Tsunami warning hits the spam barrier

[Dan Kohn <da...@dankohn.com>]

http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1807582661;fp;16;fpid;0


Tsunami warning hits the spam barrier


Michael Crawford

07/07/2005 07:29:27

The first live run of the Indian Ocean Tsunami warning system earlier
this month turned out to be a bit of a disaster. 

Not a natural disaster, but it provided an unexpected result for some
users of Apache's SpamAssassin. 

Subscribers to the automated e-mail warning system, which sent out an
alert for an earthquake off Northern Sumatra that rated 6.7 on the
Richter scale, found the Tsunami warning notification deferred as spam. 

The problem arises if the open source filter is installed straight out
of the box; the messages (usually written in upper case) are not
considered spam. 

But for anyone who locks down the spam filter, SpamAssassin categorizes
the e-mail as spam due to a combination of upper case text in a
clear-cut format forwarded by a hidden sender. 

With the spam filters locked down, the warning message - written in the
original in upper case letters, of: "THERE IS A VERY SMALL POSSIBILITY
OF A DESTRUCTIVE LOCAL TSUNAMI IN THE INDIAN OCEAN", rates a spam score
of 3.7 out of 10. 

Australian National University (ANU) visiting Computer Science Fellow,
Tom Worthington, said anything that rates over five is considered to be
spam and a 10 is absolutely spam. 

"There is also a general concern that the more words the message uses
will make the rating go even higher," he said. 

"The indicators on the message are typical of what spam software uses -
if you work in a government agency there is less of a concern, because
the system is set up to receive the warnings but there is always the
risk that computer support will install a spam filter for mail and these
messages won't get through." 

Put simply, these dire warnings of a natural disaster will be blocked
because they will be regarded as spam. 

"With these sorts of messages you want to make sure they get through ...
the other interesting thing is previous tests had this exact problem
with the spam filters," Worthington said. 

"The Tsunami messages are very official and use clear-cut wording which
is setting off the spam filters - they need to change format because
part of the problem is that spammers also try to make messages look
official." 

Worthington said he has since been in contact with the Japan
Meteorological Agency which issues bulletins for the Indian Ocean, and
with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization requesting them to redesign the mailouts.