Spam on the rise
Have you noticed that you're getting more junk e-mail lately? More spam is getting past your filters offering to sell V1úgra (Viagra) or stocks? If so, you're not alone.
According to U.S. email security company Postini 7 billion spam e-mails have been sent worldwide so far this month. That's nearly 3 times the number sent in June (2.5 billion). The company expects the amount to go even higher as we get closer to Christmas.
The rise is due in part to a computer program called "Stration" can hijack your home computer. This "Trojan horse" program will then force your computer to send out the e-mails for the spammers. These "Trojan horse" type programs allow gangs of spammers to create "zombie networks" or "botnets" which can literally link hundreds of thousands of computers without their owners being aware of the problem. This allows spammers to send millions of spam e-mails with anonymity.
Creating laws against spammers doesn't work. The laws are specific to a state or country and have little effect on spammers working far away from their victims.
The only thing that will work is for people to stop buying from spammers.
The spammers have a lot of incentive to continue sending their e-mails. It costs them next to nothing to send millions of e-mails. If even a handful of people fall into their trap the spammer has made a profit.
As a result, as anti-spam filters become more sophisticated so do spammers. Instead of getting a message about Viagra, a red-flag for anti-spam filters, you'll get a message for V1u gra which slips through the filters. Another tactic is to send the spam message in a graphic which is harder for the filters to scan.
So what can you do?
Make sure you have an up-to-date anti-virus program installed on your computer. Make sure you keep it up to date since new Trojan horse programs are being created all the time.
Never reveal financial details to a website due to an e-mail asking you to "update your records." If you get an e-mail from what looks like your bank or any other reputable organization asking for this information it is a scam.
Never, ever, respond to spam e-mails. As long as the spammers can find even a handful of people to reply to their tricks, they will keep sending their garbage out.
mike:
Good tips. I've noticed myself that a few spam emails are getting by my filter lately.
27 November 2006, 10:25 pmBes:
Many spam emails I get come with the "CAN SPAM ACT COMPLIANT" logo and following those instructions don't help.
I get so many graphic emails with spam, it's literally psycho. Most of the email I get these days is spam; in fact, I'll be lucky to get one dignified email for every 50 spam ones or so.
What antivirus software do you use? I use avast which comes with an online scanner to scan sites and emails too, and I wonder at times if that's enough or not. It has found many virus attachments, though.
28 November 2006, 8:22 pmKvatch:
Very few spam emails get by my filters, but…I have noticed the amount of archived spam email (in the 30-day before delete hole) has increased by something like 30%. The majority? Pump-and-dump schemes.
28 November 2006, 9:45 pmJan:
Good advice. I'm still getting variations on the guy who has embezzled from his employer (my words) and all he needs is my bank account number so we can work out a deal to split the money. This one has been around for years and I can't even imagine anyone who would believe it, but as you point out, someone must or they wouldn't continue to send it.
28 November 2006, 10:07 pmKevin Hayden:
Supposedly, there's some Russian hacker that's automated spam attacks, which is why I was getting hit hard in the past two months.
Then my site admin installed 'Akismet' (for WordPress) and it's been heaven ever since.
2 December 2006, 8:09 amSally Shopper:
My Spam filter with Yahoo is rubbish! It lets through lots of Russian spam ( I never yet received a legitimate email written in Russian!) yet blocks emails from my friends and family.
16 March 2008, 11:30 am