Boston Linux & UNIX was originally founded in 1994 as part of The Boston Computer Society. We meet on the third Wednesday of each month at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Building E51.

BLU Discuss list archive


[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

[Discuss] Running a mail server, or not



On 06/27/2018 03:39 PM, discuss-request at blu.org wrote:
> On 6/27/2018 1:58 PM, Rich Braun wrote:
>> I don't see how we're in disagreement here. Naturally, if you send to
>> a listserv like blu.org, there will be multiple hops (most likely but
>> not guaranteed to be encrypted). But if you send directly from your
>> email to mine, your system will connect to easydns (in Canada), which
>> will attempt STARTTLS but not guarantee it; once it's queued at
>> easydns, then it's encrypted as it gets to my private installation. I
> Operative words: "but not guarantee it". This contradicts the assertion
> that, "[t]here is no clear text SMTP on the wire." In reality there may
> be clear text SMTP on the wire.

I've noticed when e-mail comes into a Comcast address, the sending mail 
server (Yahoo/AOL (when it works), Gmail, mail.com, GMX, etc.), the 
receiving Comcast server receives it with SMTP. But when Comcast sends 
an e-mail out to one of these services, it sends with ESMTPS (secure). 
Why secure connections one-way and not both directions?

I have also noticed when sending through Yahoo/AOL (again, when it 
works), even though the Thunderbird settings are set to use SSL or 
STARTTLS, the receiving Yahoo server always receives it with SMTP. 
Server mis-configuration there?






BLU is a member of BostonUserGroups
BLU is a member of BostonUserGroups
We also thank MIT for the use of their facilities.

Valid HTML 4.01! Valid CSS!



Boston Linux & Unix / webmaster@blu.org