|
|
|
:
privacy policy :
contact us :
home : |
 |
|
|
DEALING WITH SPAM
What spam is
Spam - unsolicited commercial email - is analagous to ordinary junk mail. Since it
can be sent almost for free, spammers can send millions of messages and make money even
from a tiny fraction of responses.
Spam volumes have increased dramatically - it is estimated that junk mail now
comprises over 90% of all email traffic on the Internet! (See this article for
current security
news on trojans and botnets creating spam and virus increases.)
Asking an Internet Service Provider to eliminate spam is a little like expecting a
mail or newspaper delivery person to sort out unwanted flyers. Nonetheless, BEC expends a great deal of effort to minimize
spam. Our protection mechanisms block at least 99% of it.
Why spam has increased
- The number one reason: it's profitable for spammers. If no one ever responded to spam,
it would die a natural death.
- The proliferation of malware that exploits weaknesses in computer
software and human psychology
- Millions of people who are unfamiliar with computer security have always-on
high-speed Internet connections. Scores of millions of computers around the world are
"zombies" that are secretly controlled by hackers. Zombie computers can send millions
of spam messages without the owners realizing it.
- Some people do things online that invite spam (see below)
- Spammers are always devising new means to get around the defences of Internet
Service Providers
Why you might get spam
BEC NEVER provides personal information to other entities, nor
does it allow anyone to determine your email address. However, if you voluntarily
provide your email address on a Website (or if someone else provides your address), you have
no control over what happens to that information. Don't provide your email address unless
you trust the Website!
Spammers may get addresses for their victims from:
- Web pages - if your email address is on a Website anywhere, it will almost
certainly be harvested by automated Web "spider" robot software.
Web designers can use special code to make addresses much harder for robots to find, but few
do so.
- Social networking sites: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter... (not necessarily from the owner's page and not necessarily legally!)
- Parasite
software: installed surreptitiously on your computer, or on someone
else's computer that happens to contain your address in its addressbook,
this software can report addresses back to unknown persons.
- Addresses submitted to Websites, by you or someone else.
This might include, for example, "free" e-card sites, contests,
downloads of "free" software, "information" sites, sites you might not
want to show your mother, etc.
- Web bugs (see bugnosis or this faq):
tiny images hidden in html-formatted email (and Web pages) that secretly
tell senders when you open messages.
- Responses: most spam headers, including return addresses, are faked. If you reply
to spam (even to complain), even if your reply is deliverable it just confirms that yours is a
real address. "Unsubscribe" links are usually ploys. Never respond to spam.
- Harvesting from from other messages, including from mailing
lists. Probably you have received messages that display multiple
addresses; this poor etiquette is
easily avoided with a bit of effort.
- Viruses/worms/trojans
- some of these act like some parasite software
- Software-generated lists: anyone can find out which Internet domains are set up to
receive email. Special software can rapidly generate addresses; fast computers and high-speed
Internet connections (including zombie computers and those operated directly by spammers) send
huge quantities of mail. Spammers don't care if most of the software-generated addresses don't
exist - all the resources involved in this waste are essentially free anyway. Even a tiny
response rate makes it worth their while.
- Address lists that are sold, rented and traded - some spam even offers to sell you
millions of email addresses on a CD! Once your address is on a spammer's list, there is no way
to remove it.
Just as with legitimate messages, you could receive spam even though your address isn't
displayed.
It's easy to hide email addresses (e.g. by using the bcc - blind
carbon copy - feature available on most email software), and to fake
them. Viruses and parasites commonly fake all the headers on messages
they generate.
Managing spam
There is no magic bullet! Managing spam requires a
variety of procedures, none of which is a perfect answer.
- Take appropriate precautions based on the list above
- Follow recommended
security procedures
- Never respond to spam
- Never click on a link in a spam message
- Delete spam promptly
BEC Internet Services implements several sophisticated spam-blocking techniques, so that
most people get very little spam.
Options for handling spam:
- Sort your email on the mailserver before downloading by
using BEC's Webmail. In Webmail,
make sure that automatic delivery notification is disabled: Options | Display Preferences
: "No" for "Enable Mail Delivery Notification".
(Webmail also allows you to set various spam filters
(Options | Spam Filters), but be aware of potential pitfalls in trusting
other sites to be involved in managing your mail.)
- If the spam you receive has common elements, you can create
Message Rules
in Outlook Express that will delete messages from the server based on
criteria that you specify.
- Use a mail client such as Thunderbird that
can be trained to recognize spam.
- Many software products claim to control spam, but beware of many inferior
products.
Although spamming is illegal in most jurisdictions and there are
potential legal remedies, in practice it's very difficult to pursue
unless you are highly committed and knowledgeable.
For much more information about spam, try some of these links:
Canadian task force on spam
Coalition Against Unsolicited
Commercial Email
Spamcop
Paul Hsieh's
antispam page
Junkbusters
Back to FAQs
|
|
|
|
|
