email processing order

[keat63]

I'm trying to kill of a bot of sorts spamming an email account that doesn't exist.
The email account hasn't existed for 10 years or more, but i'm receiving an email for him every 1 minute.
Looks like it's been going on for weeks.

This got me wondering, why would exim consider processing an email for an account that doesn't exist.
Its checking them against RBL's and rejecting them on this basis.
Surely this is adding to my CPU processing time and network bandwidth, for something that wouldn't get delivered anyway ?

any thoughts ?

 

[cPanelLauren]

Hi @keat63

Firstly the RBL checks take place at SMTP time so they're basically done prior to anything else. Secondly what are your settings for unrouted mail? You can find this in cPanel>>Email>>Default Address

 

[keat63]

Unrouted mail for this particular domain is blackhole.
The company was disolved 5 years ago, so there is only one mailbox which is now monitored.

 

[keat63]

As a mad attempt to kerb these for a few days, and create a problem at the sending ends, yesterday I changed the name servers for the domain in question.
I know it's a mad idea, but the domain sees maybe one or two legitimate emails per month, so I can afford to have a bit of fun and learn.
Now the name servers lead nowhere.

I know that DNS propagation can take 48 hours, but does it really.
I'm still seeing emails for this address hitting my server, although the number has gone from 4 per minute to 4 per hour.

 

[cPanelLauren]

I know that DNS propagation can take 48 hours, but does it really.
I'm still seeing emails for this address hitting my server, although the number has gone from 4 per minute to 4 per hour.

It can, especially for mail. Give it another day or so but this really shouldn't be having much of an effect on the server.