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Subject: 
Re: E-mail authentication during posting
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.admin.nntp
Date: 
Tue, 19 Jun 2001 00:20:50 GMT
Viewed: 
566 times
  
This is really annoying and is impacting my posting frequency.

Since I use a cable modem, I'm always posting from the same IP address.  Is
there any way to enter an IP address as "authorized" to be myself?

If that won't work, how about making it so we can just reply to the email
instead of going to the web page.  I think I could create an auto-reply rule
or something in my mail program that would make this automatic.

LUGNET Admin <todd@lugnet.com> wrote in message
news:GF40AG.31A@lugnet.com...
The Quick Summary
=================

Effectively immediately, all LUGNET News posts now require e-mail
authentication after posting, in order to prevent the continuance of • forged
messages.  An exception to this rule is if you are a member and signed-in
through the web interface, in which case the system has already • authenticated
you and simply logs your Member-ID in the message headers.


The Explanation
===============

The message transport system which LUGNET uses is based on trust and • honesty.
It is an open system called NNTP (Network News Transport Protocol) in • which
it is actually relatively easy for someone to dishonestly forge • messages --
to cause them to appear as though they were written by someone other than • you.

We've been lucky as a community that we were able to get this far (more • than
two years -- almost three) without a dire need for authentication of • messages.
Recently, however, there has been a spate of message forgeries.  These
forgeries have to stop.

The simplest way around this is for the server to accept a message, then • send
a quick confirmation e-mail to the poster listed in the From: header. • This
e-mail contains a special URL which will authenticate or "release" the • message
into the pool of active messages.  Click that URL, then click "Post It" • and
you're all set.

I'm sorry that this extra step had to be imposed, but in retrospect, it • seems
foolish that it wasn't there all along.

BTW, if you are a LUGNET Member and you are signed in and post messages • via
the web interface, the system already knows who you are, and it won't send
you an e-mail asking you to authenticate your messages.  There is • (currently)
a slight loophole here in that a member could (if they jumped through • enough
hoops) actually still provide a false e-mail address, but the Member-ID • number
is logged in the article headers, so if someone does this, it will be • possible
to know whom to give the boot.  I'll be doing some more work later to • close up
this loophole.

--
Todd S. Lehman | LUGNET Admin <todd@lugnet.com>

p.s.  My apologies if this message reaches you twice at different e-mail
addresses...the address list I used was the entire database of everyone • who
has registered for posting privileges at LUGNET, and I didn't want to risk
guessing wrong about which addresses are people's primary ones.



Message has 4 Replies:
  Re: E-mail authentication during posting
 
(...) Ditto. I have a static IP as well. But I think it's possible people may post from more than one place, so if this is done, it should be allowed to enter more than one IP address, or to allow the authentication mechanism to work if you are not (...) (23 years ago, 19-Jun-01, to lugnet.admin.nntp)
  Re: E-mail authentication during posting
 
(...) but by doing that, you'll be breaking the whole authentication process - If I know that you have such a rule that auto authorizes posts by you, I can spoof posts as you with no problem... your auto-reply will authorize them without (...) (23 years ago, 19-Jun-01, to lugnet.admin.nntp)
  Re: E-mail authentication during posting
 
(...) Not currently, no. Let me think about IP-based authentication for a while. (...) This I can definitely do, but it will have to be at least somewhat interactive so that someone doesn't accidentally cause a message to get posted simply by (...) (23 years ago, 19-Jun-01, to lugnet.admin.nntp)
  Re: E-mail authentication during posting
 
(...) What Dan said, plus I think IP addresses could be spoofed... ++Lar (23 years ago, 19-Jun-01, to lugnet.admin.nntp)

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