Interesting Spam Variety
Thu, Mar 11th 2010 12:14p Frank Paolino I noticed a lot of these similar spam
variants today.
Here is a sample from the message body:
augme nting tilte d rollb ar preco
ok machi nelik e remin iscen
ce catab asis scler enchy ma polyt echni c blemi
shes ecume nicis
ts hawki shnes s musse d nemes es shudd ery mean
slash ed
The spammers randomly put a space every 5 characters,
making none of the words recognizable. My guess is they are targeting content
filters and fingerprint algorithms l [read] Keywords:
45
New service "SpamSentinel Reputation" available for beta testing
Thu, Mar 4th 2010 9:45a Frank Paolino We are testing on all of our internal
SMTP servers a new service called SpamSentinel Reputation. It is
designed to stop about 60% of traffic at HELO, reducing bandwidth and server
CPU utilization significantly. It is mostly designed to immediately stop
"zombie" computers, which send 100% spam. This means there will
be no false positives from this service.
Those messages that are not from 100%
spam sources get processed via SpamSentinel, examining content as well
as worldwide email pa [read] Keywords: email
server
smtp
216
IBM Hotfix 851HF419 Released
Mon, Mar 1st 2010 9:44a Frank Paolino IBM has just released hotifx 851HF419 for
SPR# JSDS7VPGVV
This problem relates to Domino servers crashing.
It only affects 8.5 servers (both 32 and 64 bit):
Your Lotus Domino 8.5.1 server on Microsoft
Windows crashes during cvsConvertHTMLToRichText during the conversion of
a HTML message to Rich text.
(see IBM
Support Portal)
Contact IBM support if you are experiencing
unexplained 8.5 crashes and reference this SRP or hotfix number. [read] Keywords: domino
ibm
lotus
rich text
microsoft
server
41
Good news for Reporter Problems
Tue, Feb 23rd 2010 7:43p Frank Paolino Good news... we have found the problem
and shared it with IBM.
Problem
Your Lotus Domino 8.5.1 server on Microsoft
Windows crashes during cvsConvertHTMLToRichText during the conversion of
a HTML message to Rich text.
This issue has been seen with customers running Lotus Notes Traveler, Maysoft
SpamSentinel (third party), and can potentially occur with other tasks
as well.
(see IBM
Support Portal)
The culprit turns out to be Transaction
Logging.
It seems tha [read] Keywords: domino
ibm
lotus
notes
rich text
traveler
microsoft
server
123
MX Failover
Fri, Feb 5th 2010 10:13a Frank Paolino If your Lotus Notes email server goes down
or is inaccessible from the internet due to connectivity failures, our
MX Failover Service will queue your e-mail messages automatically
until your mail server comes back online.
Here is what the MX Failover Service offers:
Retention of all incoming email
No "delivery failure reports" or
"bounced messages" sent to your customers
Phone call (or SMS) notification to you about
the problem
Mail will only be sent through our servers
if th [read] Keywords: domino
lotus
notes
application
email
exchange
exchange
office
server
23
MayFlower Sherpa Permessa Party
Wed, Jan 27th 2010 11:02a Frank Paolino We had over 170 attendees at our Tailgate
party. The weather was great and we were shielded from the 50 MPH winds
by the Swan Hotel.
Here is a picture of the party: [read] Keywords: lotusphere
19
DirectConnect for the Absolute Best in Customer Support
Wed, Jan 27th 2010 11:02a Frank Paolino Just in time for Lotusphere, we are announcing
an application to make the best support even better! We call it DirectConnect,
a customer support application that we designed and wrote to let our
customers connect directly to our support staff.
We are providing a Windows application that,
once loaded, lets you connect with our staff, create support tickets that
our staff see in real time, drag files for our inspection, and, uniquely,
drag Notes documents from any database and they imme [read] Keywords: lotusphere
notes
application
database
22
Anti-Spam Solution That Keeps On Giving to The Salvation Army
Wed, Jan 27th 2010 11:02a Frank Paolino Case
Study
SpamSentinel Is the
Anti-Spam Solution
That Keeps On Giving
to The Salvation Army
A Large Installation Internationally
with a Quick Implementation and
Proven Results
The Challenges
• Previous
negative experience – The Salvation Army tried two other anti-spam solutions,
with poor results.
• Need
for one size to fit all – The Salvation Army needed one solution for all
50 countries in which it operates.
• Quick
implementation & [read] Keywords: domino
email
server
18
Manage By Example (MBE) for Outlook
Wed, Jan 27th 2010 11:02a Frank Paolino MBE for Lotus Notes email has been VERY
successful. We have some hosted SpamSentinel customers that use Outlook
clients and who want this same functionality. We have released the beta
of the Manage By Example program for Outlook.
What is MBE? It works with SpamSentinel
Hosted Service and allows users to easily manage
Allowed list
Denied List
Newsletter Subscriptions -
by simply showing the software your preferences.
This one-minute video shows MBE in action:
[read] Keywords: lotus
notes
application
email
outlook
29
Imerys Global IT Gets Rock-Solid Results
Wed, Jan 27th 2010 11:02a Frank Paolino Case
Study
Imerys Global IT
Gets Rock-Solid Results from SpamSentinel
Case Study
Large installation of SpamSentinel
across 6,000 users and 47 countries is highly accurate, flexible, and simple
to maintain.
The Challenges
•
Complex organization – Because
IMERYS has over 6,000 users and 260 locations in 47 countries, it needed
a solid yet flexible solution.
• Large
volume of email spam – High volumes of spam caused user inefficiency,
created co [read] Keywords: admin
administration
collaboration
domino
lotus
notes
database
email
integration
office
34
Bob P. we hardly Knew Ye - But we liked Ye
Wed, Jan 27th 2010 11:02a Frank Paolino At Lotusphere 2009, the showcase floor
was very quiet. Our own Allison Cote was at our booth and around came Bob
Picciano without an entourage. Allison did not recognize him and proceeded
to tell him what she liked and didn't like about the show that year.
