Socket Tech Talk: Experts Say Spamming Far From Over

Source:O'Fallon Community News

The recent arrest of Robert Solaway, one of the top 10 spammers in the world, has people predicting a noticeable decline in junk e-mail. Unfortunately experts say the spam problem is far from over.

"Spam is this century's version of junk mail. Even with a big arrest like the one we've just seen, don't expect it to stop," said Dave Sill, nail administrator for Socket, a Missouri based Internet and telephone service provider. "People might be surprised to hear how much junk e-mail is really out there. It s staggering."

Experts recommend people take some simple steps to help stop the constant flow of e-mail junk from reaching their in-boxes. "Using a spam filter is the best way to reduce the amount of junk e-mail you receive," said Sill. A good filter can catch up to 99% of the spam threatening to take over your in-box."

Spam filters work by examining the source and/or content of a message to determine its legitimacy before the message reaches an e-mail Inbox. Internet service providers commonly provide these filters with e-mail service. Sill said Socket's spam filter blocks approximately 1 million spam messages from reaching its customers each day at an average of nearly 700 per minute. Consumers can also purchase spam filters as a part of most anti-virus software programs.

Many spam e-mailers use special programs to gather e-mail addresses from Web sites or to guess e-mail addresses by combining common names, words and domains. Taking the following steps can help minimize the likelihood of spammers obtaining personal e-mail addresses.

*Avoid or limit posting personal e-mail addresses to Web sites. Many e-mail users have a separate email address to use only for online registrations and postings on Web sites.

*Don't unsubscribe or reply to spam mailings. Replying actually confirms an e-mail address as legitimate. The result will simply be more spam.

* Choose a unique username and e-mail address. This makes it harder for spammers to guess e-mail addresses using common words and names.

* Forward the message. Send the message tospam@uce.gov to store the message in a database used by the Federal Trade Commission to pursue law enforcement action against spammers. Internet service providers may also request receiving forwarded spam messages as a way to refine filtering services.

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