🚀 go-pugleaf

On Sat, 04 Sep 1999 20:51:19 -0500, distler@golem.ph.utexas.edu
(Jacques Distler) wrote:

>In article <37d985c4.7783654@news.earthlink.net>, cultobill@earthlink.net
>(Bill "Houdini" Weiss) wrote:
>
>>>>I tried to run my address book through a link checker, which uses
>>>>finger protocol to see if user exists.
>>>>However it seems many ISPs have dropped finger daemons, so this is
>>>>not very useful.
>>>>Is this fingerd removal to stop spammers just fingering common names to
>>>>build up their list of addresses or what?
>>>>Secondly, is there another way of finding if e-mail address is still
>>>>valid, apart from just sending a test message?
>>
>>I must remark on the spam scenario.  Many versions allow either
>>"finger @host.net" or "fnger host.net" ( I can't honestly remember
>>which), and that will list users on the system.  This is bad.  Whether
>>for spam, or for the hacks, this is bad.
>><snip>
>
>So?
>
>Easy as it may be to disable fingerd entirely, it is equally trivial to
>install a version of fingerd which does not allow remote users do
>finger-forwarding or to "finger @host"  or otherwise gather 'sensitive'
>information.

Umm, that's what I was saying, kind of.  I meant to say that the @host
option needs to be taken care of.

--
Bill "Houdini" Weiss
PGP key: http://home.earthlink.net/~cultobill/bill_weiss.asc
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