling addresses to spammers • Dictionary attacks • Zombies

  10. Anti-spam best practices • Turn off email “preview” • Use throw away email addresses • Do not use an auto responder • Do not read spam • Do not click on URLs in spam • Give your e-mail address only to closely trusted acquaintances • Use images or other obfuscation techniques • Googling for your email address • Use a good spam filter

  11. Terminology

  12. xxxxx Listing • Whitelisting A list of email addresses which would generally never send you spam • Blacklisting A list of email addresses or domains you do not wish to receive any email from • Greylisting Temporarily reject an unknown email by imposing a fixed delay before accepting email (ASSP calls this Delaying due to a name conflict) • Redlisting Keeps an address off the whitelist

  13. More ASSP terms • Spam Lover • Spam Bucket • Honeypot • Postmaster • Bayesian • MTA • MUA • SMTP

  14. Processing matrix

  15. What is ASSP? Anti-Spam SMTP Proxy “An Open Source platform-independent transparent SMTP proxy server that leverages numerous methodologies and technologies to both rigidly and adaptively identify spam.” -- wikipedia.org

  16. Theory of Operation • When you install ASSP a colony of super-intelligent thermophilus bacteria takes up residence on your CPU and begin reading all your email. They communicate using radio waves directly with the CPU and interface with the ASSP software choosing between spam and nonspam mail. • If you choose to read further this myth will be sadly dispelled, and I take no responsibility for the consequences. • However, you can always refer your users to this slide to prove to them that their email is actually being filtered by super-intelligent bacteria.

  17. True Theory of Operation • ASSP uses three complementary strategies to allow good email and to block unsolicited email • Whitelisting • Spambuckets • Bayesian filtering • Local mail domain users are not whitelisted

  18. ASSP Implementation • Version 1.2.5 • It is a single Perl script • 360 KB • 10,000 lines • Built in web server • Built in Pseudo-SMTP server

  19. ASSP Target User Base • ASSP’s primary target audience is mail administrators or system administrators at smallish institutions. If you operate an ISP or a mailhost with a heterogeneous user base, you may not have a good enough consensus about what is considered spam or is not. It should work well with between 1 and 300 client addresses and a mail volume of up to around 100,000 messages per day. Testing has not been done to verify these ranges • ASSP is not for the following: • Individual clients -- ASSP must be installed together with a SMTP server • Domains which receive mail indirectly, for example if you use fetchmail

  20. ASSP Philosophy • Reject SPAM before the SMTP server • Work with any SMTP MTA • Adapt quickly as spammers change attack strategies • Require low maintenance after initial setup

  21. Main ASSP capabilities • Automatic Whitelisting • Spam Traps • Bayesian filtering • Greylist • Whitelist RE Matching • Email interface • Mail Analyzer • Automatic Statistics • SPF (Sender Policy Framework) • DNSBL (DNS Black Lists) • ClamAV virus scanner • Mail host Headers

  22. ASSP Features • Uses existing MTA and MUA’s • Runs on Linux, Unix, Windows, OS X, and more • Automatic whitelist – no-one you email will ever be blocked • Redlist keeps an address off the whitelist • Uses honeypot type spambucket addresses to automatically recognize spam and update your spam database • Bayesian filter intelligently classifies email into spam and non-spam • Supports site-defined regular expressions to identify spam or non-spam email • Accepts whitelist submissions and spam error reports by authorized email • Browser based setup • Keeps spam statistics for your site • Recognizes Mime encoded and other camouflaged spam • Can listen on more than one smtp port • Basic anti-virus filtering using the ClamAV virus databases • Optionally blocks no mail but adds an email header and/or updates the message subject (*****SPAM*****) • Can block spam-bombs (when spammers forge your domain in the from field) • More

  23. ASSP Flexibility • Whitelist-only mode • Don’t filter, just tag subject line • Let specific addresses receive SPAM • Use a mail list behind ASSP • Use ASSP with redundant MX domains • Web based configuration

  24. ASSP Mail Processing What order does ASSP process mail to check if it is spam? • Local or whitelisted? • Blacklisted Domain? • Spam Helo? • Addressed to spam-bucket? • Mail bomb? • Blocked attachment? • Matches expression to identify non-spam? • Matches expression to identify spam? • Bayesian evaluation If the message is identified as spam at any step along the way it goes to the spam directory. If the message is local or whitelisted it goes to the notspam directory.

