Backscatter - It's Okay to Be Impolite
In the world of unsolicited commercial email (a.k.a. spam), the perpetrators who send these messages often count on you being polite, or at least they count on your mail server being polite. Back in 1982 when the whole idea of email was first taking form, the Internet Engineering Task Force set some standards. One of the requirements for a properly-functioning mail server was this: if you receive a message to an invalid address, you should politely return the message telling the sender that you could not deliver it.
Those of you who follow my blog know that we established a partnership with Trend Micro a couple of months ago and began recommending their Worry-Free Business Security (WFBS) product to our small and medium business customers. Our staff has completed the basic training on the new product, and we’ve now implemented it at three different sites. When I announced our partnership, I promised an update to let you know how it was going.