Re: [PHP] Secret Codes in Spam and PHP
i'm mail admin and works with spam filters I tell you some tricks to fix your problem: 1- If you email is HTML based, it should be correct. 2- If you put a unsuscribe code with the email address of the recipient the spam filter score high your email. 3- If you send a mail header X-Mailer: PHP some filters score high This are only a little tricks , for testing you should install a test spam filter , for example bogofilter, spamassassin ,or DSPAM. For example i have spamassassin configured to tell me what rules score my messages. P.D: Sorry for my bad english On Thu, 16 Sep 2004 15:14:14 -0500, Kristopher Spencer-Yates [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: As many of you may have noticed, A friend and I have noticed the odd text at the bottom of spam. My friend once stated What if this is some secret code.. they send it to everyone to hide that it is code.. but the person it is intended for knows how to decipher? Hmm.. interesting. So that got me to coding.. I havent had much time to tinker but I do have some Fred Wrixon books.. anyway overall just getting started on this off-time project. If this strange text at bottom of spam is indeed some ciphertext, they are probably using some old cipher methods. This thought is based simply on comparing known cipher appearance to that of the text in spam and often seeing some similarities. I was wondering if anyone else has wondered the same thing about the wierd text at the bottom of a lot of the spam, and if anyone has ever used PHP to create any cipher tools in an attempt to crack the following: Columnar Transposition ciphers Word transposition ciphers Franklin-Dumas cipher My first round is creating a script that goes through and takes various combinations (1st letter of each word, 3rd letter of every 3rd word, etc., etc., etc.,) I guess this is considered letter transposition ciphering. I have some vague ideas to incorporate dictionary database.. so if my script attempts to decrypt a peice of text with method 402 and the result contains actual words from a dictionary, it will flag it or save it to a seperate database.. something along those lines. This is just for fun... no one is sponsoring/financing anything here.. just wondering if anyone is interested in sharing ideas and/or code, philosophy, etc. Of course, this could be done in any language, or even on paper... I can burn a ream of notebook paper fast doing double columnar by hand but my interest is using PHP specifically. I figure, even if my friend is just crazy and no one is sending secret messages inside spam, it is at least going to be fun, rewarding in knowledge and the sharing of information and ideas. And if we do crack something, maybe Fred Wrixon can mention PHP in his next book. :) Kris -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php -- -- Fernando Gutierrez Perez -- gmeileando un poco :) -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
Re: [PHP] Secret Codes in Spam and PHP
On Thu, 2004-09-16 at 18:33, Matthew Sims wrote: I'm immune from assassins. Gunslingers, hatchet men and thugs, on the other hand, still present a problem. When I first read this I read thongs instead of thugs. It still made sense though :) Cheers, Rob. I don't think I'll ever be immune to thongs. -- --Matthew Sims --http://killermookie.org -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
Re: [PHP] Secret Codes in Spam and PHP
From: Kristopher Spencer-Yates [EMAIL PROTECTED] I was wondering if anyone else has wondered the same thing about the wierd text at the bottom of a lot of the spam, and if anyone has ever used PHP to create any cipher tools in an attempt to crack the following: The text is simply there to get past filters or to pollute adaptive filters with good words. If you get a spam that has see spot run as random text in it, you're filter may not mark it as spam. If you manually mark it as spam, your filter may think see, spot and run are spam words and start flagging legitimate emails as spam which may cause you to turn if off, lighten controls, etc, and possibly allow more spam through. Win-win situation for a spammer. Although, you make an interesting point and there's certainly nothing saying the text couldn't be used for what you describe. There could be messages hidden in the herbal viagra image, also. (that line will probably get this marked as spam for a lot of you, heh). So keep working on what you described; it could be interesting either way... ---John Holmes... -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
Re: [PHP] Secret Codes in Spam and PHP
On Friday 17 September 2004 04:14, Kristopher Spencer-Yates wrote: As many of you may have noticed, A friend and I have noticed the odd text at the bottom of spam. My friend once stated What if this is some secret code.. they send it to everyone to hide that it is code.. but the person it is intended for knows how to decipher? In the early days of spam filtering, one method was to simply take a spam message and hash it. The odd text at the bottom of the spam is a simple ploy to get around this particular method of spam detection. -- Jason Wong - Gremlins Associates - www.gremlins.biz Open Source Software Systems Integrators * Web Design Hosting * Internet Intranet Applications Development * -- Search the list archives before you post http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=php-general -- /* Not to laugh, not to lament, not to curse, but to understand. -- Spinoza */ -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
