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  3. There's this myth that automated spam detection is hard because spammers are all very clever masters of disguise.

There's this myth that automated spam detection is hard because spammers are all very clever masters of disguise.

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  • danslimmon@hachyderm.ioD danslimmon@hachyderm.io

    There's this myth that automated spam detection is hard because spammers are all very clever masters of disguise.

    No. Spammers are stupid as a shoe. They have dog shit for brains.

    Automated spam detection is hard because the line between spam and "legitimate" marketing activity is a fiction.

    darkathena@beige.partyD This user is from outside of this forum
    darkathena@beige.partyD This user is from outside of this forum
    darkathena@beige.party
    wrote last edited by
    #6

    @danslimmon @lisamelton I read this as “automatic sperm detection”.

    1 Reply Last reply
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    • danslimmon@hachyderm.ioD danslimmon@hachyderm.io

      There's this myth that automated spam detection is hard because spammers are all very clever masters of disguise.

      No. Spammers are stupid as a shoe. They have dog shit for brains.

      Automated spam detection is hard because the line between spam and "legitimate" marketing activity is a fiction.

      bnlandor@mastodon.socialB This user is from outside of this forum
      bnlandor@mastodon.socialB This user is from outside of this forum
      bnlandor@mastodon.social
      wrote last edited by
      #7

      @danslimmon While spammers are stupid, they also use a trick to reverse spam-filter their targets: If you—as a human reader—can identify their writing as spam, when their writing is easily recognisable as spam, they don't want you as a "customer", as you are not going to go through with what they're proposing anyway.
      So they are filtering their target audience by adding enough typos etc.

      1 Reply Last reply
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      • danslimmon@hachyderm.ioD danslimmon@hachyderm.io

        There's this myth that automated spam detection is hard because spammers are all very clever masters of disguise.

        No. Spammers are stupid as a shoe. They have dog shit for brains.

        Automated spam detection is hard because the line between spam and "legitimate" marketing activity is a fiction.

        paul_ipv6@infosec.exchangeP This user is from outside of this forum
        paul_ipv6@infosec.exchangeP This user is from outside of this forum
        paul_ipv6@infosec.exchange
        wrote last edited by
        #8

        @danslimmon

        that and that the big boys, like google and outlook, who like to think they are too big to block, are huge sources of spam and refuse to clean up their own customer bases. they make money on spammers, not legit users bombarded with spam.

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        • danslimmon@hachyderm.ioD danslimmon@hachyderm.io

          There's this myth that automated spam detection is hard because spammers are all very clever masters of disguise.

          No. Spammers are stupid as a shoe. They have dog shit for brains.

          Automated spam detection is hard because the line between spam and "legitimate" marketing activity is a fiction.

          azonenberg@ioc.exchangeA This user is from outside of this forum
          azonenberg@ioc.exchangeA This user is from outside of this forum
          azonenberg@ioc.exchange
          wrote last edited by
          #9

          @danslimmon just block all legitimate marketing emails problem solved

          marjolica@social.linux.pizzaM S 2 Replies Last reply
          0
          • danslimmon@hachyderm.ioD danslimmon@hachyderm.io

            There's this myth that automated spam detection is hard because spammers are all very clever masters of disguise.

            No. Spammers are stupid as a shoe. They have dog shit for brains.

            Automated spam detection is hard because the line between spam and "legitimate" marketing activity is a fiction.

            targetdrone@mastodon.socialT This user is from outside of this forum
            targetdrone@mastodon.socialT This user is from outside of this forum
            targetdrone@mastodon.social
            wrote last edited by
            #10

            @danslimmon It's a cat and mouse game. Every successful spam detector becomes a useful pass/fail test for future spams. So no matter what blocking path you run, they always find a new route.

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            • danslimmon@hachyderm.ioD danslimmon@hachyderm.io

              There's this myth that automated spam detection is hard because spammers are all very clever masters of disguise.

