Lyris User's Guide
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Security Considerations of the From: field
Table of Contents
· Introduction
· Email Commands
· Web Interface for Users
· Server Administrator
· Site Administrator
· List Administrator
· Other Topics
· · Security Considerations
· · Security Issues Relating to Members
· · · Access to the list archives
· · · Access to the list of members
· · · Access to Subscribe to the Mailing List
· · · Steps to restrict false impersonations
· · · Security Features for Posting Messages
· · · Access to unsubscribe and change settings
· · · Visibility of the existence of the mailing list
· · · Web Interface Access
· · · Overview of Lyris List Manager Posting Security
· · · Security Considerations of the From: field
· · · Security Recommendations for Announcement lists
· · · How Lyris List Manager Determines the Identity of the Person Posting
· · Lyris List Manager Mail Merge
· · The Lyris List Manager command line
· · Modifying lyris.plc
· Add-On Packages
· Installing and Upgrading
· Appendix
· Frequently Asked Questions

Security Considerations of the From: field

The From: field in email messages is insecure. Many mail programs, such as Netscape Mail and Pegasus Mail, allow you to tailor the From: field to say absolutely anything you want. Thus, it is easy for anyone to send mail to someone else and have a forged From: line.

Therefore, when messages come into Lyris List Manager, it is possible that they are forged and that the From: is not really who the message was written by. There is no good solution to this email authentication problem at the current time. There are secure email standards, but these are not in widespread use, so they cannot be used by Lyris List Manager.

With discussion groups, the insecurity of the From: field is not usually a problem. People tend not to be malicious.

With announcement lists, we suggest that you implement additional security measures to prevent unwanted postings.

The two most commonly recommended approaches are:

1) Moderate your mailing list, so that you receive a confirmation request before the posting is allowed through to the list.

2) Require that the user password be included in the body of the message.

Other pages which link to this page:
  • Security Issues Relating to Members
  • Page 438 of 629