Bob listened graciously. When I came
over and introduced them formally, Allison was a bit embarrassed about
the frankness of the conversation. Bob, however, was gracious and really
was listening! I guess that is because he is good a [read] Keywords: ibm
lotusphere
21
Lotusphere Tailgate Party
Wed, Jan 27th 2010 11:02a Frank Paolino Lotusphere 2010! I think this is my
Lotusphere #10 or #11. Each year we have a customer party to say hello
and thank them for their support.
This year, we have teamed up with Sherpa
Software and Permessa to host a "Tailgate Party" on Sunday right
before the Welcome Reception. This is a chance for customers of SpamSentinel,
Sherpa and Permessa to talk shop or just enjoy the Florida sunshine!
So far, over 100 customers have signed
up for the party!
Customers, please visit h [read] Keywords: lotusphere
lotusphere2010
12
Walworth County's Spam Worries
Wed, Jan 27th 2010 11:02a Frank Paolino Case
Study
The SpamSentinel Hosted
Solution Eliminates Walworth County's Spam Worries
A Wisconsin County IT Group Boasts a Huge
Reduction in Spam Using Limited Resources and Receives Exceptional Support
for SpamSentinel
The Challenges
• Spam
volume control – Spam traffic load on Walworth servers was at 90% of capacity.
• Solid
implementation – Limited IT resources required an easy installation.
• Spam
management monopolizing IT resource [read] Keywords: administration
ibm
lotus
notes
community
email
network
virus
13
Thank You to Our Showcase Booth Buddies
Wed, Jan 27th 2010 11:02a Frank Paolino This Lotusphere, as in past years, we
had our "booth buddies" help out on the Showcase floor. Business
partners, customers and our designated charity spent time at our booth
to tell their story of their experiences with SpamSentinel.
A heartfelt THANK YOU to all
who helped tell our story. We really appreciate the diversity of people,
companies and countries represented.
Business Partners
Donova.se
(Sweden)
Donova is anchoring our European hosted
SpamSentinel customers as [read] Keywords: lotusphere
notes
email
network
7
Netbook Giveaway
Wed, Jan 27th 2010 11:02a Frank Paolino At Lotusphere 2010, Sherpa
Software, Permessa
MayFlower combined forces to give away a Netbook computer to one lucky
attendee. People had to visit all 3 booths and be present at 3 PM
Tuesday to win.
Here is the drawing:
And here is the lucky winner:
Sherpa Software, MayFlower Software,
The Winner ( Brian Forsyth from Kennametal ) and Permessa all together.
Partners working together. What a great
thought! [read] Keywords: lotusphere
6
Winter Snow Tires
Thu, Dec 3rd 2009 11:44a Frank Paolino I took two cars in for service this week.
Simple stuff, snow tires and an oil change with a check of all fluid levels.
I got nice snow tires and an unexpected
bonus: a real lesson in customer service.
Unfortunately, the lesson was about
how not to do customer service.
Let me start by saying that the service
center did nothing wrong. It is just that they did not do it very well,
either.
I have had to make three trips back
to the center for really minor things that anyone [read] Keywords:
9
Email Virus Attacks
Thu, Nov 12th 2009 10:05a Frank Paolino We have noticed over this year that the
virus attacks tend to spike in predictable waves. Generally, they
now come every 10-14 days and last 3-5 days, leading us to speculate that
the bad guys are using Agile programming techniques for new viruses (who
would have thought)!
A few days ago, we detected over 520,000
new virus variants in a single day!
The graph below are detected viruses that
were sent via email to our Lotus Domino SpamSentinel customers around the
world. [read] Keywords: domino
lotus
email
virus
5
MBE fixes quasi-spam
Thu, Oct 29th 2009 12:24p Frank Paolino MBE - Manage By Example - really solves
one of the nagging problems of spam, which I call quasi-spam.
These are messages from real companies
and whose credentials (sender, subject) are not falsified. SpamSentinel
treats them as good messages, which in fact they are. However, I am not
interested in receiving them in my Lotus Notes email for various reasons,
mostly I am not interested in the product or services.
Junk Mail folder in my Lotus Notes
mail file
I have lo [read] Keywords: lotus
notes
email
3
I'm in ur inbox collecting ur money
Tue, Oct 6th 2009 10:05a Frank Paolino It seems spammers sent this out as some
sort of spammer joke or bragging, a play on the meme "i'm on your
basecamp killing ur doodz"
Apparently, even spammers have a sense
of humor... [read] Keywords:
2
The $1,000 Pizza
Tue, Sep 15th 2009 8:06a Frank Paolino OK, so I fired up the brick pizza oven this
past weekend. It was all new to me so I worried about how to fire the oven
and make the dough (by hand). I worked on the toppings to use and how close
to the fire to put the pizza. I read a lot on line at sites like Forno
Bravo, and had a lot of ideas, maybe too many. But experience is a great
teacher, and I got pretty good at making pizza in the oven after a few
tries. Everyone who dropped by our house got a chance to make their own
pizza and w [read] Keywords: lotusphere
notes
application
13
Brick Pizza Oven
Tue, Sep 8th 2009 10:05a Frank Paolino I needed an outside summer project, and decided
on a Brick Pizza Oven. It took more planning than building a new software
release, mostly because I have never built a pizza oven before, so I had
to think it out. Thankfully, many people shared their experiences online,
so I was able to get some good ideas on a shape and style. Being the son
of a stone mason helped somewhat, as I had an idea on how to build stone
and brickwork.
First, I had to build a rectangular base
in stone, and the [read] Keywords: template
application
6
Federal Bureau Investigation
Tue, Aug 4th 2009 4:26p Frank Paolino This one was caught by my SpamSentinel
spam filter, and was too good not to post. I highlighted the stupid parts
that would alert anyone who is thinking that this is a fraud, starting
with the subject: Federal Bureau Investigation
(the
missing "of" really jumps out at you ). Translators
must cost more than $296 (the amount they are trying to phish or steal).
