1.0 Introduction
Spam has become an increasing problem since the end of 2000 and
will continue to annoy our mailboxes for many years to come. Today,
more than 65% of emails that travel across the Internet is now considered
Spam. This has brought email services to a grinding halt for mail
servers that have not implemented some sort of email filtering or
Spam blacklisting.
Percentage of Global Email that is Spam History
Over 1 Year
This document will cover various informational parts about email
Spam and how avoid it in your mailbox.
2.0 Spam
 The name Spam
comes from the Spam skit in the “Monty Python's Flying Circus”
movie, in which they all sing about Spam. The parody comes from
the skit and the way in which the word Spam is so overused that
it becomes very annoying, which feels similar to getting your mailbox
spammed. Now we will have a look at some common types of Spam.
Scam Spam
A form of Spam called Scam Spam should be avoided and deleted.
This type of Spam ties to take advantage of people to buy products,
services or to con information and money from people. Some common
scam types are below.
- Chain letters.
Chain letters that involve money or valuable items and promise
big returns are illegal. If you start one or send one on, you
are breaking the law. Chances are you will receive little or no
money back on your "investment." Despite the claims,
a chain letter will never make you rich.
- Work-At-Home Schemes.
Not all work at home opportunities deliver on their promises.
Many ads omit the fact that you may have to work many hours without
pay. Or they don't disclose all the costs you will have to pay.
Countless work at home schemes require you to spend your own money
to place newspaper ads; make photocopies; or buy the envelopes,
paper, stamps, and other supplies or equipment you need to do
the job. The companies sponsoring the ads also may demand that
you pay for instructions or "tutorial" software. Consumers
deceived by these ads have lost thousands of dollars, in addition
to their time and energy.
- Weight Loss Claims.
Programs or products that promote easy or effortless long-term
weight loss don't work. Taking off weight, and keeping it off,
requires exercise and permanent changes in your diet. All the
testimonials and guarantees in your email are not worth the space
they take up on your hard drive.
- Credit Repair Offers.
Ignore offers to erase accurate negative information from your
credit record. There's no legal way to do that.
- Advance Fee Loan Scams.
Be wary of promises to provide a loan for a fee, regardless of
your past credit history. Remember, legitimate banks don't issue
credit cards without first checking your credit.
- Adult Entertainment.
You may get an email from an adult entertainment site that claims
to offer content for "free" and doesn't require a credit
card number for access. All you have to do is download a "viewer"
or "dialer" program. However, once the program is downloaded
onto your computer, it may disconnect your Internet connection
and reconnect to an international long distance phone number,
at rates between $2 and $7 a minute. Be skeptical when you see
opportunities to view "free" content on the web.
- Banking Scams.
Some emails come pretending to be from a bank and often ask about
your banking details and passwords. The email often has a section
or link to another website where the bank details are recorded
and passed onto fraudsters. All bank emails should be treated
with great suspicion.
Virus Spam
Some Spam mails you may get in you mailbox are actually viruses
in disguise or disarmed virus messages. They often have common traits
that indicate a virus Spam and they should be disregarded and deleted.
Some common virus Spam types are below.
- Strangely named Email attachments from people that don’t
normal send attachments.
- Any attachment that end in the extensions .pif .exe .com .bat
or .url
- An email message talks about that it was found to be infected
and that a virus scanner cleaned it.
3.0 How to Help Minimize Spam
 So, how can
I minimize Spam coming into my mailbox?
This question can be answered with a few different solutions. It
mainly comes down to a combination of different Email habits and
using client filtering software. In this section, we will have a
look at some good habits and filtering software.
Email Habits
A few good email habits can help minimize spammers from harvesting
or using emailing your email address for spamming.
Proactive Email Habits
- Get a free account at a web mail service such as Hotmail or
Yahoo. Use this email address when filling out forms online so
that unwanted email does not fill up your personal inbox.
- If you design web pages and provide an email link for feedback,
suggestions, etc., you can either set up a separate account for
this or put down the email address in a different format (i.e.
instead of user@domain.com, try "user at domain dot com").
- Many online forums allow you to add your email address to your
profile. By not including your email address, you may prevent
email harvesters from grabbing your email address.
- Check the privacy policy when you submit your address to a
website. See if it allows the company to sell your address. You
may want to opt out of this provision, if possible, or not submit
your address at all to websites that won't protect it.
- Don’t reply to Spam emails or click the remove from list
button at the bottom of Spam emails. Often, the spammers will
list your address as active and it will then be passed onto other
spammers to use.
Email Filters
An important tool in the arsenal against Spam is the Email filter.
Email filtering uses specific rules and message analysis to remove
unwanted email before your computer receives it. A good email filter
will use a variety of techniques to detect Spam and have the ability
to accept user-defined rules and even learn what messages are junk
mail from user input. Some standalone and built in email filters
are listed in section 4.0.
4.0 Software
Below are a list of Spam filters for systems with email client
already installed and a list of email clients with in built filters.
Standalone Spam Filters
Email Software with built in Spam Filters
5.0 New Anti Spam Laws
A new Australian legislation relating to email, which is called
the Spam Act 2003, came into affect on 10 April 2004. Under the
new law it is illegal to send, or cause to be sent, ‘unsolicited
commercial electronic messages’ or ‘electronic messages
that do not fit into the inferred consent rule’ that have
an Australian link. A message has an ‘Australian link’
if it either originates or was commissioned in Australia, or originates
overseas but has been sent to an address accessed in Australia.
If you are receiving Spam from an Australia source, it is unsolicited
and the spammer will not desist, Australian users can approach the
Australia Communications Authority for a legal solution. For more
information about this, please go to http://www.aca.gov.au/consumer_info/spam/
6.0 How can Linknet Help?
We employ an advanced Spam Filter that helps to filter the cruft from your inbox. More information regarding Linknet Spam Filter
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