The Spamhaus Project is a volunteer effort founded by Steve Linford in 1998 that aims to track e-mail spammers and spam-related activity. It is named for the anti-spam jargon term coined by Linford, spamhaus, a pseudo-German expression for an ISP or other firm which spams or willingly provides service to spammers. Steve Linford, also nicknamed Stiff Linefeed following a fairly catastrophic Chinese mistranslation of his name [1], is the anti-spammer who founded Spamhaus. ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... E-mail spam, also known as bulk e-mail or junk e-mail is a subset of spam that involves sending nearly identical messages to numerous recipients by e-mail. ... “ISP” redirects here. ...

Spamhaus DNSBLs

Spamhaus is responsible for three widely used anti-spam DNS Blocklists (DNSBLs) — the Spamhaus Block List (SBL), the Exploits Block List (XBL), and the Policy Block List (PBL). Many internet service providers and other Internet sites use these free services to reduce the amount of spam they take on. The SBL, XBL and PBL collectively protect over 500 million e-mail users, according to Spamhaus' web page (December 2006). Like most DNSBLs, their use is controversial. A DNS Blacklist, or DNSBL (definition below), is a means by which an Internet site may publish a list of IP addresses that some people may want to avoid and in a format which can be easily queried by computer programs on the Internet. ... “ISP” redirects here. ... A DNS Blacklist, or DNSBL (definition below), is a means by which an Internet site may publish a list of IP addresses that some people may want to avoid and in a format which can be easily queried by computer programs on the Internet. ...

The Spamhaus Block List (SBL)^[1] targets "verified spam sources (including spammers, spam gangs and spam support services)." Its goal is to list IP addresses belonging to known spammers, spam operations, and spam-support services^[2]. The SBL's listings are partially based on the ROKSO index of "spam gangs", for which see below.

The Exploits Block List (XBL)^[3] targets "illegal 3rd party exploits, including open proxies, worms/viruses with built-in spam engines, and other types of trojan-horse exploits." That is to say, like several other DNSBLs it is a list of known open proxies and exploited computers being used to send spam and viruses. The XBL includes listings gathered by Spamhaus as well as by two contributing DNSBL operations — the Composite Blocking List (CBL) and the Not Just Another Bogus List (NJABL) lists. An open proxy is a proxy server which is accessible by any Internet user. ... CBL is Composite Blocking List. ... CBL is Composite Blocking List. ... Not Just Another Bogus List, or NJABL, is a DNS-based Blackhole List (DNSBL). ... NJABL is Not Just Another Bogus List. ...

The Policy Block List (PBL)^[4] is a list that serves many of the same functions of a Dialup Users List, but really it is not a DUL. The PBL lists not only dynamic and DHCP type IP address space designated as 'not allowed to make direct SMTP connections', but static assignments that shouldn't be sending email without prior arrangement. Examples of such are an ISP's core routers, corporate users required by policy to send via their internal mail server, and unassigned IP addresses. Much of the data is provided to Spamhaus by the owners (ISPs) of the IP address space. A Dynamic Users List (DUL) is a type of DNSBL which contains the IP addresses an ISP assigns to its customer on a temporary basis, often using DHCP or similar protocols. ...

Spamhaus's DNSBLs are offered as a free public service to mail server operators on the Internet. ISPs and other large sites doing large numbers of queries can also sign-up for an rsync-based feed of these DNSBLs, which Spamhaus calls its Data Feed^[5], at a moderate fee as long as they are not in Spamhaus's top ten worst spam service ISPs list^[6], and they must also pass a background check to make sure they do not knowingly or intentionally provide services to spammers. In computing, rsync is a computer program for Unix systems which synchronizes files and directories from one location to another while minimizing data transfer using delta encoding when appropriate. ...

Spamhaus also provides two combined DNSBLs. One is the SBL+XBL^[7], which allows users to query sbl-xbl.spamhaus.org once and get return codes from both lists. A newer combination is called ZEN^[8] (named after founder Linford's dog), which allows users to query zen.spamhaus.org once and get return codes from the SBL+XBL and the newer PBL.

Register of Known Spam Operations

The Spamhaus Register of Known Spam Operations (ROKSO)^[9] is a database of "hard-core spam gangs" -- spammers and spam operations who have been terminated from three or more ISPs due to spamming. The ROKSO list is not a DNSBL; it is, rather, a directory of publicly-sourced information about these persons and their business and at times criminal activities.

As Spamhaus operates in the United Kingdom, it is subject to the Data Protection Act which restricts its ability to publish private information legally. For this reason, ROKSO publishes only information gathered from public sources such as newspapers, court records, incorporation filings, and other public records. Spamhaus also keeps additional information on spammers for disclosure only to law enforcement agencies. The Data Protection Act (DPA) is a United Kingdom Act of Parliament. ...