Why bother making an email that will actually fool people?
The bottom line: The author should
be fired from being a Nigerian [read] Keywords: agent
email
network
14
IRS Refund Scam
Mon, Jul 20th 2009 10:12p Frank Paolino Here is a pretty good email scam. It looks
like a real IRS email, and they are giving back money. Who wouldn't want
that nowadays?
They attach an HTML file which asks for all
kinds of information, then posts it to a website called www.zimole.com.
I opened up the HTML file and found the amount hard coded into the file.
I decided to enter the information and then post it. For fun, I used the
WHOIS name of the registrant of zimole.com, Jacqueline
Long from Sunnyvale CA.
This goes [read] Keywords: email
office
security
24
IRS Scam
Mon, Jul 20th 2009 9:50p Frank Paolino Where's My Refund?
@import url("http://www.irs.gov/irs/cda/common/styleSheets/navigation-gecko.css");
@import url("http://www.irs.gov/irs/cda/common/styleSheets/styles-gecko.css");
function setDivHeight() {
if ((navigator.appName).indexOf("Microsoft")) {
var footer = document.getElementById("footerDiv");
var footerHeightOffset = footer.offsetTop;
var leftnav = document.getElementById("leftNavDiv");
leftnav.style [read] Keywords: document
forms
javascript
nd
css
email
microsoft
office
password
php
security
xml
2
We Treat Your Email System as if it Were Our Own
Thu, Jul 16th 2009 3:07p Frank Paolino You cannot afford downtime on email.
Email is probably the most important business application that you have
running. If it is down for 10 minutes, your users will yell and scream
(at you).
When you sign up with us, you get
a lot more than software. You get a commitment that we stand behind with
people whom you can call 24 x 7 X 365. We even put our cell phone numbers
on our website support page. No one does that in software support.
But we do! When your email has a problem, you do N [read] Keywords: domino
lotus
nsd
application
email
server
3
The Salvation Army: Doing the Most Good
Mon, Jun 29th 2009 2:05p Frank Paolino The official charity of MayFlower Software
is now the Salvation Army, a group that has for many years been reaching
out to help others.
Here is their Mission Statement
The Salvation Army, an international movement,
is an evangelical part of the universal Christian Church. Its message is
based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by the love of God. Its mission
is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in
His name without discrimination.
Here is their [read] Keywords: lotus
lotusphere
notes
email
virus
Mt. Monadnock Climb
Thu, Jun 4th 2009 5:48p Frank Paolino Here is a photo from today's hike
of Mt. Monadnock, a 3,165 foot mountain, and the most climbed peak in the
U.S. (The second most climbed mountain in the world after Mt. Fuji in Japan).
This is Frank Paolino on the left
with Ed Sasena, another software developer of Anros Applications in Concord
MA. We reached the top in 1 hour 45 minutes. Not bad for a couple of computer
geeks.
Now, not to take away from our climb,
but our own Dan Calkin (see arrow), looking for new ways [read] Keywords: applications
2
You're Fired!
Mon, May 18th 2009 3:46p Frank Paolino This spam subject caught my attention: "I
Found You a New Job". But wait. It is from the human resources
department. I guess this means I am fired!
If we had a human resource department, I
might have been scared by the subject, but we don't. Also, as the boss,
I know when I am going to be fired, and in fact I have fired myself in
the past after a notable mistake on my part (which will go unmentioned).
I also like the line in the body of the email
"Hang out with more Benjamin [read] Keywords: email
3
Technical Support Done Right
Mon, May 11th 2009 3:45p Frank Paolino I often joke that, unlike in
college, I face problems where the answer is not in the back of
the book. Technical Support Done Right, as described
below, focuses on how I find a way to solving a problem
through
- Subject Matter Knowledge
- Ownership and
- Tenacity.
Tech Support, as it is generally defined, implies giving information to
a customer so they can resolve the problem. But that is not how I look
at it. That definition lacks a certain quality that is criti [read] Keywords: sametime
email
google
2
Reseller in Paris
Wed, May 6th 2009 10:05a Frank Paolino Sometimes this is a tough job. Here
is Allison Cote meeing Jean-Pierre Venancio at Fouquet's Restaurant
on the Champs-Elysees in Paris.
For the record, Jean-Pierre's company,
Activweb.fr
after an excellent cafe at Fouquet's, decided to be our Hosted SpamSentinel
partner in France. [read] Keywords:
2
Swine Flu Spam
Fri, May 1st 2009 8:46a Frank Paolino Here are some of the subjects we are
seeing about the Swine Flu. All are selling anatomy enhancements.
Spammers let no crisis go unexploited!
Madonna caught swine flu!
Jolie caught swine flu
America against swine flu!
Swine flu in NY [read] Keywords:
4
The Incredible Power of One
Thu, Apr 30th 2009 8:45a Frank Paolino So here is a great internal campaign created
by Marie Scott
of the Virginia Commonwealth University.
Others have blogged about it, and I wanted
to do the same as it is a really cool internal document to support the
rollout of Notes 8.5.
It looks very Apple-like to me, which is
a compliment!
Link
to Marie Scott "The Incredible Power of One"
Here are some quick shots of her campaign.
I love the graphics! [read] Keywords: document
lotus
notes
apple
bleedyellow
bleedyellow.com
6
Admin Show
Fri, Apr 17th 2009 11:07a Frank Paolino The Admin 2009 show was this week. As
always, it was great to get out, meet customers and talk to other Lotus
Notes Business Partners.
Here I am (Frank Paolino) talking with
Mark Allred of JPI ( www.jpidev.com
) a Hosted SpamSentinel customer. [read] Keywords: admin
lotus
notes
3
One Minute Video: How to Use Manage By Example
Wed, Mar 11th 2009 9:45a Frank Paolino SpamSentinel Manage By Example
(MBE) lets you manage your Inbox, Newsletters and Junk Mail by dragging
messages to one of three folders:
Allowed List
Denied List
Newsletter List
One-Minute Video of SpamSentinel MBE:
These "examples" teach SpamSentinel
MBE where you want to receive the next messages from that same sender.
