[SriParakalaMatham] Recent incident of Cyber Vandalism at a Sister List

[Guest guest]

One small suggestion if it is possible to implement. Straight away can we

ban attachments?

 

To a large extent this will eliminate the spam/junk problems because if a

mischief monger tries to disguise his identity by a legitimate name/ID,

he/she cannot continue for more than one or two instance for the simple

reason he/she will not have the requisite knowledge and comprehension to

respond to the mails.

 

His/Her language, content will be an open giveaway.The moderator can

immediately remove such member.

 

The other main way he/she can cause damage is through attachments.

 

We may have to sacrifice a bit. Over the past 1 year there have not been

many attachments to our interactions as such.This is based on the writer's

approximation.

 

If it becomes essential, why not two or three members known to each other

jointly send out a message to the moderator personally (in his/her

individual email address and not the group address) with a request to post.

Lets assume three members join and want to send out an enclosed message.

Member 1 sends out the attachment to the moderator while member 2 writes

separately to the moderator confirming the name and content of the file

which Moderator 1 is likely to send. Member 3 also sends out a separate

message to the moderator.

 

After getting three distinctly separate confirmations the moderator can

take an informed decision.

 

This process may seem somewhat bureacratic in the initial stages. But will

bring in discipline in the long run for attachment-related messages.

 

Will meanwhile try to suggest other measures also.

 

Om tat Sat

Tat tvam asi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sadagopan

<sgopan@computer

Oppiliappan,

.net> Srirangasri

cc:

Tiruvengadam,

06/07/03 07:22 saranagathi,

Raamabhakthi,

PM desikasampradaya,

Please respond srivenugopala,

to Parakalamatham

parakalamatham [sriParakalaMatham]

Recent incident of Cyber

Vandalism at a Sister List

 

 

 

 

 

SrI:

 

Dear BhakthAs:

 

It is most unfortunate that Cyber vandals and scam

artists continue to be on the prowl to attack non-suspecting

lists like ours .The recent incident experienced by

one of our sister lists is very regrettable.

 

Although as Moderators , most of us exercise approval control

over membership requests and messages sent , some times

these vandals assume stolen identity and send messages

under other legitimate members' names. They make their

moves based on volumes of mails . Further , they

latch on their despicable and abhorrent messages as

attachments to original messages. These vandals

have extremely deceptive ways to get in to anybody's

networks and address books and cause chaos. There does not

seem to be any technical solutions to prevent these attacks

except the drastic measure of recieving mails only from

those who is known to you personally .

 

My request to you all:

 

1. Please install virus scanning systems

even if it is not fool proof. Lot slips in.

 

2. Please reject all suspect mail with suspicious

titles and strangers .

 

3. Please be weary of attachments and those

ending with "SCR, EXE". Please reject them.

 

3. If any one knows how to stop these offenders

from interfering with our communications in

our Sathsangam lists,please let the moderators know .

 

Thanks very much ,

V.Sadagopan

 

 

 

shriimate laksmiihayagriiva lakshmiinaaraayanaabhyaaM namaH

Visit the Sri Parakala Matham Home Page at

http://www.parakalamatham.org

 

 

Your use of is subject to

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends:

 

In my incoming mail today there was a spam/junk mail which was deleted by

our system. But a alert was sent to me. I am not part of any group except

the above groups.

 

This mail was from " FUKUI MICHIHIKO (AT) (DOT) COM

 

Moderators of all the above groups pls investigate this and take

appropriate steps.

 

Om tat Sat

Tat tvam asi

[Guest guest]

Reading the posts from the last couple of days related to vandalism

and inappropriate posts by non-members in the guise of members, I

have the following suggestions to tighten controls for the group: -

 

1) To stop viruses from spreading, it was correctly pointed out by

Sriman Ramachandran that attachments be banned by the moderator. If

people want to send attachments, may I suggest they upload the

attachment to the FILES section of the website and then

send a normal post stating that has been uploaded. This way, those

who want to read the file may find it in the files section and

therefore the risk of an inappropriate post with an attachment

infecting every member's system is mitigated

 

2) To stop vandals from taking over a member's identity and posting

inappropriate messages to the group, it might be a good idea to make

the MEMBERS section inaccessible to everyone. That's assuming the

vandals get the address from this section but in some cases (as

pointed out by Sriman Sadagopan in an earlier post, they can get them

by intercepting mails or from personal addressbooks as well, which is

beyond our control anyway.

