I have a script that runs on the server every morning and emails me some cartoons (Dilbert, Doonesbury, etc.). It does not send the actual graphics (they are copyrighted) but just their URLs, in an HTML message. The email comes 'From' me, and it seemed like a good idea to have 'me' in the remote graphics exception list, so the images would open when I opened the email.

I suppose I could create an obscure alias to me, have the script send the email 'From' the alias, and add the alias to the exception list.

I just received some HTML spam (selling "blue pills"). The spam was sent To: me, and had a forged From: line that made it look like it came From: me. It contained "lazy HTML", meaning it had a graphic image that was just a reference to a GIF hosted on the spammer's web site. The problem is that I have myself listed in Pegasus's "Allow Remote Graphics" list, so when I opened the spam it automatically fetched the GIF file from the spammer (and probably registered me in their database).

Any idea how to get around this? Obviously I could empty out the "Allow Remote Graphics" list, but then that feature has just been rendered useless. Not opening the spam is also not an option - I need to look at it so I can retrain PopFile. Perhaps there's a way to open messages directly into 'Raw View'?

Any idea how to get around this? Obviously I could empty out the "Allow

Remote Graphics" list, but then that feature has just been rendered

useless. Not opening the spam is also not an option - I need to look at

it so I can retrain PopFile. Perhaps there's a way to open messages

directly into 'Raw View'?

I do this by only allowing remote graphics "From" specific addresses AND running an anti-virus and anti-spam at the server level (your POPFileD and Clamwall).  All spam and virus hits are moved off to a separate users. This does require me to preview the spam/virus accounts to determine false positives  but the user that I use (my postmaster account with these as added mailboxes) for the analysis has no automatically opened graphics list.

FWIW, I would never use any of my e-mail addresses in the "Allow remote graphics".  Every one of these long term use addresses are used by spammers on a daily basis in the Sender:, From: and reply-to addresses.  ;-(

I have a newmail filter that checks for any From: that is my email address, and if so immediately move the message to my Junk folder. I have not seen a single case of this problem since. Just a quick comment.  Most of these types of spam messages have nothing offensive in the subject line or body of the message, so would not get detected and removed/trained by any anti-spam techniques.

Martin

I don't have my own address on the remote graphics exception list and I don't see why anyone would do that. Is this something that people commonly do? Is it done automatically at set-up?

Apart from that, why can't you simply delete YOUR address from the list? Why empty it completely?