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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00061 Jun 2003

 
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Reading the posts from the last couple of days related to vandalism 
and inappropriate posts by non-members in the guise of members, I 
have the following suggestions to tighten controls for the group: -

1) To stop viruses from spreading, it was correctly pointed out by 
Sriman Ramachandran that attachments be banned by the moderator. If 
people want to send attachments, may I suggest they upload the 
attachment to the FILES section of the SriRangaSri website and then 
send a normal post stating that has been uploaded. This way, those 
who want to read the file may find it in the files section and 
therefore the risk of an inappropriate post with an attachment 
infecting every member's system is mitigated

2) To stop vandals from taking over a member's identity and posting 
inappropriate messages to the group, it might be a good idea to make 
the MEMBERS section inaccessible to everyone. That's assuming the 
vandals get the address from this section but in some cases (as 
pointed out by Sriman Sadagopan in an earlier post, they can get them 
by intercepting mails or from personal addressbooks as well, which is 
beyond our control anyway.

One final suggestion I have for all members is to install a firewall 
that blocks intruders from accessing your systems without your 
knowledge while you are connected to the internet. By accessing your 
systems, they could take email addresses and much more - this has 
become especially relevant considering many of us use broadband/cable 
and are on always on connections to the internet. There are free 
firewalls availale with varying degrees of effectiveness, I can 
recommend ZoneAlarm http://www.zonelabs.com which is quite good. For 
the technically minded, you can check how vulnerable your systems is 
by using the resources available at this website http://www.grc.com 
(I must add that I have no affiliation to either of these websites 
and have suggested them based on personal experience and concern for 
the security of the group and the members).

Regards
Krishnaswamy Santhanam

--- In SriRangaSri@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, s.ramachandran@xxxx wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One small suggestion if it is possible to implement. Straight away 
can we
> ban attachments?
> 
> To a large extent this will eliminate the spam/junk problems 
because if a
> mischief monger tries to disguise his identity by a legitimate 
name/ID,
> he/she cannot continue for more than one or two instance for the 
simple
> reason he/she will not have the requisite knowledge and 
comprehension to
> respond to the mails.
> 
> His/Her language, content will be an open giveaway.The moderator can
> immediately remove such member.
> 
> The other main way he/she can cause damage is through attachments.
> 
> We may have to sacrifice a bit. Over the past 1 year there have not 
been
> many attachments to our interactions as such.This is based on the 
writer's
> approximation.
> 
> If it becomes essential, why not two or three members known to each 
other
> jointly send out a message to the moderator personally (in his/her
> individual email address and not the group address) with a request 
to post.
> Lets assume three members join and want to send out an enclosed 
message.
> Member 1 sends out the attachment to the moderator while member 2 
writes
> separately to the moderator confirming the name and content of the 
file
> which Moderator 1 is likely to send. Member 3 also sends out a 
separate
> message to the moderator.
> 
> After getting three distinctly separate confirmations the moderator 
can
> take an informed decision.
> 
> This process may seem somewhat bureacratic in the initial stages. 
But will
> bring in discipline in the long run for attachment-related messages.
> 
> Will meanwhile try to suggest other measures also.
> 
> Om tat Sat
> Tat tvam asi
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 

> 
Sadagopan 

> <sgopan@computer To: 
Oppiliappan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, 
> .net> 
Srirangasri@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
> cc: 
Tiruvengadam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, 
> 06/07/03 07:22 
saranagathi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Raamabhakthi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, 
> PM 
desikasampradaya@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, 
> Please respond 
srivenugopala@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, 
> to 
Parakalamatham@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
> parakalamatham Subject: 
[SriParakalaMatham] Recent incident of Cyber 
> Vandalism at a 
Sister List 
> 

> 
> 
> 
> 
> SrI:
> 
> Dear BhakthAs:
> 
> It is most unfortunate that Cyber vandals and scam
> artists continue to be on the prowl to attack non-suspecting
> lists like ours .The recent incident experienced by
> one of our sister lists is very regrettable.
> 
> Although as Moderators , most of us exercise approval control
> over membership requests and messages sent , some times
> these vandals assume stolen identity and send messages
> under other legitimate members' names. They make their
> moves based on volumes of mails . Further , they
> latch on their despicable and abhorrent messages as
> attachments to original messages. These vandals
> have extremely deceptive ways to get in to anybody's
> networks and address books and cause chaos. There does not
> seem to be any technical solutions to prevent these attacks
> except the drastic measure of recieving mails only from
> those who is known to you personally .
> 
> My request to you all:
> 
> 1. Please install virus scanning systems
> even if it is not fool proof. Lot slips in.
> 
> 2. Please reject all suspect mail with suspicious
> titles and strangers .
> 
> 3. Please be weary of attachments and those
> ending with "SCR, EXE". Please reject them.
> 
> 3. If any one knows how to stop these offenders
> from interfering with our communications in
> our Sathsangam lists,please let the moderators know .
> 
> Thanks very much ,
> V.Sadagopan
> 
> 
> 
> shriimate laksmiihayagriiva lakshmiinaaraayanaabhyaaM namaH
> Visit the Sri Parakala Matham Home Page at
> http://www.parakalamatham.org
> 
> 
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to 
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/





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