Well in Nature viruses occur from a power outside of our control. But, with computers it’s different, humans, mean or ignorant humans are creating these viruses. Why? Usually these are disgruntled people who want to wreak some havoc on others or companies that they feel have done wrong to them. In any case we have to be in the know and prepared to deal with these debilitating scourges.

There are many ways to approach the protection of your computer. First of all there’s the step of awareness. Be aware of how viruses are transmitted. You can catch them from a disc but in most cases it is through your email system. Check your email carefully. Be very wary of anything that has an attachment. Check whom it’s from and look at the title of the mail, is it something you were expecting? Even if it’s from someone you know, be careful as their computer could be infected and the virus being transmitted without their knowledge.

Next, read the cover message, you can’t catch the disease without actually opening the message. Look at the name of the attachment; remember viruses are written to entice you. Beware of free offers and generally anything from people you don’t know, as well as messages that sound irrelevant to your contact’s usual style. Delete them straight away. Delete, delete, delete. This will ensure you of a lower risk of infection. You can even send the message back to the sender without opening it to make sure it is valid.

Now for the heavy protection: Virus scanning and virus protection software, and rescue discs are all readily available and easily utilized. Some are free, and others are obtained for a very small charge. Most software manufacturers offer subscriptions for updating services, which automatically download protection to the latest viruses.

There are two main types of virus scanning software: one searches through your entire computer files looking for recognizable viral signatures, the other scans your incoming and outgoing emails. Alerts will show you when a file needs to be erased or repaired. If you do receive a virus that none of the software can repair you can send a copy of it to a company like Symantec who will be happy to develop a cure for it.

The main message here is not to get too worried about your good friend Mrs. PC getting ill or sick. The humans are on top of the case and they seem much better adapted at fixing their technology than they are at beating the viruses that attack our physical bodies. If only we could cure human virus and illness as easily as we solve the problem of computer sickness.

Written by Jesse S. Somer

John Sakoda of IMlogic CTO and Vice President of Products stated that,

“IM viruses and worms are growing exponentially….Virus writers are now shifting the focus of their attack to instant messaging, which is seen as a largely unprotected channel into the enterprise.”

Because Instant Messaging operates on peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, it spawns an irresistible temptation for malicious computer hackers. P2P networks share files and operate on industry standard codec (encyrption codes) and industry standard protocols, which are publicly open and interpretable. Anti virus software does not incorporate protection for Instant Messaging services.

Like sharks in a feeding frenzy, these hacker mercenaries view Instant Messaging clients as their personal “Cash Cow” because of the ease by which they can access your computer via the publicly open and interpretable standards, unleash a Trojan horse, virus, or worm, as well as gather your personal and confidential information, and sell it to other depraved reprobates.

Please, don’t be naïve enough to think it won’t or couldn’t happen to you!

Want to see how easy it is for hackers to access your Instant Messaging chat and what can happen to you as a result?

Did you know that some hacker-friendly providers offer processor chips that can be bought on the Internet? (I guess it would be pretty hard to walk into a store and ask the clerk to help them find a processor chip that could be used to illegally hack into a victim’s computer for the sole purpose of spreading malicious code or stealing someone’s identity!)

Did you know that hacker-friendly providers actually offer hacker software that enables these criminals to deliberately disable security on computers, access your personal and confidential information, as well as inject their Trojan horses, viruses, and worms?

Hacker manuals are also conveniently accessible via the Internet. One of these manuals shows how to DoS other sites. DoSing (Disruption of Service) involves gaining unauthorized access to the “command prompt” on your computer and using it to tie up your vital Internet services. When a hacker invades your system, they can then delete or create files and emails, modify security features, and plant viruses or time bombs onto your computer.

“Sniff” is a tool (originally intended to help telecommunication professionals detect and solve problems) that reprobate hackers use to tamper with the protocol and “sniff out” data. When hackers sniff out your IM data packet from Internet traffic, they reconstruct it to intercept conversations. This enables them to eavesdrop on conversations, gather information, and sell it to other depraved criminal entities.

Don’t set yourself up to be the next Identity Theft Victim because you like to chat using Instant Messaging.

Identity theft is one of the most sinister of vulnerabilities you can inadvertently be subjected to. Identity theft is defined by the Department of Justice as

“…the wrongful obtaining and using of someone else’s personal data in some way that involves fraud or deception, typically for economic gain.”

