Blacklists Compared

29 December 2001

[ Fighting Spam | Blacklists Compared | Current Blacklist Comparison ]


Survey results for all known public IP-based DNS blacklists. Lookups were done on connecting IP addresses. The "union of most IP zones" line excludes the xbl.selwerd.cx zone because it is too aggressive to be widely useful, and excludes the blocktest.relays.osirusoft.com zone because it is not a blacklist.

HitsDNS Zone
4067(total number of IP addresses tested, including 222 at SDSC)
1527(union of most IP zones)
1287xbl.selwerd.cx
735blackholes.five-ten-sg.com (union of all results)
666bl.spamcop.net
352outputs.orbz.org
329blackholes.five-ten-sg.com (result 127.0.0.4 = unconfirmed opt-in)
240ztl.dorkslayers.com
234blackholes.intersil.net
226blackholes.five-ten-sg.com (result 127.0.0.2 = spam source)
191relays.ordb.org
177inputs.orbz.org
156orbs.dorkslayers.com
148block.blars.org
123flowgoaway.com
112pm0-no-more.compu.net
95blackholes.five-ten-sg.com (result 127.0.0.7 = spam haven)
77blackholes.five-ten-sg.com (result 127.0.0.3 = dialup)
68relays.visi.com
62blacklist.spambag.org
58ipwhois.rfc-ignorant.org
50dev.null.dk
49spammers.v6net.org
42relays.dorkslayers.com
35blocktest.relays.osirusoft.com (not a blacklist!)
28relays.osirusoft.com (union of all results)
17blackhole.compu.net
15relays.osirusoft.com (result 127.0.0.4 = spam source)
12relays.osirusoft.com (result 127.0.0.2 = relay)
12inputs.relays.osirusoft.com
11spews.relays.osirusoft.com
10spamsources.relays.osirusoft.com (result 127.0.0.4 = spam source)
10spamsources.relays.osirusoft.com (union of all results)
8blackholes.five-ten-sg.com (result 127.0.0.5 = relay output)
4relays.osirusoft.com (result 127.0.0.9 = open socks proxy)
3socks.relays.osirusoft.com
1relays.osirusoft.com (result 127.0.0.6 = spamsites)
1spamhaus.relays.osirusoft.com
1dialups.relays.osirusoft.com
1relays.osirusoft.com (result 127.0.0.3 = dialup)

The blackholes.intersil.net zone "lists entrenched spammers, mainsleaze and mainsleaze wannabes who have pestered users at Intersil." The flowgoaway.com zone lists FloNetwork systems. The blackhole.compu.net zone "is primarily for hosts which were not blocked by other blackhole sites and spammed compu.net" and the pm0-no-more.compu.net zone "blocks all pm0 email."


Survey results for all known public domain-name-based DNS blacklists. Lookups were done on the domain names of connecting IP addresses.

HitsDNS Zone
4067(total number of IP addresses whose names were tested, including 222 at SDSC)
630(union of all domain zones)
226postmaster.rfc-ignorant.org
222whois.rfc-ignorant.org
209abuse.rfc-ignorant.org
2dsn.rfc-ignorant.org (zone not intended for this use)


Survey results for all known public domain-name-based DNS blacklists. Lookups were done on SMTP sender domains.

HitsDNS Zone
2734(total number of domains tested, including 64 at SDSC)
285(union of all domain zones)
124whois.rfc-ignorant.org
110abuse.rfc-ignorant.org
63postmaster.rfc-ignorant.org
38dsn.rfc-ignorant.org
9bandwidth-pigs.monkeys.com


This document was last updated by Jeff Makey <jeff@sdsc.edu> on 30 December 2001.