We'll look at each type of spam filter and at the end you should be able to decide what spam filter is right for you.

Integrated spam filters

This type of spam filtering software is the most common. Once installed it sits "on top" of your existing email software and installs a new set of buttons into your email software. In future when you collect email you'll see options for marking email as Spam, marking the email as Not Spam, Bounce the email back to sender, etc. The description and position of these buttons varies from one product to the next but their purpose remains the same.

Most integrated spam filters automatically place suspected junk email into a separate folder on your PC for you to review or delete later on.

Sunday, April 15, 2007 | Views 105 | Comment(0)

Email and Newsgroup Etiquette

tag : Email. Newsgroup. Etiquette.

Email Etiquette

In order to effeciently communicate on the Internet it is critical to understand the unwritten rules of email communication. Please use these tips as a guideline to online email communication.

1.) Unless you are using encryption, Internet E-mail is not secure.

2.) Do not use all capitals in email exchanges, it is considered SHOUTING and is considered rude.

3.) Keep in mind that the Internet is international, words and humor can be perceived differently by different cultures.

4.) When replying to messages be aware of "cc:" field. Recipients listed in the "cc:" field will receive a copy of the post. (The "bcc:" field sends messages blind, meaning recipients don't know that someone else has received a copy of the email or been carbon copied)

5.) Use emoticons :-) or to indicate expression.

6.) When forwarding email be sure not to create a loop in the system. In addition, be sure not to setup auto-responders to reply to every email, or endless loops will be created.

Sunday, April 15, 2007 | Views 69 | Comment(1)

Why Your ISP Takes Bribes From Spammers

tag : Why. ISP. Takes. Bribes. From. Spammers.

The lifeblood of the spammer is email. They need to be able to send lots of it on an ongoing basis to stay in "business". High profile spammers can send 80 million pieces of junk email every single day. Yes one single person.

ISPs all over the online world have vowed to stop spammers sending such vast amounts of email through their mail servers. Do they really keep their word? All the end user sees is that the spam keeps coming. There must be a loophole there somewhere. There is.

In the soft white underbelly of the internet there exists something known as a pink contract. The term pink contract comes from the color of the famous tinned meat that junk email gets its name from. A pink contract is simply a business agreement between the ISP and the spammer. The spammer agrees to pay the ISP to turn a blind eye to the junk email passing through their mail servers.

Surely this is bad business for the ISP? Well the answer to that is both Yes and No. Yes it's bad news for the people who receive the junk email and No it's good news for the ISPs bank balance. A monthly pink contract can pay the ISP amounts from $10,000 upwards. Bearing in mind that the average work-at-home spammer averages $100,000 net per year the above figure is small change fo the bigger junk email vendors (the guys who earn $200,000 - $400,000 per month.)

Sunday, April 15, 2007 | Views 70 | Comment(0)

The Cybermagic of Whitelists

tag : Cybermagic. Whitelists.

Before we start getting deep into the meat of this article it's important to explain some standard terminology to make sure the rest of this article makes sense.

• An IP address is a number which identifies your location on the Internet.

• A blacklist is a list of IP addresses which your antispam software uses to block incoming spam.

• A whitelist is the exact opposite of a blacklist.

A whitelist is a predefined list of IP addresses that are allowed to send email to and receive email from each other. Blacklists exclude known and suspected spammers. Whitelists can be used to exclude everyone except known IP addresses. Think of it like this. A whitelist is a like having a phonebook which is owned by a small group of people who only wish to speak directly to each other. They don't want just anybody ringing them. Not only that but the entire group need to approve new phone numbers before they appear in this exclusive phonebook.

Sunday, April 15, 2007 | Views 73 | Comment(0)

Email Spam and Phishing

tag : Email. Spam. Phishing.

It seems like the volume of email spam has doubled in the last month. Increasingly, we receive daily emails for better mortgage rates, pharmaceutical discounts, and offers to enlarge body parts we don't even have.

The next generation of sophisticated tools is available to email spammers. Hidden code can be embedded into email allowing the sender to track it. A "spam beacon" lets the sender know that this is a valid, live, email address. The sender can also tell if you've opened the email before you tossed it. "Nearly half of all spam is bugged with so-called "spam beacons" for tracking users who open junk mail, said e-mail filtering firm MX."

The latest email scams have also evolved. The newest scams are called phishing attacks. Spammers copy and paste web coding, making their email message appear to be official. They provide links to "look alike" websites where they try to trick you into revealing your personal financial information, by asking you to update an account such as Ebay, PayPal or CitiBank (or other well known entities). Phishing attacks are successful 5% of the time.

Sunday, April 15, 2007 | Views 63 | Comment(0)