Re: [PHP] Secret Codes in Spam and PHP
-- Original message from Kristopher Spencer-Yates : -- As many of you may have noticed, A friend and I have noticed the odd text at the bottom of spam. My friend once stated What if this is some secret code.. they send it to everyone to hide that it is code.. but the person it is intended for knows how to decipher? Hmm.. interesting. Now that they know that we know, we're all in danger. Be on the look out for assassins. -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
Re: [PHP] Secret Codes in Spam and PHP
As many of you may have noticed, A friend and I have noticed the odd text at the bottom of spam. My friend once stated What if this is some secret code.. they send it to everyone to hide that it is code.. but the person it is intended for knows how to decipher? Hmm.. interesting. Now that they know that we know, we're all in danger. Be on the look out for assassins. I'm immune from assassins. Gunslingers, hatchet men and thugs, on the other hand, still present a problem. -- --Matthew Sims --http://killermookie.org --SpamAssassin User -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
RE: [PHP] Secret Codes in Spam and PHP
We should make that the new X-files movie. When good mail goes SPAM! Dustin Wish System Engineer Programmer INDCO Networks Pres. OSSRI Pres. WTA Arkansas Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) *** -Original Message- From: Jennifer Goodie [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, September 16, 2004 5:17 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: Kristopher Spencer-Yates; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [PHP] Secret Codes in Spam and PHP -- Original message from Kristopher Spencer-Yates : -- As many of you may have noticed, A friend and I have noticed the odd text at the bottom of spam. My friend once stated What if this is some secret code.. they send it to everyone to hide that it is code.. but the person it is intended for knows how to decipher? Hmm.. interesting. Now that they know that we know, we're all in danger. Be on the look out for assassins. -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
Re: [PHP] Secret Codes in Spam and PHP
On Thu, 2004-09-16 at 18:33, Matthew Sims wrote: I'm immune from assassins. Gunslingers, hatchet men and thugs, on the other hand, still present a problem. When I first read this I read thongs instead of thugs. It still made sense though :) Cheers, Rob. -- .-. | Worlds of Carnage - http://www.wocmud.org | :-: | Come visit a world of myth and legend where | | fantastical creatures come to life and the | | stuff of nightmares grasp for your soul.| `-' -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
Re: [PHP] Secret Codes in Spam and PHP
didn't realize how much i've been waiting for this post until you sent it. of course, the replies are correct. they're avoiding the spam filters. however, i also read 'thongs' instead of 'thugs'. good to know you're not alone. however, might be an interesting project. just to see what you come up with...i supsect the illuminati. they've infiltrated the most powerful groups on the planet...it stands to reason that they're inside the PHP community. On Thu, 16 Sep 2004 15:14:14 -0500, Kristopher Spencer-Yates [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: As many of you may have noticed, A friend and I have noticed the odd text at the bottom of spam. My friend once stated What if this is some secret code.. they send it to everyone to hide that it is code.. but the person it is intended for knows how to decipher? Hmm.. interesting. So that got me to coding.. I havent had much time to tinker but I do have some Fred Wrixon books.. anyway overall just getting started on this off-time project. If this strange text at bottom of spam is indeed some ciphertext, they are probably using some old cipher methods. This thought is based simply on comparing known cipher appearance to that of the text in spam and often seeing some similarities. I was wondering if anyone else has wondered the same thing about the wierd text at the bottom of a lot of the spam, and if anyone has ever used PHP to create any cipher tools in an attempt to crack the following: Columnar Transposition ciphers Word transposition ciphers Franklin-Dumas cipher My first round is creating a script that goes through and takes various combinations (1st letter of each word, 3rd letter of every 3rd word, etc., etc., etc.,) I guess this is considered letter transposition ciphering. I have some vague ideas to incorporate dictionary database.. so if my script attempts to decrypt a peice of text with method 402 and the result contains actual words from a dictionary, it will flag it or save it to a seperate database.. something along those lines. This is just for fun... no one is sponsoring/financing anything here.. just wondering if anyone is interested in sharing ideas and/or code, philosophy, etc. Of course, this could be done in any language, or even on paper... I can burn a ream of notebook paper fast doing double columnar by hand but my interest is using PHP specifically. I figure, even if my friend is just crazy and no one is sending secret messages inside spam, it is at least going to be fun, rewarding in knowledge and the sharing of information and ideas. And if we do crack something, maybe Fred Wrixon can mention PHP in his next book. :) Kris -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
