Thursday, February 19, 1998

Software designed to filter out spam, or junk, messages

By Julio Ojeda-Zapata / Knight Ridder Newspapers

Like many Internet users, David Duccini and John Osborn have been bombarded with spam in recent months. Unlike most, they have the expertise to mount a sophisticated counterattack.

Duccini and Osborn have co-developed software for personal-computer users that serves as an online "roadblock" to keep spammers from cluttering up e-mail inboxes with junk messages -- hence the program's name, RoadBlock.

The anti-spamming duo are among several experts who offer spam-blocking services.

Some Internet-service providers provide spam filtering for customers who don't want to download, install and configure their own spam-blocking software.

But many do, which is why such programs are proliferating. The University of Minnesota has created a SpeedTrap system for users of UNIX-based computers and workstations, for instance.

On the Windows side of the computing world, programs with names like SpammerSlammer, SpamKiller, SpamBuster, Spam Hater, Spam Exterminator, SpamScan97 and Spam Attack Pro deal with spam in different ways.

One common tack: using lists of known "spam houses" to create filters based on the spammers' e-mail addresses, domains and other common cues. But such lists must be continually updated.

Duccini and Osborn have taken a different approach with RoadBlock, a $20 Windows 95 and Windows NT application that is being distributed exclusively on the Internet (www.RoadBlock.net).

The program uses an arsenal of generic "rules" that resemble the message-handling filters built into most e-mail programs but are specifically designed to combat spam. For instance, RoadBlock can be set to block messages:

--That aren't addressed specifically to the recipient.

--That lack "from," "to" or subject fields.

--With the words "sex," "nude" or "XXX" in the subject field.

--With addresses in the "from" field consisting almost entirely of numbers.

--With the word "public" in the "to" field.

RoadBlock ships with a pre-configured set of rules, and users can create their own. When properly constructed, such rules create an invisible yet near-impregnable barrier between an ISP's server and an e-mail program such as Eudora Pro or Netscape Messenger.

Duccini and Osborn created RoadBlock after growing annoyed with the spam they continually received. Osborn estimates 15 to 20 percent of his incoming messages in recent months were of the junk variety.

"This was costing me time and money because it was keeping me from my work," says Osborn, who runs the Osborn Technologies software-development firm in Inver Grove Heights, Minn.

Duccini, who operates the St. Paul, Minn.-based BPSI Internet-service provider and also dabbles in software development, has received 525 spams (excluding duplicates) in the last three months. His collection includes the following subject headers:

--Turn Your Washing Machine Into A Cash Cow!!!

--Be a Man! Log on!

--Free Adult XXX Pics

--FREE HEALING SECRETS FROM THE BIBLE!

--We Will Loan you $59,000 And You NEVER Have To Repay Us

"I consider most of these offers to be an insult to common sense," Duccini says. "They're so insidious. You feel used when you're suckered into opening one of these messages. It's a violation of privacy."

But Duccini now craves spam in order to improve RoadBlock. He posts messages on Usenet newsgroups so spammers will spot his e-mail address and add it to their databases. "I'm spam-baiting," he jokes.

Vector customers also have been bombarded with spam in recent months. Mike Horwath, the ISP's system administrator, estimates that server-based spam filtering intercepts 1,000 to 5,000 junk messages a day.

Vector subscribers can protect themselves from spam by using a special domain name instead of the standard visi.com domain. Their messages are then routed through a server that is configured to block messages from known spammers.

This spam-house database, which lists more than 2,000 objectionable domains, is continually updated with help from Vector customers who post messages on a spam-related newsgroup, Horwath says.

Subscribers can exert a bit more control over their mail flow, if they wish. Vector allows them to log on to a server and create rules that are tailored to their tastes and habits.

"This takes a little bit of effort and a little bit of work," Horwath says. "But it isn't rocket science."