ORDB.org going offline

The Open Relay DataBase, the spam fighting organisation that lists open relays historically exploited by spammers to send junk mail, closed five and a half years after it was first established, The Register reports.

Spammers’ increased use of networks of compromised PCs has made its work less relevant while its volunteers have moved onto other projects, making ORDB.org less important to the fight against junk mail.

“The general consensus within the team is that open relay RBLs are no longer the most effective way of preventing spam from entering your network as spammers have changed tactics in recent years, as have the anti-spam community,” a notice on the site explains.

ORDB’s mailing list was closed earlier in December and the site itself was taken offline on December 31.