Identity theft is the by-product of hacker mercenaries obtaining your social security number (including those of your spouse and children), your bank account, your credit card information, etc., from the Internet. You become a virtual “Cash Cow” for hackers as your information is then sold to other felons for financial gain. Using your information, these criminals then:

access your bank account funds

create new bank accounts with your information

create driver’s licenses

create passports

Attorney General Ashcroft stated that,

“Identity theft carries a heavy price, both in the damage to individuals whose identities are stolen and the enormous cost to America’s businesses.”

A group hosting a website known as shadowcrew.com was indicted on conspiracy charges for stealing credit card numbers and identity documents, then selling them online. While this group allegedly trafficked $1.7 million in stolen credit card numbers, they also caused losses in excess of $4 million.

According to a Press Release issued by the Department of Justice on February 28, 2005, a hacker was convicted of several counts of fraud, one in which

“…he fraudulently possessed more than 15 computer usernames and passwords belonging to other persons for the purpose of accessing their bank and financial services accounts, opening online bank accounts in the names of those persons, and transferring funds to unauthorized accounts.”

Trojan Horses, Viruses, and Worms – The Toxic Trio

According to Dictionary.com, a Trojan horse is “…a subversive group that supports the enemy and engages in espionage or sabotage—an enemy in your midst.” The toxic cargo of Trojan horses can include viruses or worms.

A Trojan horse is a program that Internet criminals use to interrupt and interfere with your security software and produce the following results

Terminates processes

Removes registry entries

Stops services

Deletes files

Hackers, who have gained access to your computer, because of the easily accessible programs and software as mentioned above, are enthusiastically incorporating this venomous little program into their arsenal of weapons.

As recently as March 4, 2005, a new Trojan horse was discovered that modified settings in Internet Explorer. Windows 2000, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows Server 2003, and Windows XP were the reported systems that could be affected.

On January 28, 2005, a press Release issued by the Department of Justice reported that a 19 year old was convicted for his criminal activity by “…creating and unleashing a variant of the MS Blaster computer worm.” Christopher Wray, Attorney General – Criminal Division stated that,

“This … malicious attack on the information superhighway caused an economic and technological disruption that was felt around the world.”

By the way, “malicious” is defined by Webster as “…intentionally mischievous or harmful”.

On February 11, 2005, in a Press Release issued by the Department of Justice, reported that another criminal was sentenced for circulating a worm. This worm,

“…directed the infected computers to launch a distributed denial of service (DOS) attack against Microsoft’s main web site causing the site to shutdown and thus became inaccessible to the public for approximately four hours.” March 7, 2005, Symantec.com posted discovery of a worm named “W32.Serflog.B” that spread through file-sharing networks and MSN Messenger – networks that operate on publicly open and interpretable industry standards administered by P2P systems that host Instant Messaging clients—none of which are protected, regardless of the anti virus software on your computer. The W32.Serflog.B worm also lowers security settings and appears as a blank message window on the MSN Messenger.

SOLUTION

Avoid at all costs, P2P file sharing networks as they operate on publicly open and interpretable industry standards. (Instant Messaging services run on P2P file sharing networks.)

If you like the convenience of text chatting via Instant Messaging, then why not consider an optimally secure VoIP (voice over internet protocol), also known as a Computer Phone, that incorporates the Instant Messaging feature. Make sure the VoIP internet service provider does not operate on P2P file sharing networks that use industry standard codec or industry standard protocols that are publicly open and accessible. (Don’t forget, these standards create the vulnerability which hackers are capitalizing on because of their easy accessibility.)

Optimally secure VoIP service providers that incorporate a secure Instant Messaging feature, operate from their own proprietary high end encryption codec on patented technology which is hosted in a professional facility. Simply put, when a VoIP internet service provider is optimally secure, the Instant Messaging feature on the VoIP softphone is also incorporated in their optimally secure technology.

Here’s the bottom line.

If you are currently using Instant Messaging of any sort, you need to make a decision:

Continue enticing hacker mercenaries and remain as a user of an Instant Messaging service, or

Take immediate corrective action

If you decide to take immediate corrective action:

Find an optimally secure VoIP internet solution provider that includes the Instant Messaging feature in their proprietary patented technology.

Find an optimally secure VoIP internet solution provider that has their own proprietary high end encryption codec.

Find an optimally secure VoIP internet solution provider that has their own proprietary patented technology.

Find an optimally secure VoIP internet solution provider that hosts their proprietary patented technology in a professional facility.