These messages will appear in the corresponding folders
1. Allowed List -> Inbox
2. Denied List -> Junk [read] Keywords: notes
application
email
3
Manage EMail By Example
Tue, Mar 3rd 2009 11:08a Frank Paolino We have a new addition to email management
for our SpamSentinel customers. The basic idea is to drag a mail message
into one of 3 lists to manage future emails:
1. Allowed List
2. Denied List
3. Newsletter List
New Messages will appear in the corresponding
folders
1. Allowed List -> Inbox
2. Denied List -> Junk
3. Newsletter List -> Newletters (above
Junk folder)
Uses:
Any message found in Junk from SpamSentinel
can be "Allowed" and it will never b [read] Keywords: domino
blackberry
email
3
Internal Revenue Service - Tax Refound
Mon, Feb 16th 2009 10:10a Frank Paolino I found this in the spam folder. It
is a lame attempt at getting information in exchange for a "promised"
$620.50. It would have helped if the subject was spelled correctly. Refund
is correct, Refound does not exist:
Internal Revenue Service - Tax Refound
Here is the lame email:
After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined
that you are eligible to receive a tax refund under section 501 (c) (3)
of the
Internal Revenue Code. [read] Keywords: email
exchange
exchange
security
3
A Sympathy Card for Hallmark Greeting Cards
Fri, Feb 13th 2009 9:09a Frank Paolino I would like to send a sympathy card
to Hallmark. The reason is that they have built a business around e-greeting
cards, which makes it easy to say something nice (we all need more of that).
However, spoofing their business model
is the current modus operandi of many spammers. And many or most email
users know this, too.
Which makes it difficult ot click on
any attachment or link in an email.
With Valentines day approaching February
14, beware of these cards!
Th [read] Keywords: email
security
virus
3
Nobody's Perfect
Mon, Feb 2nd 2009 4:50p Frank Paolino In a rolling perfect storm of errors,
in one day Google marked all websites as bad
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/this-site-may-harm-your-computer-on.html
and, in conjunction with that marked
all mail as spam.
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/this-mornings-spam-filter-issue.html
Being in the business, I feel for them,
as it was a regular update gone awry that caused the problem. I am sure
no one in that group slept over the weekend. I think we don't realize how [read] Keywords: lotus
notes
blackberry
google
smtp
4
Nobody's Perfect
Mon, Feb 2nd 2009 3:08p Frank Paolino In a rolling perfect storm of errors,
in one day Google marked all websites as bad
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/this-site-may-harm-your-computer-on.html
and, in conjunction with that marked
all mail as spam.
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/this-mornings-spam-filter-issue.html
Being in the business, I feel for them,
as it was a regular update gone awry that caused the problem. I am sure
no one in that group slept over the weekend. I think we don't realize how [read] Keywords: lotus
notes
blackberry
google
smtp
2
Lotusphere Wrapup
Fri, Jan 23rd 2009 8:45a Allison Cote The Product Showcase portion of Lotusphere
2009 was really great this year. We were fortunate to have MayFlower staff,
business partners worldwide and three customers help out at the booth.
Lotusphere 2009 Product Showcase opened
on Monday, January 19th on Martin Luther King's birthday observation. This
year Lotusphere had another notable event - the Inauguration of the 44th
President of the United States - Barak Obama - on Tuesday, January 20th.
The showcase paused while we all scr [read] Keywords: domino
ibm
lotus
lotusphere
notes
office
taking notes
2
Lotusphere Party
Tue, Jan 6th 2009 1:26p Frank Paolino It's that time of year again, Lotusphere,
where we invite all of our customers to drink and eat at our lively Customer
Appreciation Reception, right
before the Lotus Welcome Reception. We
appreciate your business, and we'd like to take this opportunity to thank
you.
Usually, everyone is in a good mood,
having just arrived in Orlando. We intend to continue the good mood with
a few beverages and some fun! We had really hot weather 2 years ago (80
degrees F 27C) and really cold weat [read] Keywords: lotus
lotusphere
email
3
Predictions for 2009
Wed, Dec 31st 2008 11:26a Frank Paolino Let me make a risky prediction for 2009:
Spam Volume will increase next year. Wow, that was a tough one!
Other "risky" predictions
for 2009:
- IT budgets will be static or declining
in 2009
- IT Staffers will be expected to do
more work
- More companies will apply for bailouts
- Gasoline prices will rise
- The cost of a Senate seat in Illinois
will increase
- Bernie Madoff will not take on any
new investors in 2009
- Some wrong facts will be posted on
the inter [read] Keywords: apple
ipod
4
Christmas Wishes
Wed, Dec 24th 2008 4:26p Frank Paolino As a Christmas wish, I will quote Charles
Dickens who portrays two different sentiments of love, friendship and caring
through his marvellous caricature of Scrooge.
First, as the owner of a business, I
email this quote to all employees as a joke, but it is a great representation
of Scrooge's miserliness:
"You'll want all day
tomorrow, I suppose?'' said Scrooge.
"If quite convenient, Sir.''
"It's not convenient,'' said Scrooge,
"and it's not fair. If I was to stop h [read] Keywords: email
Free Speech or Spam?
Mon, Dec 8th 2008 11:29a Frank Paolino A University of Michigan student disagreed
with a proposed policy change concerning the length of the school week.
Deciding to make her views known, she sent an email to about 400 faculty
members arguing against the change. The result? Well, instead of responding
to her concerns, they brought her in for disciplinary charges (and possible
suspension) for sending spam.
Here is the email from Kara Spencer, representing
Associated Students of Michigan State
University (ASMSU) and the Un [read] Keywords: policies
community
email
office
php
4
"Notes Floats My Boat" Translation
Fri, Dec 5th 2008 10:28a Frank Paolino Make sure your language is on the t-shirt!
