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Gleaning Information From Emails

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(@e4nzix)
Posts: 12
Active Member
Topic starter
 

So I received this email from a person whom I do not know. In the subject line it says "mark". I am not Mark, but I suppose it could refer to the verb form. In the body it simply reads,
"The bird smokes the sexy structure after the owner".

Being a suspecting and clever creature, I responded with a rhyme of my own
"The rabbit eats on the window sill after the door has been shut!".

Does anyone know of if there is a reason I receive emails like this? I've received maybe 2-3 throughout the last 10 years or so out of the blue from random people. Maybe I'm being to paranoid, but it seems there is something to this. Help is appreciated.

Thanks

 
Posted : 12/02/2014 1:04 am
jaclaz
(@jaclaz)
Posts: 5133
Illustrious Member
 

NOT what you asked 😯 , but while you seem definitely like a "suspecting and clever creature" ) I can tell you that you have not a bright future as a poet. wink
Your reply IMHO lacks the nonsense of the original.

For NO apparent reason
http//scillasylum.tumblr.com/post/35714958475/the-quick-brown-fox-jumps-over-the-lazy-dog-i

jaclaz

 
Posted : 12/02/2014 1:23 am
jhup
 jhup
(@jhup)
Posts: 1442
Noble Member
 

Congratulations. You have successfully subscribed to the largest number of spam lists with a single e-mail.

The sentence is random words not in trigger list (usually in a Bayesian filter) for spam. It is there to trigger a response from a dupe, but not from filters. Computers, and non-existent mailboxes rarely respond to e-mails. If they do, they respond with a very specific bounce or automated message. This is not the case with dupes. Such dupe's e-mail will be recorded and the value of the dupe's e-mail address just went up from $0.0001 to almost $0.01! Promptly such responding e-mails are collated and sold to third parties en masse.

mrgreen or, this was just a Turing test by your future boss.

So I received this email from a person whom I do not know. In the subject line it says "mark". I am not Mark, but I suppose it could refer to the verb form. In the body it simply reads,
"The bird smokes the sexy structure after the owner".

Being a suspecting and clever creature, I responded with a rhyme of my own
"The rabbit eats on the window sill after the door has been shut!".

Does anyone know of if there is a reason I receive emails like this? I've received maybe 2-3 throughout the last 10 years or so out of the blue from random people. Maybe I'm being to paranoid, but it seems there is something to this. Help is appreciated.

Thanks

 
Posted : 12/02/2014 6:58 am
(@e4nzix)
Posts: 12
Active Member
Topic starter
 

WANNNNDERFUL! Well, now all I need to do is go through each party and ask them to remove me from their email list, their calling list, and their junk snail mail list. I mean they're not going to email me because there is that law right lol. DOH! No wonder I get junk mail out the wazoo. Thank you! 😯

 
Posted : 12/02/2014 10:12 am
jaclaz
(@jaclaz)
Posts: 5133
Illustrious Member
 

There is also an alternate explanation.

  1. You are being stalked. 😯
  2. Your stalker is extremely patient/slow (2-3 mails over a ten years period).
  3. [/listo]

    jaclaz

 
Posted : 12/02/2014 4:10 pm
(@e4nzix)
Posts: 12
Active Member
Topic starter
 

LOL Jaclaz! I could see them now. 10 years worth of Cheetos dust on his fingers and keyboard, eyeballs big as golf balls and glazed over, newspapers piled against the front door 😯 It always comes from a different address and the address is always something that appears to be legit, like yours or mine. When I do get emails that I am suspicious of, instead of opening them, I always go to the properties, details tab, and then message source. That way I'm able to read the email and see what email address it really started from without downloading the content or exposing the system to the threat. I wish I knew more about how to decipher the email.

 
Posted : 12/02/2014 7:03 pm
jaclaz
(@jaclaz)
Posts: 5133
Illustrious Member
 

It always comes from a different address and the address is always something that appears to be legit, like yours or mine. When I do get emails that I am suspicious of, instead of opening them, I always go to the properties, details tab, and then message source. That way I'm able to read the email and see what email address it really started from without downloading the content or exposing the system to the threat. I wish I knew more about how to decipher the email.

Yep, though often it is possible to spoof an e-mail sender or at least get a "reasonably legit sounding" address.
More seriously, jhup may be a little pessimistic/catastrophic ? , but really there is no reason to reply to those e-mails, the news (or non-news) are that at least another person in the world has received that same email from Mark, just google for the exact sentence (including the double quotes) and you will find one report about it.

What I personally use (not necessarily a good idea, just a report) is a small program to download just the email object and a few lines of text for preview before even downloading the "whole" message
http//www.nakka.com/soft/npop/index_eng.html

@jhup
To be picky (as I actually am 😯 ) I would venture to say that computers rarely respond to e-mails, whilst non-existent mailboxes never do, as the mere act of responding would imply their existence, creating a nice chicken/egg loop.

jaclaz

 
Posted : 12/02/2014 8:51 pm
jhup
 jhup
(@jhup)
Posts: 1442
Noble Member
 

hmmm… going with that logic then no mailboxes ever respond, as the response is by the mail server, not the mailbox. To further annoy others, what part of the mail server that responds? Is it the inetd process, or is it that constructs the responding bounce message, or…? After all, what is "respond" mean here? Is delivery required for response, or just construction of the message is sufficient? Is the delivery considered the response, or the content? mrgreen

It used to be that non-existent mailboxes got a bounce message generated by mail servers.

@jhup
To be picky (as I actually am 😯 ) I would venture to say that computers rarely respond to e-mails, whilst non-existent mailboxes never do, as the mere act of responding would imply their existence, creating a nice chicken/egg loop.

jaclaz

 
Posted : 12/02/2014 10:38 pm
jaclaz
(@jaclaz)
Posts: 5133
Illustrious Member
 

It used to be that non-existent mailboxes got a bounce message generated by mail servers.

It depends.
I have experience with an ISP that provides (for a domain that I "manage") the possibility to set a "catch all" account.
Basically I have a number of mailboxes of the kind
name1.surname1@mysite.com
name2.surname2@mysite.com
for the people working in the company and one (the only "public" one) of the kind
info@mysite.com

Notwithstanding this I have an account of the kind
administrator@mysite.com
that I can (and have) setup as "catch all" account.

This means that you send a mail to (say)
whomever@mysite.com
or
randomstring@mysite.com
it is received fine and "lands" into the "catch all" account, and no bounce message is created.

Of course should I reply to one of such "wrong address" e-mails (though I never do so), I could do that only from the existent "administrator@mysite.com" mailbox (by mailbox I meant the sender).

The effect on the outside is not unlikely wink that of "a ship carrying a cargo that will never reach any port".

jaclaz

 
Posted : 12/02/2014 10:56 pm
(@e4nzix)
Posts: 12
Active Member
Topic starter
 

One of these days I hope to be as intelligent as you guys. It amazes me at the amount of knowledge you guys have when it comes to ANYTHING forensics. I can't wait to get into the DF part of classes. Have calculus and stats. to take and a technical writing class, and all the gen ed. will be done with the exception of a couple of senior level electives after I transfer. Thank you guys again and I can always count on you to help me out!

 
Posted : 13/02/2014 4:35 am
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