Here’s a place you can look over to see what an optimally secure VoIP internet solution provider looks like–one that operates on their own proprietary high end encryption codec with their own proprietary patented technology hosted in a professional facility, AND one that incorporates the Instant Messaging feature.

http://www.free-pc-phone.com

Written by Dee Scrip

Use a high quality anti-virus program. There are many different anti-virus computers programs on the market some of them are better than others. Look to reputable computer magazines or websites for ratings to help you find the one that matches your needs.

Always use your anti-virus software. Make sure your anti-virus software is always turned on and scanning, incoming and outgoing email messages, and any software programs you run.

Keep your anti virus programs up to date. Most programs come with a yearly subscription make sure you take advantage of the updates. More advanced programs allow you to schedule updates or full system scans for “off hours” like 2AM when you aren’t likely to be using your computer.

Keep your computer up to date. From time to time operating systems fall victim to security holes or issue updates. Make sure you check periodically to make sure you are running stable up to date versions of your software.

Backup your data regularly. Most windows computer users keep their documents in the “My documents” folder. This makes it easy to back up all of your important documents. Make weekly or monthly copies to CD or USB drives.

If you use floppy disks or USB drives on public computers like your school computer lab, Kinko’s, or even digital photo printing store make sure you scan them for viruses. Public computers are notorious for not being up to date and properly protected.

Be wary of email attachments. Treat any email attachment as potentially dangerous. Never open attachments from people you weren’t expecting. Also be careful of attachments from people you know but weren’t expecting. Many computer viruses replicate themselves by reading the contacts from an infected computer.

Use text email if possible. While HTML email is prettier and allows you more control over formatting it also can carry computer viruses. If you use text based email the only way to get a virus is by opening an attachment.

Use downloaded freeware and shareware files or software with caution. Try to download them from popular reputable sources that scan the programs before they are uploaded. To make sure you are safe scan the program before you install it on your computer.

Be wary of links in IM or instant messaging software. Don’t accept invitations from people you don’t know and never click a link from someone you don’t trust, they can easily redirect you to another website that will try to install a virus on your computer system.

Written by Jim Faller

The first thing to understand is what exactly it means to be connected to the internet. Your computer connected to the internet is similar to your house in many ways. There are many ways into your house. Windows, doors, etc. The more windows and doors you have, the more ways someone has into your house. An open door doesn’t necessarily mean you are going to be robbed, but it does improve the chances. Complicating matters, the ones that you think are locked, may not be because the lock is faulty or even the door itself may have an as of yet undiscovered flaw that would allow an intruder easy access to your home.

Your computer has many windows and doors, not all of which are locked. New flaws are being found everyday, often with the fix not coming until days after. Just like you wouldn’t leave your front door unlocked, you shouldn’t leave your computer wide open either. The first two things we will discuss to help with this task are installation of a quality firewall and regularly updating your installed software.

Updating your software is becoming easier these days, especially your Operating System. We don’t have the time here to go into detail about the many ways to update the many software packages you may have or use, but generally speaking the software manufacturer will provide you a way to do this automatically via the internet. A good example of this is the Microsoft Windows Update feature. Be sure to get the updates for everything installed on your computer, nothing is too trivial.

There are two basic types of firewalls and both perform the same functions. One is hardware the other is software. A hardware firewall is probably included in your router if you are using one, while you may or may not have a software firewall installed. To continue our house analogy, a firewall is like building a wall and gate around your home and giving the guard at the gate instructions on who to let in and out. While this does give a great deal of protection, it is not all that is required. Someone may know a way around or under your wall, or even be able to coerce the guard into letting them in.

You yourself may unwittingly allow someone in. This could happen by simply opening an email or even simply surfing the net. Spyware, viruses, trojans and the like are ever more adept in their methods of fooling you and your guards. Emails may come from a trusted friend containing a dangerous virus without them even knowing it. This is where the next layer of protection comes in, anti-virus software.

Anti-virus software is a large category these days. Often these packages come as “suites” including a firewall and Spyware scanner. While most of these programs are very effective in their promised tasks, it is not wise to be lulled into a false sense of security by them. They are simply one layer in what should be a multi tiered protection plan for you and your computer. One last important note about anti virus software is to be sure that it updates on a regular basis. New threats come out daily so check its updates manually to be sure they have happened.

Back to our house analogy, we now have all of our windows, doors and other entry ways locked and fully updated. We have a wall around our house with a guard at the gate and we have software scanning everything that comes in past the gate. Sounds pretty good, but there’s one last security hole we need to address, you.