Here are some of the initial responses
to the
Notes Floats My Boat
t-shirt translation. We are working to finalize
this for Lotusphere 2009.
If you make a suggestion that is chosen,
we will give you a t-shirt at Lotusphere (or mail it if you cannot attend
Lotusphere).
I marked the current "best" answer
in bold red,
but we are still missing languages and input. So, please reply with any
suggestions.
German
[read] Keywords: lotusphere
notes
2
1
Domino Effect
Mon, Dec 1st 2008 10:29a Frank Paolino With Lotusphere 2009 coming soon, and
with Lotus Notes gurus coming from many different countries, I thought
this Domino video celebrating 30 different national flags would be appropriate.
No, not IBM Lotus Domino, the other kind of Dominos, the fun kind (well
that might be debatable).
It took 2 boys 24 working hours setting
up 32,130 Dominos, representing 30 national flags. [read] Keywords: domino
ibm
lotus
lotusphere
notes
application
2
Hallmark E-card
Fri, Nov 28th 2008 12:08p Nick McCann Given the imminent holiday season I
was not surprised to find this in my personal Hotmail Inbox today. For
those of you who have used the Hallmark service to send and receive e-cards
I'm sure you'll agree that this one (almost) looks just like any other,
except for the spelling mistake in the title (received is spelled recieved).
Maybe you won't notice that, but I did however expect to see my name at
the top of the message (it is not there):
My suspicions were confirmed in the
[read] Keywords:
2
Thanksgiving Wishes
Tue, Nov 25th 2008 9:09a Frank Paolino So here is my prayer for Thanksgiving:
I want to give thanks to all the people
that I associate with via the blogosphere. Like the Pilgrims and the Indians,
we often come from different backgrounds. And like them, we don't always
agree, but we need to find a way to get along, even when we disagree (especially
when we disagree). We spend a lot of on-line time working together in all
forms of groups. These groups often become polarized, and much anger and
vitriol is spewed against those [read] Keywords: forms
community
wiki
2
Kaizen for Product Development
Thu, Nov 20th 2008 8:49a Frank Paolino Kaizen (改善, Japanese for "continuous
improvement") is a very interesting concept. I attempt to apply Kaizen
to product development at Maysoft. For me, this means going over each product
feature and looking for areas for improvement.
For example, the most obvious feature that
needs attention in the world of SpamSentinel and spam blocking in general
is the need to continuously improve the block rate. When we released SpamSentinel
in 2003, it blocked 70% of spam, and we wer [read] Keywords: lotus
lotusphere
notes
template
blogging
development
email
wiki
2
The Three Laws of Customer Support
Mon, Nov 17th 2008 9:29a Frank Paolino Someone asked me why I don't hire cheaper
help for our support staff. You see, we
only hire experienced Lotus Notes administrators or excellent Lotus Notes
developers in our customer support. So I did a little bit of math on the
subject of Customer Support. Having majored in Chemistry, I like equations
and formulas. These equations are beautiful, in that they are simple and
precise. Today, I attempt to translate some business principles related
to customer support into mathematical equati [read] Keywords: lotus
notes
6
How to Build a Botnet
Fri, Nov 14th 2008 10:49a Frank Paolino So, one Washington Times reporter did
what a whole "Can Spam" act couldn't do, make a significant dent
in spam. It is still down 2/3, which worldwide is huge!
It did make me start to think that if
we could figure out how the botnets work technically, then we could begin
to shut them down. To defeat an enemy, you must think like them. So, to
understand how to build a botnet in detail, I decided to do a "thought
experiment" of building a sustainable fault tolerant botnet system.
So, t [read] Keywords: email
server
virus
2
Worldwide Spam Volume Down 60% !!!
Thu, Nov 13th 2008 9:29a Frank Paolino One spam controlling source, McColo
in San Jose, was shut down. The result was that the botnet it controls
basically had nothing to do. This botnet is responsible for 60% of spam,
and its demise means everyone is noticing a 60% drop in spam worldwide
in one single day! We have noticed it internally, dropping from 250K message
daily to 90K.
Our phones are ringing with SpamSentinel
customers who want to know where their spam is. Well, it never arrived
in the first place!
Maybe if [read] Keywords:
2
"Notes Floats My Boat" worldwide translation
Wed, Nov 12th 2008 10:29a Frank Paolino We love this t-shirt. It says "Notes
Floats My Boat" in English. But what does it mean in German? Russian?
French? Chinese? Spanish? Japanese? Italian? Swedish? Polish? Portuguese?
Probably nothing, as it is an idiomatic expression. So, we are looking
to make an international t-shirt that expresses our feelings about Lotus
Notes, with as many languages represented as we possibly can.
So, we are calling on the Notes community,
native speakers of all languages, tell us how you say "Not [read] Keywords: lotus
lotusphere
notes
community
5
Use the JunkMail folder!
Tue, Nov 11th 2008 12:29p Frank Paolino It is time for users of SpamSentinel
to use the JunkMail folder. Here is what I mean:
SpamSentinel categorizes email messages
at the Lotus Domino server as Spam-B, Spam-C and Spam-D. Working with over
100 million spam messages daily, we have learned that Spam-D never has
false positives.
Spam-B is the only category that needs
user checking. For most users, this category has less than 10 messages
daily. Putting it all in once place, the Junk mail folder, is convenient
and lets [read] Keywords: domino
lotus
email
server
2
World Welcomes Obama's Win
Thu, Nov 6th 2008 9:10a Frank Paolino This is the subject of a new spam/malware
outbreak. The attackers wasted no time on this virus flood. The election
ended November 4 at 11 PM EST. This "headline spam" attack started
on our servers the next day. I am sure a "McCain" attack was
also queued up in case he won. The spammers are probably agnostic on the
topic of American politics. They only wanted any famous person for
the headline.
