Sam Spade (software) explained

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

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

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]

External links

• Sam Spade home page (currently offline)
• Sam Spade download sites Windows client download page (currently offline, last archived here)
• archived Windows client software
• Download Sam Spade from MajorGeeks.com
• Using Sam Spade Sam Spade tutorial by Terry Pasley, 2003, maintained at SANS Institute InfoSec Reading Room

Notes and References

1. News: Sick of spam, PC activists hunt for perpetrators. Moran. John. Jul 8, 2002. Chicago Tribune.
2. News: How to track down and eliminate spam. Apr 20, 1998. Gainesville Sun. 3 December 2012.
3. News: Spam Slayer: Why Spammers Love the CAN-SPAM Law. Spring. Tom. Jan 19, 2004. PC World. 3 December 2012.
4. Can That Spam!. Quittner. Josh. June 1, 1998. Time.
5. News: LEAVE ME ALONE! WITH JUNK E-MAIL OUT OF CONTROL, INTERNET EXPERTS WANT TO REDESIGN THE WHOLE SYSTEM. Bray. Hiawatha. May 18, 2003. Boston Globe.
6. Web site: SamSpade.org . www.samspade.org . 13 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20040226184837/http://www.samspade.org/ . 26 February 2004 . dead.
7. Web site: SamSpade.org . samspade.org . 13 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20040326111706/http://samspade.org/ . 26 March 2004 . dead.
8. Web site: Management Team. 30 December 2013.