Don't Route Or Peer List

The Spamhaus Don't Route Or Peer (DROP) List^[10] is a text file delineating so-called "zombie" (stolen) CIDR blocks and netblocks which are "totally controlled by spammers or 100% spam hosting operations", as shown by SBL listings, with the numbers of the underlying listings as comments. It is intended not to include netblocks registered to ISPs and sublet to spammers, but only those blocks wholly used by spammers. It is intended to be incorporated in firewalls and routing equipment to block network traffic from and to those blocks. Warning! This Article contains disinformation. ...

e360 Lawsuit

In September 2006 an American spammer named David Linhardt, operating as "e360 Insight LLC", filed suit in an Illinois state court against Spamhaus for blacklisting his website. Spamhaus initially succeeded in moving the case from state to federal court, but then stopped defending itself against the lawsuit, because it is based in the United Kingdom and outside the jurisdiction of United States courts.^[11][12] The American court had no choice but to award e360 a default judgment totaling $11,715,000 in damages. Spamhaus subsequently announced that it would ignore the judgment.^[13][14] This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

e360 filed a motion in Federal court to force ICANN to remove the domain records of Spamhaus until the default judgment had been satisfied.^[15] This raised issues regarding ICANN's unusual position as an American organization with worldwide responsibility for domain names,^[16][17] and ICANN protested^[18] that they had neither the ability, nor the authority, to remove the domain records of Spamhaus, which is a UK-based not-for-profit organization. ICANN headquarters ICANN (IPA /aɪkæn/) is the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. ...

On 2006-10-20, U.S. Federal District Court Judge Charles Kocoras, for the Northern District of Illinois, issued a ruling denying e360's motion, stating in his opinion, that "there has been no indication that ICANN [is] not independent entit[y] [from Spamhaus], thus preventing a conclusion that [it] is acting in concert" with Spamhaus and that the court had no authority over ICANN in this matter. The court further ruled that removing Spamhaus's domain name registration was a remedy that was "too broad to be warranted in this case," because it would "cut off all lawful online activities of Spamhaus via its existing domain name, not just those that are in contravention" of the default judgment. Kocoras concluded, "[w]hile we will not condone or tolerate noncompliance with a valid order of this court [i.e. Spamhaus' refusal to satisfy the default judgment] neither will we impose a sanction that does not correspond to the gravity of the offending conduct."^[19][20] Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 293rd day of the year (294th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... A federal judge is a judge appointed in accordance with Article III of the United States Constitution. ... ICANN headquarters ICANN (IPA /aɪkæn/) is the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. ...

Spamhaus versus nic.at

In June 2007 Spamhaus requested the national registry of Austria nic.at unregister a number of domains because of their use for phishing purposes ^[21]. The registry nic.at rejected that request and argued that they would break Austrian law when doing so. Further nic.at argued that the respective DNS-providers should remove the domain. A domain name registry is a database which keeps track of which domain name maps to which IP adress in the domain name system on the Internet. ... .at is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Austria. ... This phishing attempt, disguised as an official email from a (fictional) bank, attempts to trick the banks members into giving away their account information by confirming it at the phishers linked website. ...

To put more pressure on the Austrian registry Spamhaus put the mail server of nic.at for several days on their spam blacklist which caused interference of the mail traffic.^[22][23]. Currently Spamhaus has a pointer entry (SBL55483) for the single IP address 192.174.68.0/32 to highlight how nic.at supports phishing. This listing does not block any email, since this address is unused. Most of the phishing domains have since been deleted/suspended by the respective DNS-providers. ^{[citation needed]}

Spamhaus trademarked

Spamhaus has been given the blessing of Hormel, to trademark the name Spamhaus in the European Union.^[24] Hormel Foods Corporation NYSE: HRL is probably best known as the producer of SPAM luncheon meat. ...

See also

• Comparison of DNS blacklists
• SpamCop
• E-mail spam
• Anti-spam techniques (e-mail)
• news.admin.net-abuse.email

The following table lists technical information for a number of DNS blacklists. ... SpamCop is a free spam reporting service, allowing recipients of unsolicited bulk email (UBE) and unsolicited commercial email (UCE) to report the offense to the senders Internet Service Provider (ISP), and sometimes their web host. ... E-mail spam, also known as bulk e-mail or junk e-mail is a subset of spam that involves sending nearly identical messages to numerous recipients by e-mail. ... To prevent e-mail spam, both end users and administrators of e-mail systems use various anti-spam techniques. ... news. ...

References

Steve Linford, also nicknamed Stiff Linefeed following a fairly catastrophic Chinese mistranslation of his name [1], is the anti-spammer who founded Spamhaus. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ... is the 35th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Steve Linford, also nicknamed Stiff Linefeed following a fairly catastrophic Chinese mistranslation of his name [1], is the anti-spammer who founded Spamhaus. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ... is the 35th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... John Leyden (September 8, 1775 - August 28, 1811), British orientalist and man of letters, was born at Denhoim on the Teviot, not far from Hawick. ... Current logo of The Register. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 283rd day of the year (284th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ... is the 35th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Steve Linford, also nicknamed Stiff Linefeed following a fairly catastrophic Chinese mistranslation of his name [1], is the anti-spammer who founded Spamhaus. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ... is the 35th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... CNET Networks Inc. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 257th day of the year (258th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ... is the 35th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 279th day of the year (280th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ... is the 35th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Steve Linford, also nicknamed Stiff Linefeed following a fairly catastrophic Chinese mistranslation of his name [1], is the anti-spammer who founded Spamhaus. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ... is the 35th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Steve Linford, also nicknamed Stiff Linefeed following a fairly catastrophic Chinese mistranslation of his name [1], is the anti-spammer who founded Spamhaus. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ... is the 35th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... The New York Times is a daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed internationally. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 289th day of the year (290th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ... is the 35th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... ICANN headquarters ICANN (IPA /aɪkæn/) is the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 283rd day of the year (284th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ... is the 35th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... ICANN headquarters ICANN (IPA /aɪkæn/) is the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 293rd day of the year (294th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ... is the 35th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 303rd day of the year (304th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 35th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• The Spamhaus Project website