              No. Spammers are stupid as a shoe. They have dog shit for brains.

              Automated spam detection is hard because the line between spam and "legitimate" marketing activity is a fiction.

              ada@zoner.workA This user is from outside of this forum
              ada@zoner.workA This user is from outside of this forum
              ada@zoner.work
              wrote last edited by
              #11

              @danslimmon@hachyderm.io that, and spammers use the same systems as "legitimate" marketing activity. i got inbox bombed by zendesk support tickets a few months ago.

              1 Reply Last reply
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              • danslimmon@hachyderm.ioD danslimmon@hachyderm.io

                There's this myth that automated spam detection is hard because spammers are all very clever masters of disguise.

                No. Spammers are stupid as a shoe. They have dog shit for brains.

                Automated spam detection is hard because the line between spam and "legitimate" marketing activity is a fiction.

                drewtowler@mas.toD This user is from outside of this forum
                drewtowler@mas.toD This user is from outside of this forum
                drewtowler@mas.to
                wrote last edited by
                #12

                @danslimmon And by implication, marketers are stupid as a shoe. They have dog shit for brains.

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                • danslimmon@hachyderm.ioD danslimmon@hachyderm.io

                  There's this myth that automated spam detection is hard because spammers are all very clever masters of disguise.

                  No. Spammers are stupid as a shoe. They have dog shit for brains.

                  Automated spam detection is hard because the line between spam and "legitimate" marketing activity is a fiction.

                  f4grx@chaos.socialF This user is from outside of this forum
                  f4grx@chaos.socialF This user is from outside of this forum
                  f4grx@chaos.social
                  wrote last edited by
                  #13

                  @danslimmon that is a very good point!

                  1 Reply Last reply
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                  • north@xn--8r9a.comN north@xn--8r9a.com

                    @danslimmon unsolicited marketing activity

                    f4grx@chaos.socialF This user is from outside of this forum
                    f4grx@chaos.socialF This user is from outside of this forum
                    f4grx@chaos.social
                    wrote last edited by
                    #14

                    @north @danslimmon Specifically Pointless Act of Marketing.

                    1 Reply Last reply
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                    • danslimmon@hachyderm.ioD danslimmon@hachyderm.io

                      There's this myth that automated spam detection is hard because spammers are all very clever masters of disguise.

                      No. Spammers are stupid as a shoe. They have dog shit for brains.

                      Automated spam detection is hard because the line between spam and "legitimate" marketing activity is a fiction.

                      f4grx@chaos.socialF This user is from outside of this forum
                      f4grx@chaos.socialF This user is from outside of this forum
                      f4grx@chaos.social
                      wrote last edited by
                      #15

                      @danslimmon spam blockers are also dumb as wood, like aws that puts email receivers in a blocklist as soon as they bounce *once*.

                      1 Reply Last reply
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                      • danslimmon@hachyderm.ioD danslimmon@hachyderm.io

                        There's this myth that automated spam detection is hard because spammers are all very clever masters of disguise.

                        No. Spammers are stupid as a shoe. They have dog shit for brains.

                        Automated spam detection is hard because the line between spam and "legitimate" marketing activity is a fiction.

                        xinit@mastodon.coffeeX This user is from outside of this forum
                        xinit@mastodon.coffeeX This user is from outside of this forum
                        xinit@mastodon.coffee
                        wrote last edited by
                        #16

                        @danslimmon
                        Legitimate marketing should be treated like spam. Maybe it will improve in order to evade detection. If not? Nobody cares.
                        @ml

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                        • danslimmon@hachyderm.ioD danslimmon@hachyderm.io

                          There's this myth that automated spam detection is hard because spammers are all very clever masters of disguise.

                          No. Spammers are stupid as a shoe. They have dog shit for brains.

                          Automated spam detection is hard because the line between spam and "legitimate" marketing activity is a fiction.

