Security of DNSBL spam block systems

Tue Jul 23 06:29:15 UTC 2002

IMHO Even the really large DNSBL's are barely used -- I think (much)
less than 5% of total human mail recipients are behind a mailserver that
uses one...
--Phil

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-nanog at merit.edu [mailto:owner-nanog at merit.edu] On Behalf Of
Big_Bandwidth
Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2002 2:14 AM
To: nanog at nanog.org
Subject: Security of DNSBL spam block systems

What are the security implications of someone hacking a DNSBL
(Real-time-spam-block-list) and changing the block list to include (deny
email from) some very large portion or all IPv4 space? 

Given that a signifigant number of the spam blocking lists seem to
operate on a shoestring budget in someone's basement, how can we be
assured that they have sufficient resources to secure their systems
adequatley, and monitor for intrusion 24x7?

Unless I am missing something, this would seem to be a real handy and
centralized method for someone to interfere substantially with the
proper operation of a few thousand email servers and hold up global
email traffic for a few hours.

-BB

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