ResNet
SPAM? - the other ham? |
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Spam is unsolicited commercial bulk e-mail that the recipient deems inappropriate, unwanted, or no longer wanted for any reason. It is usually advertisements for products and or services, most often offensive in content.
SPAM is the electronic version of the junk mail that you can receive in the post. Because of the media used (the Internet) it can be a cheap alternative for junk mailers to use SPAM rather than the traditional junk mail methods.
SPAM mailers get their lists of e-mail addresses, including yours, from a variety of sources.
- Buy lists from websites where you have registered your e-mail address.
- Gather lists from newsgroups/chat rooms that you visit.
- Use automated processes to harvest e-mail accounts that are listed on corporate and personal websites and servers.
- Best guess - where they use tools to randomly generate e-mail addresses with combinations of first and last names.
Unfortunately, SPAM cannot be stopped entirely, only reduced. The following are methods and practices that can help you reduce the amount of SPAM you receive.
- Never use your main e-mail address to sign-up for anything on the Internet - this includes guest books, contact lists, newsgroups, chat rooms, registration, etc.
Create several e-mail accounts using free web e-mail (e.g.. Hotmail), and then use these accounts for newsgroups or anything else that you need to provide an e-mail account for.
- Only give your main e-mail address to people or companies that you want e-mail from.
Use a SPAM filter - see Personal SPAM filters below. Wilfrid Laurier University uses a SPAM filter on all WLU e-mail accounts and you should receive an e-mail when an e-mail has been filtered. If you want to check if the e-mail was legitimate or not, please checkout WLU SPAM filtering located below for further information.
- When signing up or buying something online, check to see if they are automatically adding you to an e-mail subscription. There are usually checkboxes associated with different products and services and also a checkbox indicating if you would like to receive product updates or latest news events, etc. Choose wisely, or better yet, opt out!
- Block SPAM e-mail addresses. Some of the web based e-mail accounts, such as Hotmail, allow you to block specific e-mails or even all e-mails from particular domains. Hotmail actually has a Block button located at the top of the message screen that allows set a block when a SPAM e-mail has been identified.
- DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, RESPOND TO SPAM. By responding to unsolicited e-mail you are acknowledging that your e-mail is a legitimate e-mail address and they will most likely continue and or sell your address to others. If it is something that you intentional signed up for, still be careful as it may be a better option to just block further e-mails rather than requesting to be removed. The only exceptions would be reputable companies such as Microsoft, Chapters, Barnes & Noble, etc.
There are a number of personal SPAM filters on the market that you can use to filter any e-mail coming into your POP3 mailbox (e.g. Outlook). Web-based email accounts cannot use personal SPAM filtering software but, generally most web based email accounts have a built in filter that you can activate to filter out unwanted email.
MailWasher - http://www.mailwasher.net
SpamCatcher - http://www.mailshell.com
SpamKiller - http://www.spamkiller.com
Wilfrid Laurier University has SPAM filtering in place for all university email addresses.
If you receive an e-mail that has content similar to the example email below, this is an indication that an e-mail that was sent to you has been identified as likely SPAM.
An example of WLU SPAM notification:
==========================================================
From: WLU Antivirus/Antispam software [mailto:symantec@wlu.ca]
Sent: Monday, March 03, 2003 11:28 PM
To: somebody@wlu.ca
Subject: blocked emailSubject: blocked message (Original Subject: DELETE [Fwd: Trying to sell you something!])
Received: from niobium.golden.net ([IP Address])
Received: from wlu.ca (185-221.SPEEDe.golden.net [IP Address])
URL : http://guido.wlu.ca/symantec/M20030303144919.html
Use the above link if you wish to view the message. This link
will be valid for two weeks, after which the email will be deleted
==========================================================
The most important aspects of this email are highlight and they are the Subject of the e-mail, who sent the email (Received) and lastly a URL link to where you can view the e-mail if you determine that it is in fact not SPAM.
If you open the URL link by double clicking on it, a webpage will open that will contain the content of the email. At the bottom of the email you will be asked what you would like to do with the e-mail - you can either "Forward this email to yourself" or "Leave this email here for 2 weeks". Once you have submitted your choice you can close that window.
If you do have any problems with the WLU SPAM filtering, please contact the ITS department.