 

One final suggestion I have for all members is to install a firewall

that blocks intruders from accessing your systems without your

knowledge while you are connected to the internet. By accessing your

systems, they could take email addresses and much more - this has

become especially relevant considering many of us use broadband/cable

and are on always on connections to the internet. There are free

firewalls availale with varying degrees of effectiveness, I can

recommend ZoneAlarm http://www.zonelabs.com which is quite good. For

the technically minded, you can check how vulnerable your systems is

by using the resources available at this website http://www.grc.com

(I must add that I have no affiliation to either of these websites

and have suggested them based on personal experience and concern for

the security of the group and the members).

 

Regards

Krishnaswamy Santhanam

 

, s.ramachandran@h... wrote:

>

>

>

>

>

> One small suggestion if it is possible to implement. Straight away

can we

> ban attachments?

>

> To a large extent this will eliminate the spam/junk problems

because if a

> mischief monger tries to disguise his identity by a legitimate

name/ID,

> he/she cannot continue for more than one or two instance for the

simple

> reason he/she will not have the requisite knowledge and

comprehension to

> respond to the mails.

>

> His/Her language, content will be an open giveaway.The moderator can

> immediately remove such member.

>

> The other main way he/she can cause damage is through attachments.

>

> We may have to sacrifice a bit. Over the past 1 year there have not

been

> many attachments to our interactions as such.This is based on the

writer's

> approximation.

>

> If it becomes essential, why not two or three members known to each

other

> jointly send out a message to the moderator personally (in his/her

> individual email address and not the group address) with a request

to post.

> Lets assume three members join and want to send out an enclosed

message.

> Member 1 sends out the attachment to the moderator while member 2

writes

> separately to the moderator confirming the name and content of the

file

> which Moderator 1 is likely to send. Member 3 also sends out a

separate

> message to the moderator.

>

> After getting three distinctly separate confirmations the moderator

can

> take an informed decision.

>

> This process may seem somewhat bureacratic in the initial stages.

But will

> bring in discipline in the long run for attachment-related messages.

>

> Will meanwhile try to suggest other measures also.

>

> Om tat Sat

> Tat tvam asi

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

 

>

Sadagopan

 

> <sgopan@computer To:

Oppiliappan,

> .net>

Srirangasri

> cc:

Tiruvengadam,

> 06/07/03 07:22

saranagathi, Raamabhakthi,

> PM

desikasampradaya,

> Please respond

srivenugopala,

> to

Parakalamatham

> parakalamatham Subject:

[sriParakalaMatham] Recent incident of Cyber

> Vandalism at a

Sister List

>

 

>

>

>

>

> SrI:

>

> Dear BhakthAs:

>

> It is most unfortunate that Cyber vandals and scam

> artists continue to be on the prowl to attack non-suspecting

> lists like ours .The recent incident experienced by

> one of our sister lists is very regrettable.

>

> Although as Moderators , most of us exercise approval control

> over membership requests and messages sent , some times

> these vandals assume stolen identity and send messages

> under other legitimate members' names. They make their

> moves based on volumes of mails . Further , they

> latch on their despicable and abhorrent messages as

> attachments to original messages. These vandals

> have extremely deceptive ways to get in to anybody's

> networks and address books and cause chaos. There does not

> seem to be any technical solutions to prevent these attacks

> except the drastic measure of recieving mails only from

> those who is known to you personally .

>

> My request to you all:

>

> 1. Please install virus scanning systems

> even if it is not fool proof. Lot slips in.

>

> 2. Please reject all suspect mail with suspicious

> titles and strangers .

>

> 3. Please be weary of attachments and those

> ending with "SCR, EXE". Please reject them.

>

> 3. If any one knows how to stop these offenders

> from interfering with our communications in

> our Sathsangam lists,please let the moderators know .

>

> Thanks very much ,

> V.Sadagopan

>

>

>

> shriimate laksmiihayagriiva lakshmiinaaraayanaabhyaaM namaH

> Visit the Sri Parakala Matham Home Page at

> http://www.parakalamatham.org

>

>

> Your use of is subject to