A large percentage of infections are caused by the computer user themselves. The internet is an ever changing place that requires it’s users to be educated about its use. I’m not suggesting that you need to be a computer expert to simply read your email. I am however suggesting that you take some time to educate yourself on some of the dangers that pop up everyday, and the precautions to take in order to avoid them.

In summary, your computer is a powerful machine connected to one of the greatest things ever invented, the internet. This vast resource can be a dangerous place if you are not properly prepared and informed. Regular software updates, a good firewall, anti virus software and a little education are the basics in computer security. Having and understanding these basics will make your computer safer, more secure and more enjoyable.

Written by D. David Dugan

What is spyware?

Spyware is software which can track what you do on a computer and report it back to another computer. With the widespread use of Broadband, spyware has an easy route back to its precipitator. Most spyware is quite benign - almost all applications will ‘call home’ to check for new versions, including your operating system. There are, however more advanced and aggressive spyware applications which can try to take over your PC, perhaps by forcing your web browser to another search engine page, or by displaying popups. Worse still, some spyware can store every keystroke on your computer, passing this back to its owner - this could include usernames and passwords, along with the websites that you may have entered them into. Still feel safe doing your banking online? Some applications will install a phone dialer which will change your dialup settings - instead of dialing your standard local rate number it’ll dial a premium rate number, sometimes several Pounds per minute - you will only find out when you get your bill unless you notice the number’s changed, and don’t expect the phone company to reimburse you!

Where does spyware come from?

The main spread of spyware comes from the human weakness to get something for nothing. Free toolbars, wallpapers, smileys, application add-ons or ‘cracked’ software often contain spyware or viruses. So if you download ANYTHING, try to make sure it comes from a reputable source, scan it for viruses and perhaps do a Google search to see if anyone else has had problems with this application. Note that some programs require the ’spyware’ in order to run, so it’s possible that the program will stop working, or work incorrectly after spyware removal, however I have never had this happen to any mainstream program, and this is a warning that most Antispyware apps mention just to cover themselves.

What are viruses?

Viruses have been around for a long time, and have actually become less destructive (at least in my opinion). Going back 15 years it was not uncommon for a virus to wipe out the boot sector of the hard disc, similar to ripping out the index of a book. Nowadays viruses can corrupt files but most concentrate on their own propagation and stealth. They’ll try to bypass or even disable your antivirus software and firewall, send themselves out to all of your address book and perhaps deliver another payload - some even turn your PC into a ‘zombie’ to perform predefined tasks. This might either be a SPAM attack or a DoS (Denial of Service) attack, where any infected PC sends out junk data to one specific server. If enough PCs do this it effectively swamps the server so that it cannot respond to legitimate traffic, bringing it down.

How do I know if I have spyware/viruses?

The symptoms can differ depending on the infection. I once cleaned a PC that had 700+ pieces of spyware/viruses on. Many of these were duplicates/mutations of the same one (MS Blaster), but nevertheless the effect was the same - a very lethargic PC that behaved erratically. It was incredibly slow, sometimes rebooted and would popup adverts for porn regularly. The start page was also configured to goto another search engine, and changing it within Internet Explorer settings made no difference.

Another useful tip is to open up Task Manager (right click on the taskbar and select it from the menu). Look at all of the processes that are running under your username login. Do a ‘Google’ for the EXE filename - almost every application will have some writeup on its legitimacy and status so you can quickly determine applications that have a right to be running and those of a suspicious nature.

How can I get rid of spyware?

The best way to know if you are infected is to use one of the many excellent and free spyware detectors. The two best apps are LavaSoft Adaware and Spybot Search and Destroy, both of which are free.

- Lavasoft

- Spybot

Download BOTH applications and perform a full system scan. What one doesn’t find the other invariably will. Both will flag up ‘cookies’ as a security risk, however do not delete these unless they are obviously dodgy (e.g. they mention sex, for example and you’ve not been frequenting porn sites!) Many cookies are useful, storing your online preferences (e.g. your Amazon preferences…)

At the time of writing Microsoft has a free beta of its antispyware software available, which may also catch some items that Adaware and Spybot miss. If something shows up in either app that cannot be removed then give it a try as initial reports show it to be very good.

You should also run a complete virus scan, as antivirus software will remove trojans (pieces of code that are hidden inside other programs) just as successfully. AVG from Grisoft is an excellent free av program.

