Comments on: E-mail security: how does e-mail work (I). http://becomingparanoid.com/2006/03/14/e-mail-security-how-does-e-mail-work-i/ Tips about computer security, privacy and staying safe online Tue, 22 May 2007 23:49:20 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Becoming paranoid » E-mail security: types of undesired mail http://becomingparanoid.com/2006/03/14/e-mail-security-how-does-e-mail-work-i/comment-page-1/#comment-29 Becoming paranoid » E-mail security: types of undesired mail Mon, 20 Mar 2006 17:29:49 +0000 http://becomingparanoid.com/2006/03/14/e-mail-security-how-does-e-mail-work-i/#comment-29 [...] We have already seen a brief discussion of how e-mails works both when we send it and when we receive it, so now it’s time to know which kind of undesired mail we can receive. [...] [...] We have already seen a brief discussion of how e-mails works both when we send it and when we receive it, so now it’s time to know which kind of undesired mail we can receive. [...]

]]> By: madelman http://becomingparanoid.com/2006/03/14/e-mail-security-how-does-e-mail-work-i/comment-page-1/#comment-28 madelman Wed, 15 Mar 2006 00:21:01 +0000 http://becomingparanoid.com/2006/03/14/e-mail-security-how-does-e-mail-work-i/#comment-28 Yeah, Felipe, that's true. One of the consequences of oversymplification is that you get some technical errors. I didn't want to get deeply technical, as I want to remain these series useful for beginners. Anyway, your explanation is correct, so if the email dir is user@server.com, probably the mail is send to the server mail.server.com, depending on the DNS settings. But to explain this I would need to explain how DNS works and that will probably come in a future series of articles :) Thanks for your comments :) Yeah, Felipe, that’s true. One of the consequences of oversymplification is that you get some technical errors. I didn’t want to get deeply technical, as I want to remain these series useful for beginners.

Anyway, your explanation is correct, so if the email dir is user@server.com, probably the mail is send to the server mail.server.com, depending on the DNS settings. But to explain this I would need to explain how DNS works and that will probably come in a future series of articles :)

Thanks for your comments :)

]]> By: Felipe Alfaro Solana http://becomingparanoid.com/2006/03/14/e-mail-security-how-does-e-mail-work-i/comment-page-1/#comment-27 Felipe Alfaro Solana Tue, 14 Mar 2006 22:56:22 +0000 http://becomingparanoid.com/2006/03/14/e-mail-security-how-does-e-mail-work-i/#comment-27 I'm not sure that the component standing at the right of the at (@) sign of an e-mail address is the server name. I would say the component at the right of the at sign could be an e-mail domain or the FQDN of an MTA (SMTP server). For example: user1@madrid.company.es Is "madrid.company.es" an e-mail domain name or the FQDN of a MTA host? To know, an MTA or MUA will, in first place, try to resolve a DNS MX RR corresponding to "madrid.company.es". If no MX RR is found, the MTA or MUA will try to resolve a DNS A (or AAAA for IPv6) RR corresponding to "madrid.company.es". If the MX query succeeds, then "madrid.company.es" is an e-mail domain. If the A (or AAAA) query suceeds, then "madrid.company.es" is the FQDN of a host called "madrid.company.es". I’m not sure that the component standing at the right of the at (@) sign of an e-mail address is the server name. I would say the component at the right of the at sign could be an e-mail domain or the FQDN of an MTA (SMTP server).

For example:

user1@madrid.company.es

Is “madrid.company.es” an e-mail domain name or the FQDN of a MTA host? To know, an MTA or MUA will, in first place, try to resolve a DNS MX RR corresponding to “madrid.company.es”. If no MX RR is found, the MTA or MUA will try to resolve a DNS A (or AAAA for IPv6) RR corresponding to “madrid.company.es”. If the MX query succeeds, then “madrid.company.es” is an e-mail domain. If the A (or AAAA) query suceeds, then “madrid.company.es” is the FQDN of a host called “madrid.company.es”.

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