Re: How can I forward hyperlinks w/out visiting linked site (Outlook 2003)?

From: Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook] (MillyS_at_donteventhinkaboutmailingmemvps.org)
Date: 08/30/04 

Date: Sun, 29 Aug 2004 17:28:30 -0700

Sigh, where to begin.

RBLs are useless and exist mostly to charge legitimate email users a fee to
reinstate their mail address and remove it from the RBL. Check their use
policies.

Outlook blocking access and requiring YOU to specifically authorize it to go
to the web page is NOT a security issue - it is a response to security that
most people welcome. You tell me, how is Outlook supposed to magically pull
the information out of its hat WITHOUT going to the web page? If it does
not have to go there, then then information has been downloaded - how is
that secure?

Third, in no manner did I ridicule you - I just pointed out that reporting
the addresses is mostly a waste of time as there IS no such domain as
@adifajeitraewrh.com or whatever combination of letters you receive. They
are spoofed, as are the headers and the IPs.

Do as you wish with your time and good luck finding new employment. As for
how you spend your time, it is of no matter to me. I just know how I choose
to spend my time, chasing my kitties and avoiding the inevitable ankle sneak
attacks. Oh, and answering posts to the news groups, hopefully to a more
grateful and less sensitive audience than this one.

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. Due to
the (insert latest virus name here) virus, all mail sent to my personal
account will be deleted without reading.

After searching google.groups.com and finding no answer, Steve Hull asked:

| Yeah, since my programming job got offshored to India, I have nothing
| better to do than play whack-a-spammer. Last year, my domain name was
| used to spoof return addresses used in a LOT of spam (look up "Joe
| Job"), so I had to do a lot of explaining to my ISP why they should
| restore my service. Ever since then, I do tend to be more proactive
| in the fight against spam. Most people are happy to have their email
| automatically put in a spam folder and they just delete it. They
| never think about the technology behind the process that determines
| whether or not an email is spam. Ever hear of a Black Hole List?
| RBL? Spamhaus? Most of the spam filters contact these sources to
| validate (or invalidate) an email based on its source address. How do
| these sources build their databases of spam sources? When people
| report spam to them. (To be fair, they probably get more input from
| honeypots.) Cloudmark, Bright Mail, and many other HUGE anti-spam
| software products depend on their user base reporting spam back to a
| central site where adaptive filters get created as soon as the spam is
| reported.
|
| All that has nothing to do with the fact that there is no good reason
| why Outlook HAS to visit an URL before forwarding the email on. I
| have pointed out a legitimate security concern, and asked how to
| address the issue. You have responded by ridiculing my reasons for
| wanting the activity blocked rather than focusing on the problem.
| Perhaps that kind of attitude is why Outlook has had so many security
| issues in the first place.
|
| -Steve Hull
|
|
|
| On Sat, 28 Aug 2004 17:25:19 -0700, "Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]"
| <millys@donteventhinkaboutmailingmeatmvps.org> wrote:
|
|| No, Outlook will always need to go out to retrieve the missing
|| infomration from blocked mails. You must have a lot of time on your
|| hands to send all the spoofed email to abuse organizations. Most of
|| this stuff is so faked (headers, IPs, mailing addresses) that the
|| only people who are affected are those who have had their address
|| used by the spammer.
||
|| --?
|| Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]
|
||
|| After scratching one's head,
|| Steve Hull <msnnews.REMOVE_TO_REPLY@steve-hull.com> asked this group:
||| Like everybody else, I receive my share of spam, including the
||| phishy variety. When I get a spoofed email, I like to forward it
||| on to uce@ftc.gov, spamcop, and any admin of a site victimized by a
||| phishing exploit. For any of these sites to track down the source,
||| they need
||| the full, unmodified email, just as I received it.
|||
||| If I receive an email from an untrusted source, Outlook does the
||| right thing by not displaying any hyperlinked info in the preview
||| pane. However, if I try to forward an email with hyperlinks,
||| Outlook wants
||| to go to the spammer's website, download whatever treat the spammer
||| has waiting for me, and insert it in my forwarded message. (Not to
||| mention that the spammer could use the fact that I visited his
||| website to validate my email address.)
|||
||| I really, really, don't like this behavior. If there's a way to
||| configure Outlook to forward exact copies of an email (and leave the
||| hyperlinks alone), I'd sure like to know about it.
|||
||| Can anyone help me figure this out?
|||
||| Thanks,
|||
||| - Steve

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