Once you’ve run all of the above applications several times and no more nasties are coming up recheck the Task Manager and ensure that no suspicious applications are still running. If there are any that a Google search shows as malicious, do another Google for the name of the file and ‘removal’ - most of the big antivirus sites will have instructions on how to remove the tool, or may even provide free online tools to eradicate it from your system. Chances are that you will have to get your hands dirty and edit the Windows Registry. This is not as frightening as it sounds, as long as you a) take a backup of the registery and b) follow the instructions to the letter.

Sometimes using the System Restore feature in Windows can fix problems, so for the less technically experienced this might be the more painless route to go if the above scanning solutions don’t work and you don’t want to play around with the registry.

How do I prevent further attacks?

This is really down to common sense. There are a number of things you can do:

- Don’t click on popup adverts or any suspicious ‘error messages’. Some popups are disguised to look like error messages, saying ‘Your computer is at risk from spyware - click here to fix the problem’. Quite ironic really…

- Install a popup blocker. Windows XP Service Pack 2 has one as standard. Alternatively the Google toolbar has one, with many other features besides

- Run regular scans with Adaware, Spybot and your chosen antivirus sofware. Free antivirus software such as AVG is pretty much as good as Norton and (in my opinion) will not slow your PC down as much!

- Don’t open any attachments unless a) you know who sent them, b) you were expecting the email AND c) you’ve saved it to your hard disc and scanned it with up-to-date antivirus software. If in doubt email the source to confirm validity. Many viruses will replicate by sending an email addressed from you with a file attached renamed as one of your files.

- If you use P2P software be extra careful with what you download

- Ensure that your PC is patched and up-to-date. Ideally, set Windows Update to check for updates every day and install automatically. Do not leave your PC connected to the Internet while you are not there (either switch it off or switch off your modem/router)

- Ensure that you are running a firewall. This will stop people from hacking into your computer. Windows XP Service Pack 2 has a perfectly adequate one, although you might also consider ZoneAlarm, which is free. Check to see how vulnerable your PC is by running the ‘Shields Up’ online test.

Written by Martin Bailey

What we have to understand is that email marketing is by far the most effective way to promote products and services on the internet today. The basis of this system it to collect as many email addresses as you can and repeatedly send email messages out to them. There is a legitimate way to do this and then there is the way spammers do it.

The legitimate way is to collect email addresses only from people who volunteer it to you on a website in return for some information that you offer. In addition to this every email sent out must include a link or instructions on how to unsubscribe. I would take it one step further and say that unsubscription must be instantaneous. Having to wait for a few days is unacceptable with the software tools available today. Following this method, you will only receive email messages that you have opted-in for and as soon as you are not getting any value out of it, you unsubscribe.

The spammers mode of operation is to collect email addresses by any and all means available. This could be by building software spiders to crawl websites 24 hours day looking for email addresses on any page. Usually they search for the HTML tag “mailto:” but as users have stopped hyperlinking in response, the spiders are getting more sophisticated and are putting together text like “john dot smith at domain dot com” into the proper valid email address “john.smith@domain.com”. Some websites list all their employees contact emails on one page and is a prime target for spam. Harvesting guestbooks where emails are displayed is also a very common practice.

Other methods are more malicious and involve virus-like or worm software being installed on your computer and feeding the names in the address book back to a spam server that collects them.

Spammers trade email addresses for money. This is why the system is out of hand - it is an income producing activity. Every email address has a value to it and no matter how little the value, putting together a list of 100,000 can provide a neat income for a spammer. Most spammers have spam lists many times larger than this.

Spammers also include the unsubscribe link at the bottom of spam emails. These links when clicked and actioned, tells the spammers that this email address actually got through to a live person and that email address is now moved onto a much higher value list and is traded for more money. Those of us who have actioned these links have found the flood of spam coming in to vastly increase within only days.

So now to the question of how to use this knowledge to reduce the spam you get?

First, understand that every time you give out your email address to a website, that it can potentially be sold and traded. Therefore, if you are unsure about it, use an email address that is not your primary one. Webmail services like Hotmail and Yahoo Mail are perfect for this. You only get the messages when you want them and log into those services. I’ve used a Yahoo Mail address for this for years now. Every time I log in there are more than a thousand messages but the one that I want to look at is at the top. I never have to delete these messages, Yahoo takes care of it automatically. The only requirement is that I log in to the service within a set period usually 90 or 120 days to keep the account active.

Once you are comfortable that the site concerned is legitimate, you can then change your email address to your primary one. On the other hand, if you start getting spammed, then you do nothing, let the spam emails build up and get deleted automatically by the system.

