Unsolicited/Offensive Email
- Spam
Many people receive unsolicited email (known as Spam), much
of which is offensive or a 'scam'. This page explains what
is being done about Spam by ISS and what individuals can do
about Spam 'locally'.
What is Spam?
Spam is unsolicited email and typically consists of:
- ads for pornographic websites.
- ads for drugs.
- ads for cheap mortgages etc..
- too good to be true get rich
quick schemes.
Spam is named after the Monty
Python comedy sketch about the canned meat product of the
same name. Much of this mail is offensive and most people
want it stopped.
Anti-Spam Measures
To protect the University from Spam, ITS has taken the following
steps:
- I
Hate Spam - installed
on your computer, this software removes spam from your inbox
and moves it to a series of folders.
- well known Spam mail sources
are blocked.
Even though all these measures
are taken - some Spam still gets through. Spam is adapting
to the anti-spam measures that are being used today. Anti-spam
measures will also evolve to meet the new threats.
What You Can Do To Stop Spam
You should do the following:
- never answer Spam - it confirms
your email address.
- never open Spam - HTML Spam
can confirm your email address.
- Outlook Rules - use Outlook
rules to move marked Spam.
- Outlook 2003 Junk Filter
- if you use Outlook 2003, the 'Junk Filter' is recommended.
- delete undetected Spam messages
by filtering for 'content' using 'Outlook Rules'.
- delete and ignore Spam -
use the 'blue first three lines' of your unread messages
to check for Spam.
- do NOT use Outlook's 'Out
of Office' feature - it will reply to Spam and confirm your
address.
- do NOT use 'unsubscribe me'
options in Spam - this confirms your address.
- The Spam problem is recognised
world wide and attempts to block it are made at all levels.
Spammers Address Lists
Spammers build up address lists by various techniques outlined
on this page. The lists are sold on to other Spammers and
lists of 'confirmed' email addresses are more valuable than
raw unconfirmed addresses. It is important not to confirm
your address as 'live'. Addresses that appear to be dead are
not Spammed as often as confirmed addresses.
"I think am already on
these lists and I guess my address has been confirmed - what
can I do?"
It is never too late to take
measures against Spam, it has been found that keeping a low
profile e.g. not opening Spam does cause Spammers to loose
interest in you after a couple of months.
Email Address Guessing
Spammers also guess email addresses e.g. a.smith@agnesscott.edu,
b.smith@agnesscott.edu, c.smith@agnesscott.edu - we are vulnerable
to this method of harvesting email addresses. The only way
to fight this is to ensure that you never reply to Spam, as
confirmed email addresses are more valuable to spammers.
Reporting Spam
You can report Spam problems to various organisations who
will put known Spam Mailers addresses on 'black lists'.
Warning - reporting Spam
is not easy. This is because the SPAM perpetrators fake sender
addresses.
The Spammers will move on but
the more they are blocked or closed down the better.
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