  25. Installation Overview • Install ASSP and dependencies • Configure ASSP • Put ASSP in test mode • Modify mail flow of test user(s) • Test that it is working • Prime the system • Create the Bayesian database • Automate daily Bayesian database updates • Monitor spam filtering • Correct false negatives and false positives • Take ASSP out of test mode • Train user community • Modify mail flow of trained users

  26. ASSP Installation • Install Perl • Install Perl modules from CPAN • Compress::Zlib NEEDED - Standard Perl installation • Digest::MD5 NEEDED - Standard Perl installation • Time::HiRes NEEDED - Standard Perl installation • Net::DNS NEEDED TO RUN RBL, SPF and 1.2.X • Email::Valid OPTIONAL, BUT ADVISED • File::ReadBackwards OPTIONAL, BUT ADVISED • Mail::SPF::Query OPTIONAL • Mail::SRS OPTIONAL • Sys::Syslog OPTIONAL • Net::LDAP OPTIONAL :: NEEDED IF YOU RUN LDAP • Win32::Daemon NEEDED to run as a service on Windows • No installation script • GUNZIP assp.tar.gz to /usr/local/assp • In /usr/local create the following directories: • assp/spam • assp/notspam • assp/errors • assp/errors/spam • assp/errors/notspam

  27. Configure ASSP • Start ASSP perl assp.pl • Configure ASSP http://127.0.0.1:55555 Login: <empty> Password: nospam4me (default) • Beware of the “Show Advanced Configuration” Option

  28. ASSP Configuration

  29. Initial Configuration • Change values for • “Web Admin Password” • “Accept All Mail” • “Local Domains” • “Spam Error” • “Spam Addresses” Addresses of recipients at your site that only receive spam (website spam-bait, ex-employees)

  30. Mail Flow Internet Mail Svr Clients Inbound Internet Mail Svr Clients Outbound with ASSP Internet ASSP Mail Svr Clients Inbound Internet Mail Svr ASSP Clients Outbound Internet ASSP Mail Svr Clients Invalid

  31. Email Flow Internet ASSP MTA GroupWise/ Exchange Clients Inbound Internet MTA ASSP GroupWise/ Exchange Clients Outbound smtp0 white red grey black 25 125 in ASSP MTA out Bayesian DB Errors spam Not spam

  32. GroupWise GWIA MTA Internet POA 1999 This is an email that is being sent to the Internet. Th This is an email that is

  33. DNS Block List GroupWise Internet MTA GWIA MTA sendmail Internet Virtuser table aliases POA 2003

  34. SpamAssassin sendmail Internet SpamAssassin 2004 Internet MTA GroupWise GWIA MTA sendmail Virtuser table aliases POA

  35. SpamAssassin sendmail Internet SpamAssassin ASSP white red grey black ASSP sendmail Bayesian DB Errors spam Not spam 2006 Internet MTA GroupWise GWIA MTA sendmail Virtuser table aliases POA

  36. SpamAssassin sendmail Internet SpamAssassin ASSP white red grey black ASSP sendmail Bayesian DB Errors spam Not spam Phase In Internet MTA GroupWise GWIA MTA sendmail Virtuser table aliases POA

  37. Flow with Anti-Virus Internet ASSP Antivirus Mail Svr Clients Inbound Internet Mail Svr Antivirus ASSP Clients Outbound

  38. Flow with Groupware • To use ASSP with Exchange, Lotus Notes or GroupWise, you’ll also need to implement a “smarthost” relay like sendmail, qmail, postfix, exim or one in a number of others Internet ASSP MTA Groupware Clients Inbound Internet MTA ASSP Groupware Clients Outbound

  39. DNSBL vs Greylist • The ASSP Greylist supercedes DNSBL • ASSP “Greylist” is not to be confused with “Greylisting” • Use of DNSBL is discouraged (If a DNSBL lookup blocks, ASSP will block due to it’s multiplex design)

  40. Penalty Box • This will blacklist an SMTP server for about 72 hours or so from sending to your server if they violate basic SMTP connection conventions over a certain threshold.

