Updated: 10 November 2006

New mail scanning machines fighting off attack

Prior to this attack Chebucto had two mail scanning machines processing around 100,000 messages a day, with more than 90% of all incoming mail being tagged as spam or virus mail. Back before spam became the problem it is now a typical day's mail volume for Chebucto would have been around 30,000 messages a day.

Technical Chair Ed Dyer and Johnathan Thibodeau (shown here working late Monday evening) constructed three new mail scanning servers from spare parts earlier this week. A fourth machine which had been set up to be used with the new upgraded mail service was reconfigured and brought into service Wednesday making for six machines working on the mail backlog.

A seventh, very powerful mail scanning server was brought online Friday evening and began processing the last of the delayed mail at a rate of more than 400 messages a minute.

Chebucto users have reported some email messages coming through up to a week late while other messages are delivered quickly. The messages in the mail queue are being processed out of order, each of the mail scanning servers sorting mail as fast as possible. The Chebucto Office reports that users have been understanding about the mail delays once they know the cause.

The latest deluge of junk mail, mostly promoting garbage penny stocks and pharmaceutical products, is hitting mail servers all over the Internet. It is coming from botnets - hijacked home computers, vulnerable to takeover because they have not been kept upgraded and patched. These zombie computers are now being linked up to millions of other hijacked computers to act in unison sending out uncountable billions of junk emails.

Chebucto wifi development ongoing

The Chebucto Community Net plans to bring non-profit high-speed Internet to the metro Halifax area by building a mesh network of wireless nodes hosted by users themselves.

Currently in active development, Chebucto's plan would offer free public access to local metro and government websites and full Internet access to Chebucto Plus level memberships, currently $100 per year for individuals.

The areas to be served by the new wireless access will be determined by the residents of metro themselves.

Chebucto is looking for residents able to host wireless nodes, the cornerstone of the network, and when we get enough nodes in a neighbourhood, we can look at bringing network access where it is needed. A node sign-up form is online here.

Chebucto's project was the cover story of The Coast's August 3, 2006 issue. It was first announced to members at the Annual General Meeting this past April.

Due to other pressing technical issues - mostly mail system management and system upgrades - there has been little time for further wifi equipment testing. We hope to get back to this testing soon.

Big mailboxes still on the way

Progress has been delayed due to the recent increase in incoming junk mail and lack of technical volunteer time.

Chebucto's mail system, which offers more mail options than any other internet service provider, has been custom written, evolving over the past thirteen years tightly integrated with the rest of the software running on Chebucto's main server.

The mail system is being re-organized from top to bottom. The first priority is to make sure it all works properly before the switch rather than rush to get it into place. Chebucto supports many different ways to access email - the standard POP3 and IMAP as well as Webmail and our text-only inline PINE. We also support strong encryption for all forms of email access on Chebucto.

Help promote Chebucto!

We have added a new brochure for promoting our new wireless service in your neighbourhood.

Chebucto services maintenance window

Chebucto Community Net RSS how-to guide

Our RSS feed is our way of letting people know fast about important software updates and security alerts as well as new developments at Chebucto. Stay informed with the news as soon as we have it ourselves with our RSS news feed.

Updated - Recommended software list

Web browser: Mozilla Firefox free from Mozilla.org
Upgraded to version 2.0.

Email client: Mozilla Thunderbird free from Mozilla.org
Upgraded to version 1.5.0.8.

Anti-Spyware Software:

• Ad-Aware SE free and paid versions from Lavasoft.de
  
• A-Squared free and paid versions from Emsisoft.com
  
• Spybot: Search & Destroy free from Safer-networking.org

Firewall: Zone Alarm free and paid versions from Zonelabs.com

Free anti-virus programs for home users (Note that both of these programs also have paid versions which offer additional features):

• AntiVir: available from www.free-av.com/
  
• AVG: available from free.grisoft.com

FTP Software: FileZilla free from FileZilla.SourceForge.net

RSS Newsfeed Reader: RSSOwl free from RSSOwl.Org

The Chebucto Office does not recommend using the Internet Explorer web browser for any use except for accessing Microsoft's own Windows Update page. The popular web browser has been repeatedly successfully targetted by virus writers in particular seeking to break into home computers to use them for criminal purposes such as sending out spam, sending out viruses to break into other computers and being used to disrupt services on other computer systems.

After many reports about vulnerabilities for Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express email programs, and the constant stream of user complaints about randomly altered program settings and difficulty using the program, the Chebucto Community Net Office and the Chebucto Technical Committee recommend our users do not use either Outlook or Outlook Express as their email program.

Keeping Microsoft Windows up to date is also very important. Windows XP users should have Service Pack 2 installed. All Microsoft Windows users should make a point of using Internet Explorer to visit the Microsoft Windows Update site at least once a month and download all critical updates.

Cool Chebucto hats available!

We have available these excellent quality Chebucto Community Net hats. Click on photo to see larger version. These fashionable stone coloured washed cotton Chino twill hats are low fitting with adjustable strap and antique silver ring buckle for a perfect fit and are embroidered with the Chebucto Community Net logo and web address. Machine washable and drip dry with a pre curved peak, this hat will provide years of comfortable wear as well as showing your support for Halifax's own one-of-a-kind independent Community Net.

You can get your very own Chebucto Community Net hat from the Chebucto office for $20 or we can mail it out to you for an additional $10.

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