Most importantly, don't EVER respond to a spam email! When you respond to spam, you are confirming to the sender that you are a valid recipient. The sender could register that fact, and then your email address can be recorded and distributed to other spammers.
Recently I have seen spates of spam showing "Undeliverable Mail" notifications. This occurs when spammers use YOUR email address as the sender identifier. You are receiving notifications of the spam which failed, but there will be thousands of other spam emails which were sent. Unfortunately, these were sent using your email address...and there is nothing you can do about it. These spates are usually short lived, but once your email has been used, it's highly likely to be used again in the future.
Why do people send spam?
Actually most spam is not sent by people, it's sent by an automated system. Sure, the original email is created by a human, but that person or group will create computer systems that can automatically and continually send out millions of spam emails, one after the other.
Spammers are usually trying to sell something (sales), or trying to get across an opinion (idealogical). Some spam is created just in order to annoy Internet users like you and me (malicious).
I'm often asked how spammers find your address. There are many methods. Some spammers just use random names until they get a bite, for instance, they may try fred, john, mary, jane and so on. If the spammer receives a response, then they can be assured there is a receiver there! This is called "harvesting". Once your email address is on a list, it will be used and re-used by that spammer. The spammer may even sell his/her lists of millions of addresses to other spammers on the Internet for a few dollars.
Another form of harvesting is using automated programs (spambots) which scan through the millions of web pages on the Internet. Everytime the robot detects an email address within a website, the email address is stored and added to the spammer's list.
If you sign up (subscribe) or visit a non-reputable website, it may ask you to enter your email address or other details. This is a sure-fire way to register your email on a spammer's list of victims! Every time you enter your email address on a website, usenet group, or other facility on the Internet, you risk handing over your email address to spammers.
It's so easy to send emails. It's free, and it can be automated so that it sends out to millions of recipients whilst the sender is asleep. From a sales perspective, it's an excellent method to reach the bulk of the world's consumers at little or no cost. Even if a faction of a millionth of a percent result in sales, the spammer could easily make a good living out of selling this way.
But don't try it. Spamming is illegal in Australia. It is easy to track spammers sending from Australia and there are law enforcement teams which monitor this, and will prosecute spammers.
How to Stop Spam
It's not really possible to stop spam. Because spam can originate from anywhere in the world, from anybody at any time, it's impossible to create rules which will capture all the spam sent to you. The best we can do is minimise the amount of spam which you have to actually see in your in-box....and there are some excellent tools to help with this.
Depending on your email system and Internet connection, you have various options for minimising spam. If you don't have external spam protection, you should have anti-spam software on your computer. Many current anti-spam solutions are bundled with anti-virus solutions, but don't assume that your anti-virus software also helps with spam. Even though spam emails can carry viruses, your anti-virus software will not stop you receiving the virus via spam. While you're at it, ensure your software also includes anti-spyware features. If you don't have these features in your anti-virus, then it's acceptable to acquire separate programs to help with spam or spyware.
But rather than waiting for the spam to be downloaded to your computer before you can detect it, it's a better option to have it thwarted beforehand. Many Internet Service providers offer services to filter spam before it reaches you. Sometimes it's free, sometimes chargeable. Check with your provider, but if they charge any more than $4 per month for the benefit, I suggest you change to a provider who does it for less. Everybody should contribute towards the fight against spam.
If you receive spam at your business, your spam solution will depend on your setup. Hosted solutions like those provided by MessageLabs are an excellent solution. Although you need to pay for the privilege, this method relieves you of having to worry about updating your spam filters. The provider will maintain the systems, and filter out most, if not all of the spam and viruses headed your way.
If you business has its own mail server, you may prefer to conduct the spam filtering in house. Tools such as SpamAssassin, TrendMicro, or the Microsoft Exchange 2003 Internet Message Filter can be setup - but you'll need to ensure the spam signatures are kept up-to-date on a daily basis.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|