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Email queue full of junk
Hi,
We are using Exchange Server 2003.
Under the queue list found at Servers | OurServer | Queues in exchange system manager we constantly seem to have loads of (what appear) to be just destinations waiting to be sent.
Is this purely the outbound mail waiting to go and would you suggest (based on the info above) that we have an infected machine that is trying to send spam via our exchange server? If not what are all these messages doing there?
Many thanks.
James.
We are using Exchange Server 2003.
Under the queue list found at Servers | OurServer | Queues in exchange system manager we constantly seem to have loads of (what appear) to be just destinations waiting to be sent.
Is this purely the outbound mail waiting to go and would you suggest (based on the info above) that we have an infected machine that is trying to send spam via our exchange server? If not what are all these messages doing there?
Many thanks.
James.
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1 Solution
Hi James,
An infected machine would not be using your exchange server to send mail, it would be using it's own smtp server, so you can stop worrying about that.
This is probably going to be the tail end of NDR spam. A spammer is sending mail to you from fake senders, and your server is trying to respond. What you would do to resolve this would be to implement Recipient Filtering and Tarpitting - which is explained here -> http://www.amset.info/exchange/filterunknown.asp
For the immediate problem of queues, you can use this guide to clear them out (and confirm you are not vulnerable) -> http://www.amset.info/exchange/spam-cleanup.asp
-red
An infected machine would not be using your exchange server to send mail, it would be using it's own smtp server, so you can stop worrying about that.
This is probably going to be the tail end of NDR spam. A spammer is sending mail to you from fake senders, and your server is trying to respond. What you would do to resolve this would be to implement Recipient Filtering and Tarpitting - which is explained here -> http://www.amset.info/exchange/filterunknown.asp
For the immediate problem of queues, you can use this guide to clear them out (and confirm you are not vulnerable) -> http://www.amset.info/exchange/spam-cleanup.asp
-red
Yes, they all appear to be "genuine" domains but not destinations we have sent mail to.
Sorry I dont understand your first point.
We are using anti-spam (brightmail / symantec) software but I it does not send anything back to the sender if it detects SPAM.
What about if a message has arrived into our exchange server with an invalid recipient then Exchange will send a message back saying recipient not found - could that also account for these messages?
Thanks.
Sorry I dont understand your first point.
We are using anti-spam (brightmail / symantec) software but I it does not send anything back to the sender if it detects SPAM.
What about if a message has arrived into our exchange server with an invalid recipient then Exchange will send a message back saying recipient not found - could that also account for these messages?
Thanks.
>>What about if a message has arrived into our exchange server with an invalid recipient then Exchange will send a message back saying recipient not found - could that also account for these messages?
That is what my post refers to, I assume by the time you posted you had not yet seen it
-red
That is what my post refers to, I assume by the time you posted you had not yet seen it
-red
Yes Red, you are correct.
I also reread my original question again and I didnt make it initially clear the destinations were not ones we have sent mail to. In any case you seem to have understood my ramblings and I much appreciate your help.
I have implemented the suggestions found as amset.info with thanks.
One last question though - if I drill down on the messages waiting to be sent they seem to be using "postmaster@ourdomain.com"
Thanks again.
I also reread my original question again and I didnt make it initially clear the destinations were not ones we have sent mail to. In any case you seem to have understood my ramblings and I much appreciate your help.
I have implemented the suggestions found as amset.info with thanks.
One last question though - if I drill down on the messages waiting to be sent they seem to be using "postmaster@ourdomain.com"
Thanks again.
>>if I drill down on the messages waiting to be sent they seem to be using "postmaster@ourdomain.com"
That confirms that it is NDR spam,
Postmaster@yourdomain.com is the exchange default from address for NDRs going out.
The above will work, recipient filtering is fantastic, but MAKE SURE that you enable tarpitting as well, otherwise you will be prone for another type of attack
-red
That confirms that it is NDR spam,
Postmaster@yourdomain.com is the exchange default from address for NDRs going out.
The above will work, recipient filtering is fantastic, but MAKE SURE that you enable tarpitting as well, otherwise you will be prone for another type of attack
-red
I have already enabled tarpitting following the instructions provided by you.
Again, many thanks for your help.
inbarasan - I hope you dont mind but I am going to award the points to Red for providing such detailed help but thanks for your input anyway.
James.
Again, many thanks for your help.
inbarasan - I hope you dont mind but I am going to award the points to Red for providing such detailed help but thanks for your input anyway.
James.
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If it is geniune domain then in that case you have issue in resolving MX Record using DNS. You need to check that. If it is not geniune domain you can just ignore. Sometimes if you have some spam filter which sends a mail after it detects a mail as spam to the sender then you might see mails like in the queue.
Cheers!