Linux Gazette: Stopping Spam on Your Linux Box

Spam’s no good and it seems to drive even level-headed people
crazy once they find themselves the target of enough of it. This
article spells out how to handle spam better, from basic
preventative tasks to more complex configuration of your MTA and
procmail.

If you have an e-mail account, you are bo doubt getting
mail that you have not asked for, and do not want in your inbox –
unsolicited e-mail (aka spam). What’s Spam? In 3D “meatspace”, it
is a luncheon meat manufactured by Hormel Corp (which also owns
http://www.spam.com). Spam on the net though is unsolicited e-mail,
unwanted e-mail, frequently sent in bulk and advertising some
commercial proposition. Most of the Spam you probably get, and what
this article deals with, is UC/BE (Unsolicited Commercial and/or
Bulk E-Mail).

If you have a linux (or *nix) box, you have a set of powerful
tools to stop all this spam from cluttering your inbox. These tools
are even more useful to you if you run a production mailserver and
want to stop spam from reaching your users.

The three cardinal rules of spamfighting are:

• Prevention is better than cure. Armor yourself against
  spam.
• Filter Spam before it reaches your mailbox
• Complain to the spammer’s ISP and get him shut down

Complete
Story