                          pitrh@mastodon.socialP This user is from outside of this forum
                          pitrh@mastodon.socialP This user is from outside of this forum
                          pitrh@mastodon.social
                          wrote last edited by
                          #17

                          @danslimmon I personally find that greylisting + greytrapping removes the obvious ones, and saves a lot of electricity plus wear and tear on the poor servers doing content and header filtering.

                          My greytrapping and misc retrospective is hopefully useful to others too: Eighteen Years of Greytrapping - Is the Weirdness Finally Paying Off? https://nxdomain.no/~peter/eighteen_years_of_greytrapping.html - with references at the end.

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                          • danslimmon@hachyderm.ioD danslimmon@hachyderm.io

                            There's this myth that automated spam detection is hard because spammers are all very clever masters of disguise.

                            No. Spammers are stupid as a shoe. They have dog shit for brains.

                            Automated spam detection is hard because the line between spam and "legitimate" marketing activity is a fiction.

                            frisk@woof.techF This user is from outside of this forum
                            frisk@woof.techF This user is from outside of this forum
                            frisk@woof.tech
                            wrote last edited by
                            #18

                            @danslimmon As someone who has been dealing with spam in wiki environment I think this is a bad take. Automated spam detection is hard because we don't want to accidentally target legitimate users. And legitimate user activity sometimes may look like spam to a dumb machine code.

                            I can only guess what you mean by a "legitimate marketing activity", however implication that it's easy to make automated spam detection system that would target all corporate advertising is silly.

                            Context is always important and no automatic spam filter can judge it better than a creature can.

                            I do agree that spammers are insanely stupid, that I did notice after years of working in the field.

                            1 Reply Last reply
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                            • azonenberg@ioc.exchangeA azonenberg@ioc.exchange

                              @danslimmon just block all legitimate marketing emails problem solved

                              marjolica@social.linux.pizzaM This user is from outside of this forum
                              marjolica@social.linux.pizzaM This user is from outside of this forum
                              marjolica@social.linux.pizza
                              wrote last edited by
                              #19

                              @azonenberg @danslimmon most spam I get is badly formatted and gets rejected by postfix even before my spam filter gets to see it. The most common fail is no reverse DNS.
                              And my spam filters then rejects most of the rest, they don't even get into my spam folders.
                              So most of the marketing emails I get to see are from companies I have bought from in the past and I've decided I want to see when they are running sales: useful for items I regularly buy such as bike brake pads.

                              jrdepriest@infosec.exchangeJ 1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • azonenberg@ioc.exchangeA azonenberg@ioc.exchange

                                @danslimmon just block all legitimate marketing emails problem solved

                                S This user is from outside of this forum
                                S This user is from outside of this forum
                                shadsterling@mastodon.social
                                wrote last edited by
                                #20

                                @azonenberg @danslimmon unfortunately, there are, for example, banks who will stop sending you transaction notices if you report their spam as spam

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                                • danslimmon@hachyderm.ioD danslimmon@hachyderm.io

                                  There's this myth that automated spam detection is hard because spammers are all very clever masters of disguise.

                                  No. Spammers are stupid as a shoe. They have dog shit for brains.

                                  Automated spam detection is hard because the line between spam and "legitimate" marketing activity is a fiction.

                                  notthebee@tilde.zoneN This user is from outside of this forum
                                  notthebee@tilde.zoneN This user is from outside of this forum
                                  notthebee@tilde.zone
                                  wrote last edited by
                                  #21

                                  @danslimmon This reminded me of that one Twitter thing where they tried to develop an automated system to combat hate posts from white supremacists, but had to shelf it because it would mark posts from official GOP politician accounts

                                  Link Preview Image
                                  Twitter reportedly won't use an algorithm to crack down on white supremacists because some GOP politicians could end up getting barred too

                                  Twitter used an algorithm to crack down on ISIS-related tweets, but an employee said an algorithm targeting white supremacists could bar GOP figures.