The virus poses as an "upgrade"
to your flash player needed to look at Obama's speech. It [read] Keywords: domino
smtp
virus
2
SpamSentinel for 64 Bit Domino
Wed, Nov 5th 2008 12:28p Frank Paolino I now know why 64 bit Domino is gaining
in popularity. It really gives Domino access to so many more memory resources.
Performance is not limited by the old 2 gig RAM barrier for applications.
So we are happily releasing the 64 bit version of SpamSentinel to beta
customers this week. The conversion from 32 bit to 64 bit was no fun, but
that is why they call it work!
SpamSentinel also has less constraints
on processing, and it shows! We are seeing much faster throughput,
past the 2 [read] Keywords: domino
applications
email
server
virus
4
SpamSentinel v 7.6 Released
Wed, Oct 29th 2008 10:48a Frank Paolino We have released SpamSentinel version 7.6
to the world. Version 7.6 for Domino is extremely stable with blocking
rates in the 99.5% range!
What is Different in Version 7.6?
Version 7.5 used two spam checking engines.
This sometimes caused a "tie" if the engines did not agree. We
decided to check with RBLs to break the tie, with great success. We do
not advocate using RBLs by themselves but, in combination with other checks,
they do have a place. Everything else works as before. Wit [read] Keywords: domino
lotus
notes
linux
server
2
Jason's Customer Support Feedback
Tue, Oct 14th 2008 5:29p Frank Paolino I could add a lot of comments here,
but these stand on their own. This is customer feedback left after support
calls by customers to Jason Baird.
Jason was
great - really saved my bacon!!!
Very impressed,
great service - Jason is a legend. 40+ angry users are now pacified
I am very
happy to work with Maysoft team ! Regards Giancarlo
excellent
as usual!
very good!
I really appreciate the support that Maysoft gives!
I can't say
enough about Jason. [read] Keywords: domino
server
3
What is Haptic Feedback?
Thu, Oct 9th 2008 10:07a Frank Paolino So the new Blackberry Storm is soon
to be released. There is no keyboard, just a simulated keyboard on
the touchscreen. One of the major problems with the iPhone is that
you can hit the wrong letter and not know it. Blackberry fixes this with
Haptic feedback. Haptic feedback is designed to let you know you have actually
"clicked" something, so the user knows a key has been touched
by feeling a slight sensation under the finger. I can't get one yet, so
I can't describe it more than that. [read] Keywords: blackberry
iphone
3
A World Without Spam Filters?
Wed, Sep 3rd 2008 3:48p Frank Paolino After looking at our spam blocking statistics
for yesterday (we blocked 279,706 messages on our 2 Domino SMTP gateways),
I wondered what the world would be like if we had no spam filters?
After I pondered this question for some time, I finally decided that the
only way to really know the answer is to stop the automated blocking and
just see what happens. After all, SpamSentinel has been working so well
for so long that I've forgotten what it is like to live without a Spam
filter. So I hav [read] Keywords: domino
lotus
notes
blackberry
email
server
smtp
4
YouTube Video Spam
Fri, Aug 22nd 2008 9:49a Frank Paolino YouTube videos are safe, but not this
malware spam! Here is the latest way to get people to click on a
link. It looks like a YouTube video. Those are "safe",
so we can click on this right! Wrong. Look at the URL
the link goes to, below. It loads an EXE malware file. It is
pretty convincing. The picture below is a snapshot. The actual
email has an animated GIF and is very realistic. I think a lot of people
will click on it as it look harmless.
Allison spotted this in [read] Keywords: lotus
notes
email
2
Journalists shot in Georgia
Wed, Aug 20th 2008 11:31a Frank Paolino We are seeing millions of these emails
containing a malware payload. The subject is more "Headline
News" spam, but all the messages contain the same zip file Georgia.zip
which has one file inside, joined.exe, which they claim is a
photo, (and somehow uses a photo icon in Windows), but of course it is
more malware. Here is a sample:
SpamSentinel caught this as an Unnamed
Virus, meaning our anti-spam filters detected it as a zero-hour threat.
This is good because it is passwor [read] Keywords: password
virus
2
Insane things Lotus Notes People Do
Thu, Aug 14th 2008 10:09a Frank Paolino Well not exactly canoeing up the mountain,
more like hiking up the mountain (which is 3,165 feet at its peak, a climb
of about 1,800 vertical feet) with a canoe OVER your head.
Who is the crazy Lotus Notes
person who did this?
Our very own Dan Calkin, who
manages our Lotus Notes software development.
I asked him the obvious question, "WHY
WOULD ANYONE DO THAT"?
"Well, back in 1997 I was hiking
that mountain just about every weekend during the summer for [read] Keywords: lotus
notes
development
2
Yellow Day Giveaway, part 2
Mon, Aug 11th 2008 2:51p Frank Paolino Because the first 10 Notes Floats
My Boat t-shirts are already gone, we are giving away 10 more in honor
of Yellow Day.
Just leave your email and we will contact
you for your physical location.
Giveaway terms: We will send the
T-shirt anywhere in the world at our cost except where a customs duty is
required to be paid. One T-shirt per person. We will email
you for your physical address, so you do not have to post it on the site.
To the rest, you can get a screen save [read] Keywords: notes
email
2
Yellow Day Giveaway
Mon, Aug 11th 2008 11:11a Frank Paolino Yellow Day is a great idea! We
have mother's day, birthdays, anniversaries and holidays, so why not a
day celebrating the most important thing in our professional lives, Lotus
Notes and Domino!
In trying to find an appropriate way
to celebrate, we decided a giveaway would make the most sense. So,
the first 10 people who leave their email address can get one our Notes
Floats My Boat T-shirts in bright Yellow!
To the rest, you can get a screen saver
or background here:
[read] Keywords: domino
lotus
notes
email
2
IBM Granted "Paper-or-Plastic?" Patent
Thu, Aug 7th 2008 1:49p Frank Paolino IBM Granted "Paper-or-Plastic?" Patent
(from Slashdot
)
"On Tuesday, IBM was granted US Patent No. 7,407,089
for storing a preference for paper or plastic grocery bags on customer
cards and displaying a picture of said preference after a card is scanned.
