full-disclosure - VeriSign's fake SMTP server for SiteFinder

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Message-ID: <20030922212907.GD1529@skadi.varshaad.com>
From: fulldisclosure at varshaad.com (fulldisclosure@...shaad.com)
Subject: VeriSign's fake SMTP server for SiteFinder

They put a bogus SMTP server in place since most MTA's are designed to
fall back to an A record for the domain if no MX records can be
found.  So if they didn't put up the SMTP server then mail would sit in 
the MTA's queue waiting for delivery until it finally timed out as
undeliverable (which on most MTA configuration can take days).

> Hello,
> 
> Does anyone know why Verisign has set up a fake SMTP server at their
> SiteFinder service to bounce email messages sent to misspelled or
> expired domain names?  The fake SiteFinder SMTP server gives the
> impression that it is a real SMTP server and happily accepts "To" and
> "From" email addresses before rejecting a misdirected email message.  
> 
> I don't quite understand what technical issues Verisign is trying to
> solve here with a fake server.  Any guesses?
> 
> I've attached an early email from Verisign that gives a bit more
> information about how this fake SMTP server operates but not why it is
> needed.
> 
> Richard M. Smith
> http://www.ComputerBytesMan.com
>