Tag: email

Install and configure nullmailer using Fastmail as a smarthost

If you want to receive status updates from your Debian or Ubuntu system in your inbox, you need to employ the help of a mail tansfer agent (MTA). nullmailer is a relay-only forwarding MTA that can be used as an alternative to more complex MTAs such as Exim, Sendmail or Postfix. Instructions for setting up Exim are available for comparison.

nullmailer can be configured to use Fastmail as a smarthost and hence ensure the deliverability of your messages. In principle, these instructions should also be applicable to service providers other than Fastmail.

In the following example configuration, debian is the hostname, bookworm the local username and linus.torvalds@fastmail.com the Fastmail username.

Step 1

Log into your Fastmail account and set up a new app password for SMTP authentication.

Step 2

Create the new directory /etc/nullmailer and the file /etc/nullmailer/adminaddr.

$ sudo mkdir /etc/nullmailer && sudo nano /etc/nullmailer/adminaddr

Your Fastmail username is the only entry in /etc/nullmailer/adminaddr.

linus.torvalds@fastmail.com

Step 3

Install the required packages.

$ sudo apt-get install --yes nullmailer mailutils

Step 4

Perform the initial configuration using debconf. Reconfigure nullmailer at any time after the initial installation using the following comand.

$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure nullmailer

Setting the mail name

Set the system mail name. If you are setting up on a home network, you should use home.arpa as the domain name.

Configuring nullmailer

Mailname of your system:

debian.home.arpa

Ok

Configuring the smarthost

Set the Fastmail server as the smarthost. Use the app password you set in Step 1.

Configuring nullmailer

Smarthosts:

smtp.fastmail.com smtp --port=587 --auth-login --starttls --user=linus.torvalds@fastmail.com --pass=password

Ok

Step 5

Test your configuration with the following command.

echo "Test mail from nullmailer on debian.home.arpa to the local root user and forwarded on to Fastmail" | mail -s "Test nullmailer" root

Check your Inbox, Linus!

Mail-Dienste sehen alles

“Die elektronische Post kam mit kostenlosen Diensten in Mode. Für sie zahlen Kunden nicht in harter Währung, sondern akzeptieren Werbung und meist auch die Verwertung der aus ihren Daten gespeisten Kundenprofile.” Mittlerweile bekannt gewordene Abhörpraktiken der NSA rücken immer mehr auch Fragen nach der Sicherheit von E-Mails in den Vordergrund. Die Stiftung Warentest hat 14 Provider unter die Lupe genommen: Als Testsieger gehen Mailbox.org und Posteo hervor.
www.test.de

Edward Snowden: the untold story

“The question for us is not what new story will come out next. The question is, what are we going to do about it?” James Bamford interviews Edward Snowden, who regards the use of strong encryption in your everyday communication as a viable means to end mass surveillance.
www.wired.com

Also watch United States of Secrets, a two-part series detailing how the US government came to monitor and collect the communications of millions around the world.

OpenKeychain

“OpenKeychain helps you communicate more privately and securely. It uses high-quality modern encryption to ensure that your messages can be read only by the people you send them to, others can send you messages that only you can read, and these messages can be digitally signed so the people getting them are sure who sent them.”
www.openkeychain.org

NSA surveillance: a guide to staying secure

“The NSA has turned the fabric of the internet into a vast surveillance platform, but they are not magical. They’re limited by the same economic realities as the rest of us, and our best defense is to make surveillance of us as expensive as possible.” Bruce Schneier works on the assumption that the NSA is able to decrypt most of the Internet.
www.theguardian.com

On the same subject, David Meyer felt moved to pen an open letter titled ‘Dear stupid, stupid NSA’.

Good luck with that

“Practicing effective counterintelligence on the internet is an extremely difficult process and requires planning, evaluating options, capital investment in hardware, and a clear goal in mind.” The advice of the grugq is to choose your adversaries carefully, should you wish to maintain anonymity.
grugq.github.io

Anonymous speaks: the inside story of the HBGary hack

“I’ve talked to some of those who participated in the HBGary hack to learn in detail how they penetrated HBGary’s defenses and gave the company such a stunning black eye — and what the HBGary example means for the rest of us mere mortals who use the Internet.” Peter Bright’s story may be a couple of years old, but it still makes for an interesting read and tells you what not to do.
arstechnica.com

Redirecting mail for the local root user

postfix is Ubuntu’s default mail transfer agent (MTA) and can be configured to deliver mail using a relay host that requires SMTP authentication. Get the necessary packages with the following command:

user@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get install postfix bsd-mailx

Begin to configure your postfix installation by choosing satellite system as the general type of configuration. Enter the local machine name as the mail name (eg mycomputer.edafe.de) and the SMTP server address of your email service provider as the SMTP relay host (eg smtp.relayhost.com). Edit the file /etc/postfix/main.cf and add the following:

smtp_sasl_auth_enable = yes
smtp_sasl_password_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/sasl_passwd
smtp_sasl_security_options = noanonymous

Create the file /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd and make the following entries:

smtp.relayhost.com user:password

Substitute smtp.relayhost.com with the address of the SMTP relay host and user:password with your login details. Continue by executing the following three commands:

user@ubuntu:~$ sudo chown root.root /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd
user@ubuntu:~$ sudo chmod 600 /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd
user@ubuntu:~$ sudo postmap hash:/etc/postfix/sasl_passwd

Instruct postfix to reload its settings with the following command:

user@ubuntu:~$ sudo /etc/init.d/postfix reload

Making changes to the alias table

The aliases table provides a system-wide mechanism to redirect mail for local recipients. Edit the file /etc/aliases to contain the following entries:

postmaster: root
root: localuser
localuser: user@yourdomain.com

The localuser is the system administrator. Substitute user@yourdomain.com with the email address that you would like mail for the root user to be redirected to. Finally, update /etc/aliases.db using the following command:

user@ubuntu:~$ sudo newaliases

Mail for the local root user from now on will automatically be forwarded to user@yourdomain.com , using smtp.relayhost.com as the relay host.
www.postfix.org, help.ubuntu.com

Still sending naked email?

“In a world of repressive governments and a growing reliance on insecure networks, there’s no way anyone can be sure their most sensitive messages aren’t intercepted by the forces of darkness. But you can make it mathematically improbable that all but the most well-funded snoops could ever make heads or tales of your communications.” Use Dan Goodin’s step-by-step guide to email encryption and keep your communications private.
www.theregister.com