  41. SMTP Ports For example, internet mail needs to connect to ASSP on port 25 (ASSP's listen port), and ASSP can proxy to your mail server on port 125 (or any port you choose) -- ASSP's SMTP Destination. You need to change your mail server to match.

  42. Sender Notification • With most client-based filters (POPFile, SpamBayes, SpamAssassin) senders receive NO NOTIFICATION if their mail isn't delivered. With most of these solutions, the user bears full responsibility to VERIFY that no good mail is blocked. • ASSP’s solution to this is that when spam is blocked the SENDER RECEIVES NOTIFICATION, and it does this without generating non-delivery reports that bounce and bounce again because spammers forge their from address.

  43. Catch-22 • Issue: Let’s say a client receives a non-delivery report, how can he (not in whitelist) send a message to the organization if he is still not in whitelist? I mean, if the recipient or assp admin does not receive the notification, they will not know that there is a false positive and will not add the unknown client to whitelist... • Solution: Set up an email address and put it in the Spam-Lover Address configuration option. Then modify the spam error message to direct people to "500 Mail appears to be unsolicited (spam) -- please forward this email to not-spam@mydomain.com if you feel this is in error."Any false positives that bounce back to clients will hopefully be reported to the Mail Admin via the spam lover address (they just forward it), assuming they read the rejected email.

  44. Email Interface Any user can help to improve ASSP’s spam filtering accuracy. Users can use it to add addresses to the whitelist, report spam, or false-positives. To use it, you must have it enabeled in the configuration, and have names set for the addresses. The interface only accepts mail addressed to addresses at any of your localdomains, and only from "Accept All Mail" hosts, or authenticated SMTP connections. • assp-white -- for whitelist additions • assp-spam -- to report spam that got through • assp-notspam -- to report mis-categorized spam • Whitelisting: Assuming that your local-domain is yourdomain.com, to add addresses to the whitelist, you’d create a message to assp-white@yourdomain.com. You can either put the addresses in the body of the message, or as recipients of the message. For example, if you wanted to add all the addresses in your address book to the whitelist, create a message to assp-white@yourdomain.com and then add your entire address book to the BCC part of the message and click send. Note that no mail will be delivered to any address except assp-white@yourdomain.com (and that won't actually be passed to your mail transport). Within a short time you'll receive a response from ASSP showing the results of your mail. • False Negatives: To report a spam that got through, simply forward the mail to assp-spam@yourdomain.com. It's best to forward it as an attachment, but you can just forward it normally if you must. In a short time you will receive a confirmation. • False Positives: The process is the same to report a miscategorized spam, but send it to assp-notspam@yourdomain.com.

  45. Spam Report

  46. Benchmarks • Spam Bucket • Ex-employee that left the company 5 years ago • Receives 50-80 spam mails per day

  47. Filter effectiveness • SpamAssassin 60-65% effective in 2004 • Deteriorated to 11% by 2006 (267 of 2238 True Positives) • ASSP in first 3 weeks of operation 99.7% (1336 of 1340 True Positives)

  48. ASSP vs SpamAssassin • SpamAssassin • is difficult to install • great investment in hand-made regular expressions and header analysis to identify spam • Hand-crafted expressions are brittle as spammers adjust their strategies • Requires frequent updates to accurately identify spam • ASSP • is low maintenance • is easy to install • is a complete spam blocking solution, not just a filter that must be integrated into your MTA • works with nearly every MTA on any OS • Poorly documented

  49. Before ASSP

  50. Turning ASSP on

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