                                  favicon

                                  Business Insider (www.businessinsider.com)

                                  wouter@pleroma.debian.socialW 1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • danslimmon@hachyderm.ioD danslimmon@hachyderm.io

                                    There's this myth that automated spam detection is hard because spammers are all very clever masters of disguise.

                                    No. Spammers are stupid as a shoe. They have dog shit for brains.

                                    Automated spam detection is hard because the line between spam and "legitimate" marketing activity is a fiction.

                                    endolexi@social.vivaldi.netE This user is from outside of this forum
                                    endolexi@social.vivaldi.netE This user is from outside of this forum
                                    endolexi@social.vivaldi.net
                                    wrote last edited by
                                    #22

                                    @danslimmon I'd say legitimacy is created through active consent, opt-in only. Because when I absolutely *want* to receive 'product news' from the people whose stuff I enjoy using every day, I don't consider it spam at all.

                                    1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • danslimmon@hachyderm.ioD danslimmon@hachyderm.io

                                      There's this myth that automated spam detection is hard because spammers are all very clever masters of disguise.

                                      No. Spammers are stupid as a shoe. They have dog shit for brains.

                                      Automated spam detection is hard because the line between spam and "legitimate" marketing activity is a fiction.

                                      nuintari@mastodon.bsd.cafeN This user is from outside of this forum
                                      nuintari@mastodon.bsd.cafeN This user is from outside of this forum
                                      nuintari@mastodon.bsd.cafe
                                      wrote last edited by
                                      #23

                                      @danslimmon Honestly, the hardest thing in email anymore is getting your legitimate emails through to the big three when you aren't using their services. I do not regret leaving gSuite or whatever they call it this month, but managing one's MX reputation can be a pain in the ass.

                                      wouter@pleroma.debian.socialW 1 Reply Last reply
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                                      • marjolica@social.linux.pizzaM marjolica@social.linux.pizza

                                        @azonenberg @danslimmon most spam I get is badly formatted and gets rejected by postfix even before my spam filter gets to see it. The most common fail is no reverse DNS.
                                        And my spam filters then rejects most of the rest, they don't even get into my spam folders.
                                        So most of the marketing emails I get to see are from companies I have bought from in the past and I've decided I want to see when they are running sales: useful for items I regularly buy such as bike brake pads.

                                        jrdepriest@infosec.exchangeJ This user is from outside of this forum
                                        jrdepriest@infosec.exchangeJ This user is from outside of this forum
                                        jrdepriest@infosec.exchange
                                        wrote last edited by
                                        #24

                                        @marjolica @azonenberg @danslimmon

                                        If we blocked no reverse DNS, I'm not sure there would be anything left.

                                        marjolica@social.linux.pizzaM 1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • danslimmon@hachyderm.ioD danslimmon@hachyderm.io

                                          There's this myth that automated spam detection is hard because spammers are all very clever masters of disguise.

                                          No. Spammers are stupid as a shoe. They have dog shit for brains.

                                          Automated spam detection is hard because the line between spam and "legitimate" marketing activity is a fiction.

                                          zhenech@chaos.socialZ This user is from outside of this forum
                                          zhenech@chaos.socialZ This user is from outside of this forum
                                          zhenech@chaos.social
                                          wrote last edited by
                                          #25

                                          @danslimmon From a legitimate mail (not even marketing) that I intentionally subscribed to:

                                          X-Spam-Status: Yes, score=5.323
                                          tests=[DIRECT_LOW_CONTRAST=2.499, DKIM_SIGNED=0.1, DKIM_VALID=-0.1,
                                          DKIM_VALID_AU=-0.1, DMARC_PASS=-0.001, HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS=0.25,
                                          HTML_FONT_LOW_CONTRAST=0.001, HTML_MESSAGE=0.001, MIME_HTML_ONLY=0.1,
                                          MISSING_HEADERS=1.021, RCVD_IN_MSPIKE_H4=0.001, RCVD_IN_MSPIKE_WL=0.001,
                                          REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC=1.552]

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