The invention, Big Blue explains, eliminates the 'unnecessary inconvenience
for both the customer and the cashier' that results when 'Paper or Plastic?'
must be asked. The patent claims also cover affixing a cute sticker of
a paper o [read] Keywords: ibm
4
IBM to file for bankruptcy
Wed, Aug 6th 2008 11:29a Frank Paolino Well, it got my attention, too. It
was in my Lotus Notes Junk Mail folder, but I couldn't resist looking at
it. It falls into the spam category "Headline Spam", all
of it false, or playing on current news and events. The spammers
use sensational headlines to get the recipient to open the message. Interestingly,
the IBM message had no connection to the subject, but had another unrelated
headline. Maybe the spammer thinks that if one scare tactic headline does
not get results, adding a s [read] Keywords: ibm
lotus
notes
email
exchange
exchange
facebook
microsoft
virus
2
New Type of Spam based on Flash
Wed, Jul 30th 2008 12:09p Frank Paolino A new spam tactic emerged earlier this week,
that makes use of hyperlinks to Macromedia Flash files that automatically
redirect to a spammer site. In the initial outbreak, the spammer
site was of the “Canadian Pharmacy” type, however the same tactic could
be used for any type of spam, or even redirection to malware sites.
The Flash files themselves are hosted on legitimate image-hosting sites
(in this outbreak Image Shack was used to host the files). This is one
more way [read] Keywords: email
4
Industry's First Collaborative Threat Detection System
Mon, Jul 14th 2008 1:23p Frank Paolino Our partner in spam blocking, Cloudmark,
has just received a patent on their Global Threat Network system.
What an exciting announcement! For the last 5 years, we have been asserting
that the Community Approach to Blocking Spam is the best way to beat the
spammers. Although the spammers have made some counter attacks, the Cloudmark
technology that we integrate into SpamSentinel consistently self-corrects
and finds a way to block the spam. It first dealt with polymorphic spam,
then random [read] Keywords: admin
lotus
notes
community
network
virus
2
Boston Celtics Trophy
Mon, Jul 7th 2008 10:45a Frank Paolino I was invited to Nashawtuc Country Club by
Ed Sasena to see the Bank of America Championship. I watched a lot of golf,
and it happened that a Nashawtuc member and one of the owners of the Boston
Celtics, Steve Pagliuca, managed to bring the 2008 World Champion Boston
Celtics Trophy on Saturday, June 21. I had a picture taken with the
trophy. There were lip marks on the basketball, but I abstained from
kissing it. Notice that I kept my water bottle cool with the
Notes Floats My Boat ko [read] Keywords: notes
2
Wall Street Journal - Real Message About Spam
Wed, Jun 18th 2008 5:06p Frank Paolino I read an interesting article from Lee Gomes
of the Wall Street Journal. He looked at his company's internal spam
policies and was not happy with the result:
"...Inboxes were suddenly
free of offers for prescription medicines, mortgage refinances, crude erotica
and all the other mainstays of the spam economy. Regular email life could
resume--spam-free. It looked like another victory for technology in the
hands of the good guys... [However] the antispam system had been so effect [read] Keywords: lotus
notes
policies
email
vmware
2
I Just Got Whacked with 440 Backscatter Emails Overnight!
Tue, Jun 17th 2008 9:46a Frank Paolino So I opened up my Inbox this morning
and found 4 backscatter messages. 2 of them were out of office replies
from Harvard University, my guess is some professors who are done with
this semester. At first I was disappointed that SpamSentinel had missed
this backscatter until I looked at my Lotus Notes Junk Mail folder, and
found 440 messages stopped since I checked my email just last night at
about 9 PM, about 12 hours ago.
It looks like I was the (un)lucky spoofed
sender for a new [read] Keywords: domino
lotus
notes
email
office
server
2
SpamSentinel 7.5.3.6 Aggressive Backscatter Prevention
Thu, Jun 5th 2008 10:26a Frank Paolino Some users want to aggressively stop
all Backscatter. Using SpamSentinel version 7.5.3.6, you can
block even more Backscatter right at your Domino server. Here are
the settings from the SpamSentinelAdmin.nsf server config document:
Notice the Aggressive option.
This will block the most common Backscatter offenders, such as Challenge
/ Response systems, EML attachments, Delivery Failures and Out of Office
Replies. It will also block some real delivery failure reports or
out [read] Keywords: document
domino
lotus
notes
email
office
server
6
No Backscatter for Lotus Domino Project
Wed, May 21st 2008 12:47p Frank Paolino We have built
a free server addin for Lotus Notes and Domino, to help reduce Backscatter
that arrives at your Domino servers.
Backscatter is a big problem for all
servers across the internet, and Lotus Domino servers are no exception.
We have created a "Stop Backscatter" project to help protect
Lotus Notes and Domino email users from email Backscatter.
We call this version SpamSentinel
NoBS, for No Backscatter. The software is a simple DLL
that you put in your Notes.ini. It w [read] Keywords: domino
lotus
notes
email
server
smtp
virus
2
Nick Had a Good Month
Fri, May 16th 2008 4:44p Frank Paolino Let me brag about the extremely positive
feedback Nick McCann has received from customers. Nick works in the U.K.
and is SpamSentinel support manager for U.K and Europe. There are
24 customer comments from the month of April here, averaging more than
one super-satisfied customer every working day!
Well done, Nick!
Comment
Feedback
Quick, satisfactory
and very helpful service.
very good
This is the
second or third time that I have worked with Nick [read] Keywords: blogSphere
server
2
Even a Dog can Earn a College Degree!
Tue, May 13th 2008 2:43p Frank Paolino Here is some good British humor, from
Luke and John, who put some "Earn a College Degree" spam to good
use. They got their dog, Sonny, a PhD degree at Ashwood University.
