Scientific Spam RHSBL is a niche Domain Name System Blocklist (DNSBL) that specifically targets spammers in the academic and scientific communities. The operators note that many conventional blacklists have limited visibility into this highly targeted type of spam due to its relatively low volume. Senders are added to this blacklist for sending unsolicited bulk email, often to addresses sourced from publications on PubMed and similar scientific resources. This is a public service, and mail server operators, particularly at universities, can voluntarily use it to filter incoming mail.
The blocklist maintains two types of listings: one based on IP addresses and another based on domain names. It is important to note that this blacklist does not list senders for common issues like hacked accounts, botnet activity, or general security problems. Its focus is strictly on entities sending what it defines as "scientific spam".
Technical details
Technically, the Scientific Spam RHSBL functions like other DNS-based blocklists. Queries for listed IP addresses to rhsbl.scientificspam.net will return the address 127.0.0.2. Following the conventions of other domain-based lists, queries for listed domain names return 127.0.1.2. A TXT query for a listed IP or domain provides more context, often including a tag for the spamming party (if known), the email subject line, the sender's address, and the date of the listing.