Terry Zink: Security Talk
Discussing Internet security in (mostly) plain English
Why does spam and phishing get through Office 365? And what can be done about it?
Introduction As a filtering service, Office 365 (Exchange Online Protection, or EOP) is dedicated to...
Author: tzink Date: 09/12/2014
Submitting spam back to Office 365
Office 365 (Exchange Online Protection) regularly asks customers to submit spam samples back so that...
Author: tzink Date: 09/12/2014
Does psychology explain why people are upset about NSA spying?
8 months ago, I wrote a blog post about how I am more concerned about being hacked by malicious...
Author: tzink Date: 08/28/2014
I have been fighting spam for 10 years
A week and a half ago, I “celebrated” my 10th year fighting spam. I originally joined Frontbridge in...
Author: tzink Date: 07/22/2014
Microsoft.com now publishes an SPF Hard Fail in its SPF record
This past Monday evening, Microsoft corporation for the domain microsoft.com changed its SPF record...
Author: tzink Date: 07/22/2014
Salt-and-Silver
I had a magic performance a couple of weeks ago and I decided to develop a new routine. I have never...
Author: tzink Date: 06/27/2014
I got locked out of my house this past week. This reminds me a bit of the NSA.
This post probably contains more information than you wanted to know. My wife last week was out of...
Author: tzink Date: 05/14/2014
Blocking executable content in Office 365 for more aggressive anti-malware protection
Sometimes, spammers and malware writers create malware that passes through our service and arrives...
Author: tzink Date: 04/08/2014
I received a pretty good Apple phish this morning
This morning, I discovered that I had received an email “from” Apple informing me that I had...
Author: tzink Date: 03/20/2014
The Internet of Everything: Why I will never be out of a job
Business Insider recently posted a slide deck about the next big thing: The Internet of Everything....
Author: tzink Date: 02/28/2014
According to the World Economic Forum, I am helping to fight the seventh most dangerous global risk
This is going to be a long post. How I spent my weekend This weekend I took a quick glance at the...
Author: tzink Date: 02/09/2014
Understanding how Exchange Transport Rules work on the Sender
One of the more powerful features in Exchange Online Protection (EOP) are Exchange Transport Rules,...
Author: tzink Date: 01/23/2014
It turns out that the NSA can “jump the air gap”
In case you missed it, the other day news broke indicating that the NSA could spy on you using radio...
Author: tzink Date: 01/17/2014
Understanding identification of Bulk Email in Office 365
Bulk email, sometimes referred to as grey mail, or gray mail, is a type of email that is difficult...
Author: tzink Date: 01/03/2014
Why do spammers spam? I try to explain it using the Moralization Gap
Don’t spammers know they are irritating the rest of us? Lately, I have been thinking a little bit on...
Author: tzink Date: 12/30/2013
I worry more about being hacked than being tracked, and I am in the majority
This is going to be a long post. Please read through the whole thing before you comment. I have been...
Author: tzink Date: 12/22/2013
Humor–Opinions on Internet Privacy
I saw this a few months ago and meant to post it back then, so I am posting it now. Via XKCD....
Author: tzink Date: 12/09/2013
Humor–NSA spying
Via Dilbert.
Author: tzink Date: 12/09/2013
Humorous, or not-so-humorous, cartoon on the roll-out of healthcare.gov
I found the following cartoon today on Reason. If you’re not familiar with the situation, the...
Author: tzink Date: 12/06/2013
How is my password manager experiment working so far?
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote that I had started experimenting with a password manager. I thought...
Author: tzink Date: 12/03/2013
How to create more aggressive Bulk email settings in Exchange Online
Update 2014-04-04: Updated the Text Patterns for ETR#1 - modified #2, added #12 and #13 Update...
Author: tzink Date: 10/09/2013
Understanding outbound spam controls in Office 365
As a Program Manager of Antispam in Office 365, one of the questions I am frequently asked is “How...
Author: tzink Date: 10/03/2013
New features in Office 365
Recently, in Office 365 we introduced two new features in our Forefront Online Protection for...
Author: tzink Date: 10/02/2013
Another humorous anecdote about the NSA story
I found this, posted by one of my friends on Facebook. I thought it was funny and thought all of you...
Author: tzink Date: 09/19/2013
Supporting email over IPv6, part 1 – An introduction
One of the important projects I have been working on for the past few months is supporting email...
Author: tzink Date: 09/11/2013
Smartphone OS market share vs. malware targeted at that OS
I was reading yesterday on Yahoo News (and on Flipboard yesterday on my tablet) that that the...
Author: tzink Date: 08/29/2013
Why do safe senders in EOP and FOPE operate on the 5321.MailFrom address instead of the 5322.From?
In my previous blog post How to use Safe Senders in EOP and FOPE, I explained that in the EOP and...
Author: tzink Date: 07/02/2013
How to use Safe Senders in EOP and FOPE
In the EOP (Exchange Online Protection, our newer service) and FOPE (Forefront Online Protection for...
Author: tzink Date: 07/02/2013
I don’t have to do anything and my credit card information gets breached
Yesterday, while reading a book on my Kindle app (on my PC), I got an email from American Express...
Author: tzink Date: 05/17/2013
How to setup your DMARC records if you are outsourcing some, or all, of your email – Part 2
Continuing on in our series on authenticating outsourced email, how do we outsource our email such...
Author: tzink Date: 04/27/2013
How to setup DMARC records if you are outsourcing some, or all, of your email – Part 1
In my previous posts, I discussed how to set up your SPF, SenderID, and DKIM records if you are an...
Author: tzink Date: 04/27/2013
How to set up your DKIM records if you are outsourcing some, or all, of your email and still build your reputation
In my previous post, I described how you can set up DKIM records if you are outsourcing your...
Author: tzink Date: 04/26/2013
How to set up your DKIM records if you are outsourcing some, or all, of your email
In my last two posts on outsourcing your email, I explained how to set up your SPF records if you...
Author: tzink Date: 04/26/2013
How to set up your SenderID records if you are outsourcing some, or all, of your email
In my previous post, I discussed how to structure email such that if it comes from a 3rd party on...
Author: tzink Date: 04/24/2013
How to set up your SPF records if you are outsourcing some, or all, of your email
I thought I would do a few posts on email authentication, specifically, how to ensure that you have...
Author: tzink Date: 04/24/2013
What I’ve been up to lately
It’s been a long time since I have written anything on this blog. I haven’t been idle,...
Author: tzink Date: 04/13/2013
Guest post: Lessons learned from the recent Mandiant report about APT1
Today’s post is a guest post from Megan Horner, Social Media Manager & Marketing...
Author: tzink Date: 03/18/2013
Still no blog posts this year
You may have noticed I haven't posted much this year. The reason is that I have been very...
Author: tzink Date: 02/07/2013
Phishing infographic – how phishing works
A reader sent me the following infographic detailing how phishing works. Check it out: It contains...
Author: tzink Date: 01/22/2013