[OT] Re: Python open proxy honeypot

[Serge Orlov]

Alex Reinhart wrote:
> Being deluged by spam like nearly all of us (though fortunately I have a
> very good spam filter), I also hate spam as much as almost everybody. I
> know basic Python (enough to make a simple IRC bot) and I figured a good
> project to help learn Python would be to make a simple "proxypot."
>
> I've done some research and found one already existing, written in Perl
> (http://www.proxypot.org/). However, I prefer the syntax and ease of
> Python (and Proxypot is no longer maintained, as far as I can see), so I
> decided to write my own. I have just one question:
>
> Is running Python's built-in smtpd, pretending to accept and forward all
> messages, enough to get me noticed by a spammer, or do I have to do
> something else to "advertise" my script as an open proxy?
>
> I'm hoping to make this proxy script "distributed", in that several
> honeypots are run on different servers, and the results are then
> collected on a central server that provides statistics and a listing of
> all spammers caught. So, just out of curiosity, I'd like to know how
> many people would actually be willing to run a honeypot on their server,
> and how many are opposed to the idea (just so I know if the concept is
> even valid).

IMHO it's pretty useless, spammers are starting to use botnets, and the
more you make inconvenient to them use open proxies, the more of them
will move to closed botnets.

My spam folder at gmail is not growing anymore for many months (it is
about 600-700 spams a month). Have spammers given up spamming gmail.com
only or is it global trend?