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The Problem of Email Spam From Ipv6

The document discusses the challenges of email spam filtering with IPv6. It notes that while IPv4 allows for around 4 billion IP addresses, IPv6 allows for up to 18 quintillion addresses, vastly increasing the scale of potential spamming IPs. It argues that building IP blacklists and whitelists at this scale would result in files too large to efficiently process and replicate across networks in real time. It proposes a short term solution of using smaller "allow lists" of trusted IPv6 senders rather than blocklists to help address the problem of scale posed by IPv6 for email spam filtering.

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Kev Hors
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42 views

The Problem of Email Spam From Ipv6

The document discusses the challenges of email spam filtering with IPv6. It notes that while IPv4 allows for around 4 billion IP addresses, IPv6 allows for up to 18 quintillion addresses, vastly increasing the scale of potential spamming IPs. It argues that building IP blacklists and whitelists at this scale would result in files too large to efficiently process and replicate across networks in real time. It proposes a short term solution of using smaller "allow lists" of trusted IPv6 senders rather than blocklists to help address the problem of scale posed by IPv6 for email spam filtering.

Uploaded by

Kev Hors
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The

 problem  of  email  spam  from  IPv6  


Modern  filters  
The  problem  of  scale  
•  IP  lists  must  be  updated  in  (near)  real  <me  
•  Max  IPv4  addresses  ~  4  billion  
38  
•  Max    IPv6  addresses  ~  18  x  10  
–  Even  if  everyone  gets  their  own  /64,  max  
18  
addresses  =  18  x  10  
The  problem  of  scale  (cont’d)  
•  What  happens  when  we  build  a  beMer  
spammer?  
–  Every  spam  comes  from  a  unique  IP  (or  limited  
reuse)  
–  5  billion  spamming  IPs  per  day    Size  of  file  =  190  
GB  (XBL+SBL+PBL  =  138  MB)  
–  This  is  too  big!  
Too  big  to  process  
•  Geo-­‐distributed  systems  must  replicate  across  
network  quickly  (large  files  take  too  long  for  
real  <me  effec<veness).  
•  Processing  the  file  takes  a  long  <me.  
•  IP  stats  history  tables  (e.g.,  Microso^  
maintains  its  own  IP  reputa<on  tables)  grows  
too  big  for  so  many  unique  IPs.  
Drop  in  effec<veness  

If  spammers  don’t  reuse  IP  


addresses,  it  makes  IP  
blocklists  useless  
Proposal  (short  term)  –  Allow  Lists  
Allow  List  =  “I  some<mes  send  
legi<mate  mail  over  IPv6.”  
 
You  s<ll  perform  content  filtering.  
 
We  already  do  this  for  big  mailers  like  
Hotmail,  Gmail,  etc.  
 
Either  a  central  reputa<on  service  for  
IPv6,  or  build  your  own.  
 
Do  not  allow  anyone  to  send  you  IPv6  
email!  
 
Allow  lists  are  way  smaller  and  easier  
to  maintain.  

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