Re: SMTP: helo != ptr?

[David Gibbs <david@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Lukas Beeler wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 16:22, David Gibbs <david@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > Or is this just an overly aggressive mail admin?
>
> Yes. There's no such requirement, and it doesn't really make sense in many ways.
>
> However, it makes sense to make your PTR and HELO match because of
> idiots like these.

I'm of two minds about it ... 

1. I could change my helo identifier to 'ip26.midrange.com', so that host will accept mail from me.
2. I could keep my helo identifier 'mail.midrange.com' so the users will complain to the mail admin and they remove the policy.

I suspect it's just a mater of time before they disable that policy ... they are probably rejecting far more legitimate mail than they are accepting.

david

p.s. This gets added to the 'things not to do' section in my email security presentation for COMMON.