Denver IT Support: Anti-phishing Software
Growing technology allows the threat of spam to continue evolving, and phishing is the scam of the moment spammers are using. Your best defense against phishing is to be cautious and maintain a healthy level of skepticism. However, you can save time by using good anti-phishing software.
North Star Strategic IT – Your Denver IT Support company
Anti-phishing software works by searching for any phishing content that may exist in an email. It is normally used as a complementary service to your email service in the form of a toolbar. This toolbar will display the real name of any website you visit and any fake websites phishers tend to use.
This software offers a backup defense for blocking phishing attacks and sites that might… Continue reading...
How to Choose Anti-spam Filter Software
Everyone experiences the flow of unwanted emails wanting you to join this or that or insisting you have won tons of money. This spam email is not only bothersome, it is also dangerous in some cases. Many spammers use emails to transfer viruses and also adware and spyware to your PC. To stop this you need to use a good anti spam filter. This will also reduce the amount of junk mail you receive.
What is an anti-spam filter?
This refers to a special program used for detecting and blocking dangerous emails. It looks for words and phrases or other things that may indicate an email is spam. It is based on the assumption that email containing certain details is spam.
It also has… Continue reading...
Take Control of the Email Deliverability Problem
Although internet marketing through the mass mailing method has become popular among web based business owners, one of the biggest and most fundamental flaws of this system is the question of email deliverability.
This process usually involves selecting a mass mailing service with a high rate of successful email deliveries, and lower ‘bounce rate.’ This service then sends a designated amount of emails promoting your product or service to random email account holders, and some of the recipients may become potential customers to your company.
However, this might be too much of a risk to take since, inspite of their claims, these services may not actually possess an extensive number of valid email addresses, hence the deliverability problem, which… Continue reading...
The Costs of Spam
The sheer volume of spam that is mailed out every minute has reached epidemic proportions. There is one simple reason for this, the cost is little and the rewards are excellent. Anyone with a list of addresses and internet access can send out thousands or millions of messages with a click. The cost to others however is now running in the millions of dollars.
Bandwidth
Spam costs everyone valuable internet bandwidth that is used for spam instead of legitimate business or personal use. Bandwidth is the rate at which data is transmitted, particularly the amount that can be transmitted in a specific amount of time. The lower bandwidth rate, the slower information travels.
Think of it as a traffic jam on a major highway… Continue reading...
How Spammers Get Your Email Address
Spam represents a large amount of mail sent, with thousands and thousands sent everyday worldwide. The worst part of it all is that some of the spam is coming from what appears to be your email address! So how exactly do spammers get your email address? Unfortunately, there are many ways spammers can access your email address with very few being legitimate.
Spammers use a technique known as “harvesting,” where they collect your email address from legitimate websites like USENET, chat rooms, message boards, AOL profile pages, and special interest group postings. They are sites you have visited and filled out a request info form leaving your contact information or ecommerce sites where you have placed orders.
Technology has aided… Continue reading...
Spam – What is Your Protection Under the Law?
Spam has become the scourge of the internet world over the past several years, costing honest businesses much in time and money.
As the spam epidemic has grown the government has enacted the CAN-SPAM act (Controlling the Assault of Non Solicited Pornography and Marketing). This act has attempted to legislate the activities of any company hoping to send bulk commercial email as well as companies that are marketing their products in the messages. It has created stiffer penalties for those who violate it and gives the consumer the right and the way to ask that spammers cease and desist.
The CAN-SPAM act was signed in January of 2004. This act covers any and all emails whose express purpose is advertising or promotion. Even including… Continue reading...
Don’t Fall for the Phisher’s Bait
You should never respond to an unsolicited email that asks you to update or verify personal information, such as bank account or social security numbers. Banks, stores, and other real businesses will never ask for this information through email, especially after an incident involved in a phishing scam. Most real business will ask you to verify your info over the phone or in person.
It is always best to immediately contact a company directly if you have any doubts about an email you received asking for information. Use the contact number listed on your invoice or statement, because the contact number on the email will most likely direct you to the identity thief.
You should never click on any links in an email you… Continue reading...
How to Report Spam Abuse
There are many different types of spam we have to deal with in our inbox. In order to report spam to the proper authorities you must know where to forward the spam emails. Any type of spam is illegal and subject to prosecution. In order to do this, however, it must be proven that the email is truly spam.
It is important to forward the entire email to the proper authorities. The header of an email shows all the computers the email passed through on its way to you. Most go through at least four computers. This includes the sender’s computer, his or her ISP, your ISP, and your computer. Although the address the email came from is hidden, an anti spam service… Continue reading...
Five Tips to Protect Yourself from the Spam in Your Inbox
Spam has become an unfortunate part of life; you probably received some just today in your email. What you do with the junk mail when you get it will determine how much of this annoying stuff you get from now on. In addition, you can also protect yourself from various scams such as credit card fraud and identity theft as well as viruses and other internet crimes. The next time you check your email use these five tips to put a stop to spammers for good.
Do not Preview
If your email comes with a preview option, you will want to disable this function. The reason this is so important is many spam type emails contain an imbedded code that will infiltrate… Continue reading...
A Brief History of Spam
In the beginning of the internet era, newsgroups on USENET (the online conferencing system), were the main target of spammers. These newsgroups were organized as forums that discussed particular topics. As technology advanced, so did electronic messaging systems, allowing for the practice of crossposting. Crossposting allows people to post the same exact message to multiple newsgroups and online forums.
Unfortunately, this allowed spammers to use crossposting as a tool to their advantage. It made it possible for them to send electronic messages to thousands of newsgroup members simultaneously. The advantage was that they could post to a larger audience without having to differentiate between the interests and focus of the groups they targeted. The worst part of all is it would cost them almost… Continue reading...
