So, ok. This is all a very exciting story, but it is almost entirely smoke when you actually dig into it.https://twitter.com/FranklinFoer/status/793206731203567616 …
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And no mention in story that incoming unsolicited emails might trigger reverse-DNS lookups of sender for boring (non email replying) reasons
Don't get me wrong. I would love story to be true. But it is technical swiss cheese. Eg "were the DNS lookups MX (mail) ones?" not answered.
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re; MX records. That was my first question.
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why would they be holding secret mail via port 25 and public Internet. Such bullshit.
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Eh, could be encrypted mail - port 587. Too little info to say for sure.
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doesn't seem credible to me to run covert ops on standard ports that anyone could telnet or sniff
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(Just thinking of places I've worked that exchange data feeds via scp etc - limited access but normal ports and normal software)
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yeah, that makes total sense. Agree. Why article omits this kind of info, plus timing, makes me question credibility
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It's Slate. Interested to see what NYT comes up with.
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We need a decent write up of the technical challenges so people can be informed. It's making the rounds fast.
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
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have you looked at the logs?
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this means that it wasn't email traffic between the two servers.
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Well, could still be mail if the Alfa mail server was explicitly set up to skip the MX lookup.
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does it still register an A lookup if you do that?
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MX gives a name, then needs to go through usual A lookup to get the actual IP for the name.
@smiteri@marypcbuk@pwnallthethings -
to be fair, it's usually included as a courtesy with the first response, to cut traffic.
@smiteri@marypcbuk@pwnallthethings
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forward-checked rDNS lookups would explain it, except for the TZ issue (which MUA-sourced lookups would).
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