Meet Dr. Sonny, the PhD dog. His
credentials are excellent! [read] Keywords: application
2
With a Little Help From My Friends
Fri, May 9th 2008 10:01a Frank Paolino Here is a blog on a little positive
community activism. In Acton, MA, where I live and work, two of the
Mobil stations were selling an energy drink called "Cocaine".
Besides 3 1/2 times the caffeine of Red Bull (=3 shots of espresso), its
name bothers some of us. In particular, Chris Tejeda, a father of
4 in Acton did not like it. It is available in 2 Mobil stations near
his home. So he started a small movement, simply by standing up to
be counted, that resulted, in less than one week [read] Keywords: community
email
2
Admin 2008
Sun, May 4th 2008 9:37a Frank Paolino We just got back from Admin 2008. It
was a great show. We are happy to see the thriving Lotus Notes and
Domino community. Kudos for nice job go to The
View for putting this together. We
spent 2 days meeting a large variety of Lotus Notes users from around the
world. I spent a lot of time at the booth, listening to what people
are doing to battle spam, and meeting customers to listen to product feedback.
Backscatter
We also spent a lot of time discussing
the problem of Backscat [read] Keywords: admin
domino
lotus
notes
application
community
email
smtp
2
SpamSentinel Stops Backscatter
Wed, Apr 23rd 2008 5:37a Frank Paolino Although backscatter is not spam, many
of our Lotus Notes customers complain about it to us, as they know we can
be pretty creative when stopping unwanted email. I'll admit that
this one had us stumped for a few weeks. We tried to find a way to
distinguish between a backscatter email and good mail. Backscatter
is a common issue at the moment. What happens is that the spam sender forges
the return address so that it points to you. When the receiving server
rejects the message, due to an [read] Keywords: domino
lotus
notes
email
properties
server
smtp
2
How to Block Messages at the SMTP Level
Sat, Apr 12th 2008 9:00a Nick McCann New in SpamSentinel Version 7.5
SpamSentinel version 7.5 now contains a feature
that enables you to block almost 90% of your spam email before it reaches
your systems. This reduces bandwidth usage and also saves CPU processing
time and disk space. There are two options that you can use:
SMTP Silent Delete (Recommended)
This method will read just enough of the
message into memory to make an accurate judgement on whether it is confirmed
spam, this happens when both of our spam che [read] Keywords: admin
domino
notes
database
email
server
smtp
4
SpamSentinel Now Blocks Spam at the SMTP Level
Mon, Apr 7th 2008 8:50a Frank Paolino So, in reply to some of my postings,
many people replied that they want to stop the spam at the SMTP connection
layer, a feature RBLs provide. You want to cut down traffic and work on
the Lotus Domino email server.
We hear you loud and clear.
In a frantic week of development and
testing, we have enhanced SpamSentinel to reject spam during the SMTP connection.
And the results are truly fantastic!
On our inbound SMTP gateways, SpamSentinel
v 7.5 stops over 90% of email rec [read] Keywords: connect
domino
lotus
notes
database
development
email
server
smtp
virus
2
Case Study of DoS attack
Sun, Mar 30th 2008 9:11p Frank Paolino The flood of Non-delivery reports (also
known as Backscatter)
due to legitimate servers sending out non-Delivery Reports to other legitimate
servers has been really noticeable this week. We have had many customers
call to see if others were reporting the same surge. These non-delivery
reports are not technically spam, as both parties are legitimate, but it
is really a big nuisance. If the forged "from" is the same
sender for thousands or millions of spam messages, the resultant non-del [read] Keywords: administration
connections
domino
application
email
microsoft
network
security
server
smtp
7
RBL 'relays.ordb.org' springs back to life.
Wed, Mar 26th 2008 3:41a Nick McCann I have received a number of customer
calls in the past 24 hours where all inbound mail is being blocked as spam
at the Domino server. Subsequent research into the issue showed that the
DNS RBL (Real-time Black List) at relays.ordb.org is the cause.
The ORDB blacklist was created by Thomas
Jensen in 2001, it ceased operation on December 18, 2006 and the website
was retired on December 31 with the following message, however it appears
to have been live yesterday (perhaps spammers have h [read] Keywords: domino
lotus
community
email
network
server
4
Why do I get spam that is NOT addressed to me?
Tue, Mar 25th 2008 12:00p Nick McCann Working in support I am often asked
this question: a customer opens a spam message in the SpamSentinel Quarantine.nsf
and the "To" field of the email does not contain their name.
Also, their email address is nowhere to be found in the message. Why is
that?
Well, the answer is quite simple. The
"To" field on an email is there purely for cosmetic purposes
and spammers can enter anything they like here, it will not affect message
delivery. The real address is contained within the SMTP e [read] Keywords: domino
forms
lotus
notes
notes client
email
server
smtp
2
Phishing Spam that is Not Fooling Anyone
Mon, Mar 24th 2008 6:56a Frank Paolino We got a few hundred of these last week
in our SpamSentinel Quarantine database. They are trying to scare people
into clicking a link to download a software program the helps in some vague
way. But it really does not work at all. Why? Because
the text was written in non-American English, meaning it jumps out at you
as a fake. The biggest item is the replacement of the decimal point
with a comma, which definitely is uncommon usage in America. SpamSentinel
caught all of these, but even [read] Keywords: lotus
notes
database
email
5
Thwarting Phishers in Online Banking
Thu, Mar 20th 2008 10:06a Frank Paolino Phishing protection is critical to maintain
a safe online experience. Lotus Notes email users, like all email
users, get a lot of Phishing emails trying to steal from you. Hopefully,
it is stopped by your spam filter. Phishing is a special kind of
spam. Spam is mostly an attempt to make a sale to you. Phishing
spam, however, is much more serious, as they want to steal from
you. They are crooks.
One of the common Phishing expeditions
is to send an email that claims money was w [read] Keywords: lotus
notes
email
password
