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The Daily Hassle: If you are like me, then you wake up every morning to an inbox filled with dozens of messages that are neither directly intended for you nor sent from anyone in your address book. They are a possible trap that could render your computer useless, leave your bank accounts overdrawn and credit cards maxed out, and are guaranteed to consume the better part of your morning as you sift through them in search of legitimate mail. This is spam: electronic junk mail.
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Spam is an intrusive marketing device designed to lure you into engaging with a company (or individual), and/or providing information about yourself or your computer. Spam includes personal email calling on your support, fraudulent email disguised as official company inquiries, email housing malicious attachments (see the LINC report Ð linked below Ð on viruses) and garden-variety marketing ploys. SpamÕs hidden dangers include exposing computer and network security flaws, exploiting errors in software programs, manipulating mail servers through redundancy, financial scams, and identity theft.
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So why do we receive so much spam? There are a variety of ways our personal information becomes public knowledge. My email address is listed on various websites; I am subscribed to discussion lists, news and community groups; and I use chat software. Spammers gain access to my email with special programs that ÒharvestÓ emails from these sources. Many of the perpetrators are even those companies to whom I willfully divest my email as secondary contact information who sell or exchange my information with their affiliates.
The greatest weapon against spam is vigilance. You may not be able to rid yourself completely of spam, but there are many ways you can deal with and reduce the amount of spam you receive:
1) Protect yourself from spam harvesters by removing your email address from public websites. (See the CDT report ÒTips for Avoiding SpamÓ section for more information on disguising email addresses posted online.)
2) Never open unknown attachments no matter how humorous or important the messages seem to be.
3) Do not unsubscribe from unknown companies or advertisements. You are only confirming that they have reached a live email address.
4) When you need to unsubscribe yourself from a mailing list, follow the specific instructions as supplied by the listÕs administrator.
5) Periodically check your address book and remove suspicious or unknown addresses.
6) Create a dummy email account for use with chat and instant messenger programs, as they are notorious for their lack of security.
7) Read the privacy policy or terms and conditions posted by any website to which you are submitting personal information. If there are companies to which you have already submitted this information, check with them about their policies on the usage of your information.
8) Many Internet Service Providers (ISP) offer spam filters that can help keep junk mail from ever reaching you. Ask your ISP or mail host what spam filtering controls they offer and how to implement them.
9) Implement the junk mail controls in your mail client and/or install local tools (such as additional spam software) to filter spam. Common tools offered in most mail clients and spam software include:
a. Safe / Block Lists - This is a declaration of all the addresses of those whose email you want to accept or block.
b. Junk Mail Filter Ð It is possible to filter by the To, CC, or Subject lines, and message content.
c. Mailing / Subscription List Ð This is a declaration of all the lists to which you are subscribed.
Always be wary of responding to, clicking on, agreeing to, activating, downloading, or otherwise engaging an email that appears suspicious, even if it comes from a familiar address. Virus messages often replicate by spoofing or pretending to come from an email in your address book. The best approach for handling a suspicious email from a familiar address is to reply (verify the correct address and send without attachments) to the Sender for validation, or simply call them! Although time consuming, it is better to be safe than sorry.
Be sure you are not a source of spam! Always obtain permission to add people to mailing lists and adhere to your own privacy policy.
Online Resources and Tools The following links may provide more information on protecting yourself and suggestions for reporting sources of Spam:
Federal Trade Commission: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/spam/
Scambusters: http://www.scambusters.org/stopspam/
Fight Spam on the Internet: http://spam.abuse.net/
Center on Democracy and Technology (CDT): http://www.cdt.org/speech/spam/030319spamreport.shtml
Progressive Technology Project (PTP): http://www.progressivetech.org/Resources/Tips/TIP_1_Fight_Spam.htm
Techsoup: http://www.techsoup.org/spam/index.cfm or
http://www.techsoup.org/howto/articlepage.cfm?ArticleId=542
Want more software options? Check out:
Spam Cop http://www.spamcop.com
NoSpam Today! (Spam Assassin) http://www.no-spam-today.com
Read reviews of spam software are at: http://www.cnet.com
Search for spam software at: http://www.download.com
LINC Tech Tips #10 Ð Die Virus Die!
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