In my article entitled “7 Steps To Effectively Take Control Of Your Inbox And Reduce Spam” I discuss an elegant way to safely give out email addresses and shut them down in case they get spammed. This is by far the most effective method that I have used.

Other things to watch out for?

Spammers are facing tougher times and they are finding it harder to get new email addresses. While this is a good sign that means the general public are getting more educated, it does mean that we have to be careful of where our email addresses are shown or advertised. For example, magazines and newspapers often are great places for a spammer to collect email addresses. This is a much slower method but if we think about it, these email addresses are of much higher value because somebody has paid money to advertise and so it is bound to be a real address. This means that we have to think laterally in order to stay ahead of the spam game.

Last but not least, we can surely help significantly reduce the problem by not responding to any spam email message whether it is by clicking on a link, replying to the email or unsubscribing using a supplied link. If you really must look at the site, just type in the domain name part of it into your browser and leave out everything after the domain name. This will take you to the site without the spammers tracking identification code.

Together we can surely put a dent in this system by understanding it and staying one or a few steps ahead of spammers.

Written by Balraj Dhaliwal

It is not practical to have anti spam software running on desktops in a networked business environment. Managing all employee junk email software at the desktop is not realistic. It can be a nightmare and costly in terms time and licensing.

Spam appliances sit in front of your email server so that when email comes in it will first go to the spam appliance and the email will be scanned for spam as well as viruses. The filter will block the message if it identified as know spam. If the filter is not sure if the email is genuine it will quarantine and hold the email at the filter and it will be stored until the recipient deletes it, releases it to their email box, or they can white list a trusted correspondent so that future emails will not be held back. This will greatly reduce the load on your email server and reduce your bandwidth needs. We have seen anti spam systems block up to 83% of incoming messages. This could help extend the life of your email server and push back the need for upgraded capacity.

Most virus outbreaks occur via email and for little cost an appliance can block viruses before they reach your network and user’s inboxes. This provides an extra layer of defense in addition to your current anti virus solution.

Businesses have two options if they use an appliance based solution for their spam and virus control. They can purchase and administer their own filter. This is a good option if you have a large number of employee mailboxes to protect and the technical staff to administer the spam appliance. Businesses also have the option to outsource their spam control as a hosted service. This is a good choice for smaller companies and if information technology is not your speciality.

If you purchase your own spam filter, a subscription to updates may also be required. Make sure you get upfront pricing for the add-ons that you will need. If you have more than 100 email users and the technical staff to maintain the spam appliance, buying your own filter may be your best option. Generally the basic model will work for most organizations. Large organizations with thousands of users will require a spam filter appliance with increases capacity and features. Spam appliances are designed to work with all mail systems but some do have specific enhancements for Exchange server Microsoft’s popular collaboration software and mail servers that support LDAP (light weight directory access protocol). Spam appliances use the LDAP protocol to verify recipients before delivering messages to your email server, this avoids consuming server resources.

If your business has five to one hundred employees, then an outsourced anti spam and virus filter service is going to be a good economical choice for your organization. Fees are based on the number of users and you only pay for what you use. You will not have hardware to buy, maintain, and upgrade. The upfront cost is minimal and most email filtering providers will let you try the service for free at first. Another added benefit to outsourcing your spam control is redundancy. It is important that you choose a provider that has their spam and virus filters collocated at secure internet data center facilities. Data centers provide redundant network connections and power, so if your email server or internet connection is down unexpectedly the spam appliance will hold your email until your email server becomes available, minus spam and viruses.

Anti spam technology is constantly improving and the costs are getting lower. With increased productivity and an added layer of defense against virus attacks, an anti spam appliance or service is something your business can not afford to be without.

Written by John Tourloukis

A: I feel your pain. I, too, miss the good old days when the only time you’d spend an hour dealing with spam was trying to pry it out of the can.

Due to the nature of my business, I get a lot of unwanted email. I’ve been working on the Internet since 1995 and my email address has been publicly exposed for most of that time, so I am a spammer’s delight. It is no exaggeration to say that I used to receive more than 400 email messages a day. Out of those 400 messages about 10% were from people I knew, 10% were from people I needed to know, and the rest were from people that I would like to track down and field dress with a very dull knife.

Spammers, they are called… the scourge of the Internet… the digital kin of the lowly telemarketer and dreaded junk mailer.

After listening to me complain about spam for months, my lead engineer burst into my office a few weeks ago and announced, “I’ve solved our spam problem! I’ve installed a spam filter on our server that will prevent spam from getting through.”

Great, I thought, now I can find something new to complain about.

