Why does netgate.com have googlemail MX record?

VerticalTechnik · Jan 9, 2024, 3:40 PM

Good day all.. I was planing to buy a Netgate 4200 for Firewall.
While completing the security checks regarding privacy we have found that netgate.com has googlemail MX entries when checking the DNS Report.

I dont know how other users or companies handle this "privacy topic" in our case we believe this to be an obstacle for netgate in regard to trustworthiness. Due to this fact netgate products are not an option for our company.

I hope this feedback is helpful to netgate.

Bob.Dig · Jan 9, 2024, 3:57 PM

jrey · Jan 9, 2024, 4:53 PM

@VerticalTechnik said in Why does netgate.com have googlemail MX record?:

security checks regarding privacy

netgate's mail server on google doesn't bother.

block/allow/corp policy

we outright block googleusercontent, googlegroups, gmail --

but allow some "friendly" traffic

This is done with a combination of both firewall, mail server rules and user usage policies.

so even though this is a google IP -

MAIL FROM:<forum-donotreply@netgate.com>

for example, is accepted

mail from some random yutz

3ahydZREKDEs914x52npr-014r2yBt11tyr.p1zXw5t4172.p1zxw5t4172.p1z@something.bounces.google.com

nope, sorry

Does not seem like a valid reason to exclude the device from consideration. In fact more likely a better reason to have one.

If you are concerned about google "snooping" the contents of email.. don't provide your credit card number in emails -

Bottom line is legitimate companies and individuals are going to use google. That's life.

Gertjan · Jan 9, 2024, 5:58 PM

@VerticalTechnik said in Why does netgate.com have googlemail MX record?:

I was planing to buy a Netgate 4200 for Firewall.

Keep on planning : https://www.netgate.com/partner-locator
I've found some 200 resellers in the States alone.
I'm pretty sure some of them will accept "cash".

Btw : I bought a 4100-MAX in France. The chose the biggest reseller I could find, somewhere in Paris of course. They had 'mail servers issues' the day I ordered.
I saw there was an issue, so, I thought : let's do it the old way : I've called them. This was fun, pro, to the point. Now get ready : I've send them a fax (January 2023) with my credit card details.
Worked great.
Changes are big Google wasn't ware of this transaction ....

I get it : Netgate uses Google's mail servers, as maintaining a mail pro server is a pain in the ... you know where.

Cool_Corona · Jan 9, 2024, 6:07 PM

IN Europe we have GDPR....

And thats where the Google snooping comes into play....

Its illegal here and just because others are stupid doesnt mean you have to be...

jrey · Jan 9, 2024, 7:16 PM

@Gertjan said in Why does netgate.com have googlemail MX record?:

I've send them a fax

SS7

johnpoz · Jan 9, 2024, 7:41 PM

@VerticalTechnik said in Why does netgate.com have googlemail MX record?:

found that netgate.com has googlemail MX

So you don't do business with any company that uses google email services? That is a lot of companies.. to not do business with.

NollipfSense · Jan 10, 2024, 3:18 AM

@VerticalTechnik said in Why does netgate.com have googlemail MX record?:

found that netgate.com has googlemail MX entries

I can understand how problematic this can be...99.9% of all spoof attempts on my company's website came from Google.com...I run from Google to as far away as I can get; however, I do have a government email account (gmail).

NollipfSense · Jan 10, 2024, 2:28 AM

This post is deleted!

VerticalTechnik · Jan 10, 2024, 7:58 AM

@johnpoz said in Why does netgate.com have googlemail MX record?:

@VerticalTechnik said in Why does netgate.com have googlemail MX record?:

found that netgate.com has googlemail MX

So you don't do business with any company that uses google email services? That is a lot of companies.. to not do business with.

Indeed.. everything on Linux and avoiding all Spy-Tech-Companies as good as possible.
Business policy = no Google, SocialMedia, CloudServices etc..

Therefore, as soon anything comes up with above mentioned companies = red flag!

jrey · Jan 10, 2024, 12:31 PM

@VerticalTechnik said in Why does netgate.com have googlemail MX record?:

Therefore, as soon anything comes up with above mentioned companies

Business policy = no Google, SocialMedia, CloudServices etc..

at this point these ^ are passion beliefs, not technical. Everything on that list can be mitigated, not only by Netgate but many other vendor products as well. Those categories should therefore be scoring high on your evaluation..

Still sounds like the perfect situation to have a Netgate as PART of your overall strategy.

Sounds like the score for "they use google mail" carries too much weight in your overall evaluation process. Not sure a company "using google mail" would even be a factor on any such evaluation we would use, but it could be one factor in your case, I guess.

other possible strategies might be:
a) don't use the internet at all, or;
b) find the right combination of equipment for your particular use case and move forward.

part a) has a range of options: everything from literally, no internet to hand it all off to a service company that will deal with everything for you (good luck).

