orgnizedmess

On 14th May 2026, I logged onto my server to clear some disk space, only to find out that my mail server was under attack: an attacker got access to a mail account with weak credentials and sent spam from my domain. My mail server was configured to use Linux system accounts instead of the commonly recommend virtual mailboxes. I created a user a while back called test with the password test for test reasons. Bots are trying to gain access to the mail server all the time by brute forcing…

On 14th May 2026, I logged onto my server to clear some disk space, only to find out that my mail server was under attack: an attacker got access to a mail account with weak credentials and sent spam from my domain. My mail server was configured to use Linux system accounts instead of the commonly recommend virtual mailboxes. I created a user a while back called test with the password test for test reasons. Bots are trying to gain access to the mail server all the time by brute forcing…

As part of my public homelab setup, one of the services I configured was a mail server! I got started with around a month ago, and have been running a bare minimum setup for a week. Here are some notes about the configuration process. Finding the right infrastructure Most providers and ISPs block port 25 traffic due to it being an easy target for spam. It makes sense to do so, as even one machine sending spam would put the entire network on a blocklist, unable to send email. Some providers have…

I haven’t been able to make progress on my homelab. The setup was all local and I was mostly working on my own, so it wasn’t as fun to work on after a point. I also started overthinking parts of the setup, which is ironical since the idea of a lab is to experiment. Then I started coming across discussions around self-hosting email, and that got me thinking about how I could reframe the project. My current public infrastructure is a combination of three services - a web server, DNS and email -…

I have been visiting some websites out of habit that don’t make me feel great, so I started looking for website blocker apps. In the process of doing so, an easier solution came to mind - editing the /etc/hosts file. I opened /etc/hosts, and set the IP address for the domain I want to block (LinkedIn in this case) to 0.0.0.0. The address isn’t a valid destination address, so the browser fails to connect after the domain is resolved. 0.0.0.0 www.linkedin.com linkedin.com I can append other do...

This site has moved from pjg1.site to orgnizedmess.net! I’ve been thinking of making this move from at least a year, and a recent price hike for the previous domain ($26.24 -> $28.84) finally made me switch. The new name comes from a username I’ve used previously and liked, and it costs me nearly half the price ($12.52), a win-win! I have set up a permanent redirect from the old domain to the new one. I won’t be renewing the old domain any further, so the redirects will work till July. Those ...