ordb.org reporting domains as open relays
When a mail server allows computers from other networks to send mail through it without authenticating, it is referred to as an “open relay”. This is frowned upon, because the mail server can be used by spammers to send their unwanted email.
The ORDB.org (open relay database) was a relay database for mail servers to lookup open mail relays until December of 2006. They closed their doors but many lax administrators failed to remove them from the list of open relay databases for their servers to poll. That tardiness is coming back to bite them now.
ordb.org is beginning to report all domains as open relays in an attempt to get administrators to update their configurations and stopping querying their servers. If you are an admin of an email server, check your bounced email and look for the line: “Your email has been rejected as a result of your mail server being on a black list. For more information go to http://www.ordb.org to find out how to remove your mail server from this black list.”
If you are seeing these outgoing and being bounced by a remote mail server, you might want to give their admin a heads up, if you have time…