Certainly would not let the single "red flag" you have listed as "they use google mail" be the only factor in your decision. If that is the show stopper, won't matter what gear you pick, you will be better off with option a) in the truest form, unplugged.

If you are really making a business decision, you will have a chart comparing several factors and each potential vendor and their equipment will be listed and the pros and cons of each evaluated and scored. Then your choice is much easier.

Note: I am not affiliated with Netgate in any way, and don't care one way or the other what you choose to do.

AndyRH · Jan 10, 2024, 2:45 PM

What I am not understanding is why you are not using a company that rates the on-line security of a company?
My company is making value changes to our security and that results in a higher rating. If we want to do business with a new company we review their rating, based on that we may or may not do business with them. We also recognize we are not security experts, so we pay a company to evaluate partners and us.
This service has highlighted several mistakes we have made that has had a real and positive effect on our security posture and located some rouge websites that we (IT) did not know about.

Using Google mail for business is no different than using Microsoft. Using Google mail for business likely includes an NDA that would legally prevent them from scanning emails like they do in the free service. This does not make Google less evil...

michmoor · Jan 10, 2024, 3:46 PM

@VerticalTechnik said in Why does netgate.com have googlemail MX record?:

hile completing the security checks regarding privacy we have found that netgate.com has googlemail MX entries when checking the DNS Report.

I don't understand the issue and im trying to.

johnpoz · Jan 10, 2024, 4:22 PM

@michmoor said in Why does netgate.com have googlemail MX record?:

I don't understand the issue

To OP Google = BAD... netgate uses google for email.. Like other millions of other companies.. ;) so OP doesn't want to use netgate..

Lets see netflix uses them, uber uses them.. etc.. So very big names use them.. now these are not security companies - but guess the OP shouldn't be using those services either.. itconvergence uses them too, I know they have quite a few fortune 500 customers.. Guess they didn't look into the details of how bad google is before using them ;)

jrey · Jan 10, 2024, 4:21 PM

@michmoor said in Why does netgate.com have googlemail MX record?:

I don't understand the issue and im trying to.

IMHO, it is not an "issue" at all. But rather and simply that the OP is red flagging the purchase based (and seemingly) entirely on the fact that Netgate's mail server has an MX at Google.

Several people (me included) I think, are just trying to expand the criteria being used and therefore allowing the OP to make a more informed choice.

I don't think the conversation is really any more complicated than that. At the end of the day what the OP chooses to do, is exactly that a choice they have to make.

Except those that specifically work for Netgate (and I'm not one of them) they are the only people that would be directly impacted by the OPs view.

@johnpoz said in Why does netgate.com have googlemail MX record?:

To OP Google = BAD... netgate uses google for email.. Like other millions of other companies.. ;) so OP doesn't want to use netgate..

Yes, exactly. and as such is really a narrow scope as expressed.

michmoor · Jan 10, 2024, 4:24 PM

Ahh ok. Fair enough.
I did read through the thread so i was getting confused on the point of why using a Google-hosted server was not good but ok i gotcha.
Carry on :)

johnpoz · Jan 10, 2024, 4:27 PM

@michmoor So you meet a nice person you want to do some "business" with.. You exchange info and find out they use t-mobile for their cell phone.. Which you don't like, but then you find out they have a aol email address.. And your like oh.. Not going to have anything to do with this person..

Its kind of like that ;)

michmoor · Jan 10, 2024, 4:36 PM

@johnpoz
Time to change the criteria on how you select a business partner. lol

johnpoz · Jan 10, 2024, 4:49 PM

@michmoor guess zscaler is out as well.. ;)

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;zscaler.com.                   IN      MX

;; ANSWER SECTION:
zscaler.com.            3600    IN      MX      10 aspmx3.googlemail.com.
zscaler.com.            3600    IN      MX      10 aspmx2.googlemail.com.
zscaler.com.            3600    IN      MX      5 alt2.aspmx.l.google.com.
zscaler.com.            3600    IN      MX      1 aspmx.l.google.com.
zscaler.com.            3600    IN      MX      5 alt1.aspmx.l.google.com.

They should prob go through all of their IT equipment and pull out anything made by broadcom ;)

;broadcom.com.                  IN      MX

;; ANSWER SECTION:
broadcom.com.           3600    IN      MX      10 mx1.smtp.goog.
broadcom.com.           3600    IN      MX      60 mx4.smtp.goog.
broadcom.com.           3600    IN      MX      50 mx3.smtp.goog.
broadcom.com.           3600    IN      MX      40 alt2.aspmx.l.google.com.
broadcom.com.           3600    IN      MX      40 alt1.aspmx.l.google.com.
broadcom.com.           3600    IN      MX      30 aspmx.l.google.com.
broadcom.com.           3600    IN      MX      20 mx2.smtp.goog.

VerticalTechnik · Jan 11, 2024, 9:30 AM

@michmoor GAFAMs.. for the ones who want to understand my thoughts on security and privacy evaluation.