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The dots do matter: how to scam a Gmail user

jameshfisher.com

481–490 of 518 posts

Re: The dots do matter: how to scam a Gmail user

#481

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't click because you're educated in these matters. Most people are not.

Not clicking on the credit card update e-mail requires being educated in these matters. Not clicking on the account verification e-mail just requires reading the e-mail before clicking. I think that's an important distinction.

Depends on the service. I've seen verification e-mails that just contain a link with no other text. Or with texts like "Continue here: [link]".

Re: The dots do matter: how to scam a Gmail user

#482
post #426

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not true, domain part is case insensitive by the standard. Server can decide for non-standard behavior, but that would be foolish.

The domain being in any case for the purpose of delivery is part of the standard, but there's nothing I know if which would prohibit you from implementing local delivery and routing in any way you want once the mail is accepted.

You have no guarantee that the domain part case is preserved from what the user wrote, if it's not defined to be case-sensitive. So you can do what you want, but the input data are not reliable.

Re: The dots do matter: how to scam a Gmail user

#483
post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Send an email and see if that email shows up in your inbox?

If gmail ignores dots in the email address, of course that email is going to show up in your inbox.

And if it shows up it someone else's inbox then you know that the other person registered a gmail account with the dots, which was the question.

Re: The dots do matter: how to scam a Gmail user

#484

Totally disagree with the conclusion. This is Netflix's issue for not validating the email account. Not sure if Uber has changed this since then, but back in the day I used to get the full ride details and receipts from someone else who mistyped their email. If you are sending private transactional emails you need to verify accounts first.

although this is Netflix's fault, gmail should have an account feature to toggle "dots don't matter" on and off.

Re: The dots do matter: how to scam a Gmail user

#485
post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just took a screenshot of being logged into both accounts. https://imgur.com/a/jxmhI

How did you get the 2nd account in the first place? I'd like to reproduce this.

I guess I signed up for a new account with the same email and set a diff password?

Pretty sure that is all it takes.

Re: The dots do matter: how to scam a Gmail user

#486

Or you could make sure vendors follow RFC2822. Now admittedly its dense to read, but the two sections that are relevant are; https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2822#section-3.2.4 & https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2822#section-3.4.1 3.2.4 explains what a dot-atom can be made up of 3.4.1 explains what can be accepted in the make up of an address. I'll always prefer vendors operating within spec even if the spec is a dense a…

What’s your point? The vendor in question (gmail) is within spec.

Re: The dots do matter: how to scam a Gmail user

#487
This seems like a really easy-to-fix problem on Netflix end: require the user to log into their account (or be logged in) prior to entering their payment information. This would completely eliminate the attack-vector the author mentioned.

I can understand wanting to minimize user-friction, but if you're asking someone to enter their payment information, it's very reasonable to have them log in first.

Email aliasing (dots/plus) in gmail is very useful to many people, and it seems overkill to blame Google for having introduced it. Besides, getting rid of it at this point would break backwards compatibility for a huge number of users, so the author's idea is completely infeasible.

Re: The dots do matter: how to scam a Gmail user

#488
post #412

This makes no sense. Only 1 person can receive the email with or without dots. How can this be taken advantage of when you have to login on netflix to update your card details?

You don't have to login to Netflix to update your card details. Since the link you follow is coming from inside your email account, effectively Netflix considers you to be already logged in. And we are arguing that they should not.

Re: The dots do matter: how to scam a Gmail user

#489

It's a user's problem. If user is willing to click through some unsolicited email and pay , he will probably click on the verification link too if the service would send those. It's still a statistics game. Not everyone would pay without verification and not everyone would click the big green button in the verification mail, but some people will without realizing what's up, just like people fall for Nigerian scams ma…

I believe there is a technical solution. The verification link should ask you for a password or a passcode of some sort which is provided to you out-of-band --- ie, not via email. For example the webpage where you sign up can give you a short 6 digit passcode for the purposes of validating your email. Then the link that you are sent via your email directs you to a form that asks you for the passcode. That way another person can't validate the email if you mistype your email address as their email address and the validation link is sent to them.
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