Sam Spade (software)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sam Spade was the name of a Windows software tool designed to assist in tracking down sources of e-mail spam. It was also the name of a free web service that provides access to similar online tools.[1][2][3][4] The Sam Spade utility was authored by Steve Atkins in 1997. It is named after the fictional character Sam Spade.[5]

Query tools[edit]

The main features (query tools) were:

  • Zone Transfer – ask a DNS server for all it knows about a domain
  • SMTP Relay Check – check whether a mail server allows third party relaying
  • Scan Addresses – scan a range of IP addresses looking for open ports
  • Crawl website – search a website, looking for email addresses, offsite links, etc.
  • Browse web – browse the web in a raw http format
  • Check cancels – search your news server for cancel messages
  • Fast and Slow Traceroute – find the route packets take between you and a remote system
  • S-Lang command – issue a scripting command; useful for debugging scripts
  • Decode URL – decipher an obfuscated URL
  • Parse email headers – read email headers and make a guess about the origin of the email

Website history[edit]

The last fully functional version of the website was available 2004-02-26.[6] Since then it experienced various outage problems due to "blackholing of SamSpade.org by several RIRs and general heavy usage."[7], and is no longer online. The URL currently redirects to https://tools.wordtothewise.com/ which contains a similar set of web tools under the brand name "wiseTools" and hosted by Atkins's email software business Word to The Wise[8]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Moran, John (Jul 8, 2002). "Sick of spam, PC activists hunt for perpetrators". Chicago Tribune.
  2. ^ "How to track down and eliminate spam". Gainesville Sun. Apr 20, 1998. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
  3. ^ Spring, Tom (Jan 19, 2004). "Spam Slayer: Why Spammers Love the CAN-SPAM Law". PC World. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
  4. ^ Quittner, Josh (June 1, 1998). "Can That Spam!". Time.
  5. ^ Bray, Hiawatha (May 18, 2003). "LEAVE ME ALONE! WITH JUNK E-MAIL OUT OF CONTROL, INTERNET EXPERTS WANT TO REDESIGN THE WHOLE SYSTEM". Boston Globe.
  6. ^ "SamSpade.org". www.samspade.org. Archived from the original on 26 February 2004. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  7. ^ "SamSpade.org". samspade.org. Archived from the original on 26 March 2004. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  8. ^ "Management Team". 30 December 2013.

External links[edit]