I wondered what I would do with the extra two hours a day this wonderful spam filter would give me. My joy quickly waned when within a day my email went from 400 to 40. It was the saddest day of my life. Sitting there staring at my empty email box I suddenly felt very alone. At that moment I realized that not only had I come to expect the morning deluge of email, but I had come to find comfort in it. The spammers had become my friends. They wanted me to get rich quick and brighten my smile. They wanted to enhance my love life with generic Viagra and give me great deals on miniature cameras, low interest loans, waterfront property, and more. And the sheer number of folks concerned about the abundance (or lack thereof) of my anatomy was incredibly heart warming.

And the ladies that sent me email were so nice. They were worried that I was lonely and offered to cure my loneliness if only I gave them a credit card number. How sweet is that?

After a few days the withdrawal symptoms ceased and I was happy to be free of the majority of the spam, though to this day I’m afraid that I might be missing out on something grand.

You and I are not alone, Anna. According to a recent study by eMarketer, the average Internet email user now receives 81 emails a day, and nearly one quarter of them are spam. Spam now makes up more than 40% of all email and costs U.S. companies more than $10 billion annually. Seventy-six billion unsolicited e-mail messages will be delivered in 2003.

So how do spammers get your email address in the first place? It’s easier than you might think. While some spam comes as a result of online purchases (yes, there are companies that will sell your email address no matter what their privacy policy says), that’s just one of the ways spammers get you in their sites.

Spammers use “spider software” to crawl the web and harvest email address, so if you have a personal or company website that has your email posted on it, sooner or later a spam spider is going to grab your address and add it to the mill. Likewise when you sign up to take online surveys or receive email newsletters, you are potentially exposing yourself to spammers.

How can you reduce the amount of spam you get? Many people think that you can’t fight spam, so you should just accept it and move on. In other words, you can not fight the Borg, so smile and be assimilated into the fold. While spam is hard to eliminate, there are things you can do to lessen the amount of spam you receive and it’s impact on your daily business life.

First, stop clicking on the “unsubscribe” links at the bottom of spam emails. While some of the links are valid and will get you removed from spammer’s lists, other are actually there just to let the spammer know that your address is valid. Click the link to unsubscribe and you might actually see the amount of spam you receive increase.

Second, it’s a good idea to have at least two e-mail addresses. Use one for personal or business use, and the other for surveys and online purchases.

Third, consider installing a spam blocking software on your computer or company network. There are a variety of spam blocking applications on the market that range in price from free to a hundred bucks. Though none of them will completely eliminate spam, they can greatly reduce the volume you receive. Search the Web for “spam filter” and investigate the ones that you feel are right for you.

Your Internet Service Provider should also offer an anti-spam application, but be careful how you use it. I have a client who recently increased the sensitivity of their ISP spam blocker to the point that nothing was getting delivered to their company email accounts, including their own company newsletter. They had effectively built an email brick wall that stopped the spam and everything else. Not a good idea.

Before investing in a commercial spam blocker you might also try adjusting the email filtering settings in your email software. Microsoft Outlook, for example, lets you set rules for handling incoming mail. The same is true with Outlook Express, Eudora, and Apple’s Mail OSX. Each have built-in filtering features that can help eliminate unwanted email by parameters you set.

One thing to remember is that if spam didn’t work, it would quickly go away. In other words, if spammers weren’t profiting from sending unwanted emails they would go do something else.

Probably become a telemarketer or credit card debt collector.

Whether you use a commercial product or rely on your existing email software to filter out spam, just be careful that you don’t batten down the hatches so tight that you no longer receive any email at all.

Here’s to your success!

Written by Tim Knox

Although the vast majority of this bulk email is being perpetrated by individual spammers and a few large bulk mailers pushing pornography, gambling, get rich schemes, ‘medicinal cures’ and bootleg software, real businesses have been caught in the web also by committing several errors. The three ways a legitimate business falls into the Spam mode are: 1. Legal non-Compliance, 2. Violating Trust, and 3. Lack of Value.

Legal non-Compliance

Through the end of 2003 it was very difficult to comply with Spam laws as twenty six states had passed their own laws dealing either directly with the process of sending unsolicited commercial email or the format requirements of bulk email.

With the passage of the Federal law – “Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003” or better known as the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, it has become a lot easier to understand and apply the rules. Real businesses should have no problem complying with all aspects of the law and those that don’t will find themselves in legal jeopardy for significant penalties.

