I got an email yesterday. It appears to be a response to a job application.<\/p>\n
The English is good.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Had it showed up in my normal inbox, I\u2019d have been giddy. But for some reason it was in my junk mail folder.<\/p>\n
Hmmm. Why would that be?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s possible that the reason was that all CAPS subject line. That might have tripped the junk filter.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d have ignored it except that the rest of the message looks like a standard business email.<\/p>\n
Hmmm.<\/p>\n
Then, because I\u2019m desperate for a job, and I have nothing better to do, I looked at the routing and header information.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not exactly true, I have better things to do it\u2019s just that those things aren\u2019t things I actually want<\/strong><\/em> to do. In other words, I\u2019m procrastinating and engaging in a bit of sophistry with myself as to the importance of determining if this is a real response.<\/p>\n So I looked up the originating domain. It was registered the same day as the email was sent. Well, that\u2019s suspicious but the originating domain could just be a way for the company in question to separate recruiting email from the main corporate email.<\/p>\n The company is a global enterprise, as such, I could see the logic in keeping the two separate. The newness of the domain registration could have tripped the junk mail filter. It\u2019s possible that said domain\u2019s registration had not propagated to whitelists yet.<\/p>\n Inconclusive.<\/p>\n I looked at the originating email server\u2019s IP address. It\u2019s in Helsinki Finland. Weird!<\/p>\n Also associated with that IP are a number of complaints claiming that a lot of spam \/ scam email was coming from that particular email server. The most recent \u00a0complaint email was 3 years old. It\u2019s possible that the junk mail filter was tripped by this older data and associated black list information.<\/p>\n Still inconclusive.\u00a0<\/p>\n Things happen fast in the IT world and 3 years is an eternity.\u00a0<\/p>\n The IP address could have been cleaned up, or reallocated, the owner might simply have misconfigured the email server and corrected the problem that was allowing SPAM mail to pass through it.<\/p>\n The Domain is registered in Germany. It could be that they\u2019re using an email server in Finland. Although why not an email server in Berlin or Munich?<\/p>\n Still inconclusive.<\/p>\n This email has an X-Spam score of 12.5. Anything above a 5 is considered spam, that\u2019s probably why the junk mail filter reacted.<\/p>\n However the X-Spam scoring system is based on previous behaviors, complaints, & reliability data. This is why it\u2019s vitally important that email servers be configured properly such that unauthorized users cannot use them to send spam. It\u2019s a pain in the behind to regain your reputation after a billion spam email have been sent through your server.<\/p>\n More conclusive.<\/p>\n The X-Spam system isn\u2019t bad, but it can make mistakes.<\/p>\n Oddly, I can\u2019t find any evidence that I\u2019ve applied to this company. That being said, if they were using a recruiting firm I wouldn\u2019t necessarily have a direct link. The position description in the message looks very much like something I would have applied to.<\/p>\n So, after all of this, it comes down to faith. Not faith in the email itself but faith that my defenses are strong enough to repel an onslaught of spam from some nefarious person or persons, attempting to rip me off.<\/p>\n There is one thing that caught my attention. There is IPv6 data in the email header. That makes me think the email may be legitimate. IPv6 is not something I\u2019d expect to see coming from a spammer. Not that it\u2019s impossible. I just wouldn\u2019t expect to see it coming from a teenager in their mom\u2019s basement.<\/p>\n Well, Hell.<\/p>\n I guess I\u2019ll check my defenses, run another header analysis and respond.<\/p>\n I hate that I\u2019ve been kicked enough that I\u2019m so suspicious. But after a 5 year job search where so many scammers have wasted my time and had me jumping through hoops trying to get my personal data it just makes sense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I got an email yesterday. It appears to be a response to a job application. The English is good.\u00a0 Had it showed up in my normal inbox, I\u2019d have been giddy. But for some reason it was in my junk mail folder. Hmmm. Why would that be? It\u2019s possible that the reason was that all … <\/p>\n