Unsubscribe from email

[Porthos]

6 hours ago, David H. Lipman said:

I think it is important to check if a unrequested email has a required UNSUBSCRIBE Opt-Out mechanism.

But how many times have security"experts" stated not to use the unsubscribe button because it allows the verification of an address to have a human reading the mail? Unless you allow images in this specific email you do not see a way to unsubscribe.  I do not generally allow images to show by default.

 

 

Edited February 1, 2019 by Porthos

[David H. Lipman]

Don't use Web mail.  Use an email client.  If your email is has an email "List Subscription Manager" it will provide an easy may to unsubscribe based upon the email header line item "List-Unsubscribe:"

Yes, a link to UNSUBSCRIBE is often used maliciously.  Legitimate email that complies with the Can Spam Act will have a specific URL or some other mechanism.  A nonconforming email will have a spam link that will be the same for the objective of the spam and the UNSUBSCRIBE link.

NOTE:  I am requesting Post #9 and my reply be split off to its own thread.

Reference:
https://sendgrid.com/blog/list-unsubscribe/

Edited February 1, 2019 by David H. Lipman

[AdvancedSetup]

Posts split to own topic in General

@David H. Lipman

@Porthos

 

 

[exile360]

If I didn't subscribe to something and I get a message/advertisement with an unsubscribe link I just mark it as junk.  After doing that a few times they typically start getting filtered into my spam/junk folder automatically and I assume my email provider eventually adds them to the block/spam list.

I don't allow images from untrusted sources though, so in this case I would have just marked it as junk out of hand more than likely.

[AdvancedSetup]

The nice thing about many mail providers is that you can report it as spam. Then, it automatically goes to your spam folder and it goes to your mail provider as suspect for possible addition, once confirmed, so that everyone benefits going forward. If you just put in your junk folder it will block for you, but not for others. 

 

[exile360]

Yep, that's usually how it goes.  I use Thunderbird but I assume that since it syncs everything to my online mail accounts that it reports messages I flag as junk/spam the same as it would through the web interface, at least that's how it seems based on my observations so far (especially since Thunderbird doesn't have any sort of automatic filtering based on past user decisions that I'm aware of).

[David H. Lipman]

Samuel what you describe in Post #4  is Bayesian spam filtering.  There email marked as Junk or Spam are used to learn from and set filtering rules.

The reason for this subject thread split-off was the concern of submitting spam for the purpose of having MBAM block a URL.  That is a valid concern.  However just because email is unsolicited and has a link can't be defined as "spam" in a industrial way.  We have to look at the legitimacy of the email based upon the Can Spam Act.

• If an email contains a link and does not contain an Opt-Out mechanism as described by the Can Spam Act then it is for all intents and purposes it is "spam" and submitting the spam'd URL to Malwarebytes for the purpose of MBAM blocking it would be warranted. 
• If however the email body does provide an Opt-Out mechanism, then the link's submission to Malwarebytes for being blocked by Malwarebytes is not warranted unless they have failed to honour the Opt-Out within the law's provisions.

The above can be considered a "test" to help determine what should submitted to Malwarebytes for submission in; Newest IP or URL Threats.

 

 

 

Edited February 1, 2019 by David H. Lipman

[David H. Lipman]

2 minutes ago, exile360 said:

Yep, that's usually how it goes.  I use Thunderbird but I assume that since it syncs everything to my online mail accounts that it reports messages I flag as junk/spam the same as it would through the web interface, at least that's how it seems based on my observations so far (especially since Thunderbird doesn't have any sort of automatic filtering based on past user decisions that I'm aware of).

If that is IMAP connection and the Folder is a Subscribed IMAP folder that exist on the IMAP server, it may serve a "greater cause".

 

[exile360]

Yep, it is