PUTTING THE SLAMMER TO SPAM!

Reprinted from Renfrew-Collingwood News,
June/July 2003 Edition. Edited May 2005.I am beginning to believe that the world that we live in today is just full of people that are debt-ridden, bald, sexually deprived and have a slightly limp ego who seem to want to get rich quickly. Before you think that all the technology has finally driven me to the brink, please allow me to elaborate…

Over the past several years, like many users of e-mail around the world, I have been inundated with unsolicited e-mails or spam. The offerings include everything from getting low rate mortgages and solving my “hair loss problems” to improving my sexual drive with “cheap Viagra” and “herbal pills” which promise to help add a few inches to my “family jewels”. And yes, all those plus the usual plethora advertising for “free porn” and “hanky panky” things we, humans, do with “farm animals”. Gee…what a wonderful world!

These seemingly innocent little nuances can quickly become a “real pain in the butt” and are increasingly costly to both individuals and society. Everyday, users need to spend hours of their productive time cleaning out their inboxes just so they can find and read their e-mails. Spam also clogs up the Internet causing outages and delays for all e-mail and Internet users.

Spam can be sent easily by anyone to anyone. Spammers use simple servers or computers to “harvest” e-mail addresses from unsuspecting website visitors, newsgroup and discussion group users, etc. Once an e-mail list in created, the scrupulous spammers can either sell the list to other spammers or use a simple $35 program to write, publish, and send junk to everybody on the list with the simple push of a button. So, how do we stop getting spammed?

PREVENTATIVE MEASURES

As mentioned before, anyone with the right tools can create e-mail lists. Most tools are designed to capture your e-mail address. Anytime you are online and have to enter your e-mail address, you should be wary. Online activities such as: chatting online, posting and replying messages on newsgroups, bulletin boards, and discussion groups, signing up for a particular online service, shopping online, joining mailing lists, and creating your personal webpage (if you list your e-mail address) will, potentially, expose you to spam.

Do not worry about having to limit your online experiences. Just try the following to minimize your own exposure to potential spammers:

1. Set up a fake e-mail account. Use one of those free ones from Yahoo or Hotmail. Use this e-mail account every time you need to submit your e-mail address before you are allowed to use the service.
2. Always read the terms of use and privacy policy for the service you are signing up for.
3. Only give out your e-mail address if the website is reputable. If you are unsure, make sure you do not give them your real e-mail address.
4. When you setup your e-mail address (especially those free ones) make sure that you use something that is a little more cryptic and creative such as: sun_flower4u@abc.com instead of jsmith@abc.com. More cryptic ones tend to thwart some of the automated harvesting programs which spammers tend to use.

EVASIVE MANOEUVRES

So you got spammed, now what? If you are already getting some spam in your inbox, you probably will not be able to totally vanquish them from your e-mail account, but you can limit them as much as possible by doing the following:

1. Depending on which e-mail program you are using, there maybe some kind of e-mail filters that you can set up to help filter out e-mails by certain words in the subject headings, or those from a particular person. Both Hotmail and Yahoo have e-mail filters and sender block lists.Hotmail Users:
   All mail handling options are under the “options” link, located right beside the Contacts Tab. Under “options”, you can:

   – setup your “junk e-mail” filter.
   – create e-mail safe list (up to 250 e-mail addresses).
   – create e-mail block list (up to 250 e-mail addresses).
   – create up to 10 customized filters.

   Yahoo Mail Users:
   Access you mail handling options under “mail options” link. There you will find:

   – the option to create up to 15 different filters for all incoming e-mails.
   – the option to create a blocklist of up to 100 e-mail addresses.

   Outlook 2000/XP Users can create your own filters for all incoming e-mails and the method of disposal (either to the “junk mail” folder or directly to the “delete folder”).

2. Some spam e-mails come with attachments. Treat it like any other attachments you get from strangers. Avoid and delete them. Remember to not open them because attachments may contain viruses.
3. Delete all obvious spam. Take a good look at all the subject headings and senders of the e-mails you receive.
4. Do not try to reply to the spam message because the sender’s e-mail address probably does not exist. A reply will only confirm to the spammer that your e-mail address is active and you will start to receive more and not less spam.
5. Resist the urge to buy any of the goods advertised in spam e-mails; most of them are scams and you will most likely get more spam.

DEFENDING YOUR TURF

In this crazy “cat and mouse” game between spammers and e-mailers, the old adage that “defence wins games” need not apply. No matter how vigilant you are with your e-mail address or how well you have set up your filtering rules, nothing is truly 100 percent effective against spam. Before you think of abandoning e-mailing altogether or setting up a brand new e-mail account, consider using anti-spam software in conjunction with the other measures mentioned.

The only drawback with software solutions is that it can, potentially, filter out some e-mails you want to see and allow some of those that you do not want to see to get through. Fortunately for users, anti-spam software are accurate most of the time and can help us considerably in managing our inboxes and preventing them from being totally overwhelmed by unwanted e-mails.

All anti-spam software can use either a “filtering” or “permission-based” system. Filtering software look specifically for certain words either in the subject or sender line of the e-mail. Rejection or acceptance of the e-mail is based on the filtering rules that the user creates. On the other hand, permission-based systems will actually send an automated reply to all suspicious senders, prompting them to register for permission to send their e-mail to the recipient. The recipient will receive a reply from the sender and will get to say “accept, “reject”, or “delete” mail from the sender. If the sender is not rejected, all e-mail quarantined will automatically be moved to the recipient’s inbox. However, if the sender is rejected, their quarantined e-mail will be permanently deleted.

ANTI-SPAM SOFTWARE RECOMMENDATIONS

ChoiceMail One by DigiPortal Software
Qurb by Qurb Inc
Norton Antispam 2005 by Symantec Corporation
Spamkiller by McAfee Associates

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to drop me an e-mail at: gb.technobytes@gmail.com.

See you soon,

~Geekboy