Re: random usernames in attempts to break in to my machine?

[Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu>]

Nicholas Geovanis <nickgeovanis@gmail.com> writes:
> On Mon, Apr 4, 2022 at 12:27 PM Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> wrote:
>
> It's software written by folks who sometimes know what they're doing.
> There are only so many Kevin Mitnick's and Phyber Optik's in the world at time....
> :-)

For which we're all grateful!

>  > So here's the thing: What parts of the internet are you expecting logins from, to your mail server?
>  > If the answer is none, then you should be using kernel packet filtering to prevent those incoming
>  > messages from reaching your mail server's software. 
>
>  I could reasonably see an email come in from anywhere.
>
> That depends on who you pay for email (SMTP) service.
> I see you're at a .edu, it's probably a different use-case. It's more "I'll accept an
> incoming connection from some where". At home and in the corporate world that's different.
> You will have specific upstream mail providers and separate mail front-end (say POP) servers.

I'm actually running my own mail server at home.  The email address I
use on usenet dates back to when my university did provide usenet
access, which ended decades ago.

But yes, just yesterday I had some perfectly legitimate email come in
from Formosa.

If this were on campus, I'd never see it, it would be IT's problem!