The process components of the law won’t be an issue for real businesses, they don’t fake the reply address, they don’t hijack someone else’s mail server nor do they contain falsified routing information. Where they are likely to fail are in three specific areas.

1) Neglecting to include a valid physical address in the body of the email.

2) Not having a functional Internet-based opt-out mechanism, which must be active for a minimum of 30 days after the email has been sent.

3) Failing to include clear and conspicuous identification that the message is an advertisement or solicitation. Most State laws approached this similar provision by requiring the use of the letters ADV: in the beginning of the subject line. The Federal doesn’t specify how this is to be accomplished; thereby, leaving it open to a wide range of interpretation.

There are several additional areas that are process related that may trip up the sender unintentionally.

1) The sender rents or purchasing a defective email list, for example one that has individuals that have already opted-out of email communications.

2) They use a ‘tricky’ subject line to entice recipients to open the message. Subject lines that stretch the truth could be identified as misleading the purpose of the email and therefore be a violation.

3) Agents or related 3rd parties that have business relationship with the firm send out Spam. This could put the company in jeopardy if it can be proven that they were aware of the related company’s activities.

Although the Federal law isn’t perfect one significant advantage it does offer to real businesses is that there is now only one place they need to go to check the rules before a company embarks onto an email marketing program.

Violating Trust

Trust is one of the major stumbling blocks keeping the publics’ enthusiasm for the Internet in check. And when it comes to providing their email address that is in the eye of the storm. The overwhelming concern people have about providing a company their email address is that it will be shared, loaned, rented, sold or carelessly unprotected. Sharing lists internally between product lines, departments, or divisions and externally with ‘business partners’ stretches the permission basis originally given by the subscriber. When opt-in lists developed at one website are resold to list brokers, real businesses that rent these lists automatically become spammers because recipients are typically applying this litmus test to commercial email they receive: “Email marketing is for product/service information I’ve specifically requested, Spam is sent without asking for it”.

Businesses embarking down the eMarketing path often have in-house databases that include email addresses of suspects, prospects, and clients. The conversion of these lists, developed on a relationship basis, to a formal subscriber list treads a fine line and should be considered very carefully before assuming that permission has been granted.

Lack of Value

Every time you send email to your list members, you will be judged, and in some cases, it may appear to have been done unfairly. In today’s environment subscribers are now becoming annoyed at a variety of shortcomings, such as messages about products they seldom buy, messages that serve the sender more than the recipient, unsubscribe processes that don’t work, ‘hard sell’ messages or even messages in formats that can’t be properly displayed in the recipient’s mail program.

The plain simple truth is that even in a permission email environment, recipients are now applying their own tests for Spam whether they opted in or not. These are natural human reactions to the mailings they receive – it can be as straightforward as “Email marketing is email I like, Spam is email I don’t like.”

How to Fix

Real businesses need to insure that they aren’t jeopardizing their brand name by meeting or exceeding the best practices for email marketing. Auditing the list, evaluating your content and insuring proper conformance with the documentation process in the permission mailing process are the key components to a successful campaign.

Written by Jerry Weinstock

If you currently receive unsolicited email on your desktop, you can get it filtered out through settings at your Internet Service Provider’s gateway, the network email server or email gateway, or through your own antispam software or filter on your computer. You have the option of purchasing a wide variety of spam blocking or filtering software—or you can download freeware or shareware as your solution to the spam problem. The problem is that with some of these software options the quality can be quite low and the filtering not really effective. You will find that a combination of strategies, such as using a separate email address, adding some recommended antispam software by experts to your computer, for example, will go a long way toward reducing levels of spam in your mailbox.

For example, the use of content based filtering based on the header of the email is somewhat helpful, but spammers are now changing spelling or some phrases in order to escape the phrase detecting spam filters. Content filtering can be put into action by analyzing the spamming URLs in the body of the email. The URL cannot be concealed as it must have a domain name. The list of these links and reporting them to a list of spamming websites is a good way to stop the much of the spam.

Sometimes many email users use a disposable email address, which is a temporary address that forward mail to your real account. A few services do offer disposable address forwarding. Addresses can be eliminated, or have an expiration date after a certain time period, or can expire after a certain number of messages are forwarded to the address. Or you can use that address to receive email and that you can close or abandon the email address whenever you want.

Another tip is to steer clear of responding to spam, even by responding negatively or complaining about the spamming email. By responding, you are informing the spammer that you have a valid email address. This is probably one of the worst things you can do as it could lead to even more spam as a result. So the last tip is don’t ever respond to spamming emails.

Written by John Chan