Anti Spam Security

What Is Spam?

Most of you would receive physical junk mail (adverts, brochures etc) in your mailbox at home. Spam is the electronic equivalent; however there are some differences between the hardcopy version of junk mail and the email version.

It would be extremely rare for you to receive pornography and other offensive hardcopy advertisements at home unsolicited, however Spam received via email often contains this type of material or information. Therefore, an anti spam security policy regulation is needed within an organization. The following is Anti Spam Security Tips for you.

Anti Spam security Tips #1: What Can I Do To Reduce Spam at home?

Make sure that you install a Spam filtering program. Most anti-virus software programs and home PC firewalls contain Spam filtering elements. Your email program may also contain options for Spam filtering.

Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) may already be providing some Spam filtering services to you. If you are not sure what your ISP is doing about Spam, have a look at their website and find out what services they offer. If you receive a lot of Spam, you should report it to your ISP.

Anti Spam Security Tips #2: Points To Remember!

• Be cautious whilst providing your contact details to anyone via the Internet.
• Do not click on any links or open attachments within Spam emails.
• Do not reply to Spam emails.
• Report the Spam email to your IT Department.

Anti Spam Security Tips #3: How Do ‘Spammers’ Get My Email Address?

The marketers and advertisers that use email to advertise their products etc, obtain your email address from a variety of sources on the Internet.

They may buy email lists or obtain email lists from people who have gained them illegally (by hacking or transmission interception).

Just think about how many times you have provided your email address and other contact details via various Internet sites.

Anti Spam Security Tips #4: How Do I Stop ‘Spammers’ From Getting My Email Address?

You can reduce the risk of ‘spammers’ obtaining your email address by being cautious whilst providing information on the Internet. Unless you trust the site you are visiting, do not provide your name and contact details at any time. When you do trust the site and wish to provide your details, do not do so, unless some form of encryption is used to protect your information during transmission – look for the small closed padlock towards the bottom of your screen.

You should also read the site’s privacy statement, security statement and terms & conditions of use before providing your details. You should be looking for details of how they protect and use your information, and if they provide any security during transmission and storage.

You should also look for details on whether they sell your information or share it with other parties. If you are not happy with the details provided or the details are not sufficient for you to make an informed decision, don’t provide your details.

Do not provide your email address to web forums so that other contributors can contact you. An example might be a family history research or other common interest site. Spammers monitor these sites to automatically pick up any new email addresses.

Anti Spam Security Tips #5: Risks Associated With Spam

The risks associated with Spam include:

• Links contained in Spam emails may lead to malicious Internet sites.
• Spam email attachments may contain viruses and other malicious programs.
• Spam emails may contain explicit and offensive language and/or content.
• Spam email may contain investment offers or reward schemes that primarily have the purpose of stealing from you or collecting your personal information.
• Spam wastes your time and your organization’s computer resources.

Anti Spam Security Tips #6: Watch Out For Spam Scams!

There are many different types of Spam scams that you should be aware of. The most recently reported scams have concerned several major financial institutions. ‘Spammers’ have sent emails to customers and noncustomers of the institution requesting them to click on the link provided, log onto their online bank accounts to reactivate or register for a new account.

The links provided have led to a replica of the financial institution’s website site. By logging onto the replica site via the link provided, the fraudsters were able to capture customer’s User IDs and passwords.

Other Spam scams include fraudulent money transfer schemes such as the Nigerian fraud scam. This scam is where you receive an email inviting you to hand over bank details and several forms of ID to enable vast sums of money to be laundered through your bank account, in return for a share of the spoils.

Many people have fallen for this and other various scams resulting in the theft of their money. Be careful – you do not know WHO you are dealing with!

Anti Spam Security Tips #7: What Do I Do When I Receive A Spam email?

When you receive what you consider to be a Spam email you should:

• NOT click on any links or open any attachments.
• NOT reply to the email. This often increases the amount of Spam you receive.
• MOVE the Spam email to a folder – do not delete it!
• CONTACT your IT Department and report the Spam.
• FOLLOW all directions provided by the IT Department.

Anti Spam Security Tips #8: Virus Scanning

It is important that you always virus scan before opening email attachments and exercise caution before opening attachments and clicking on links. Some attachments might contains malware such as spyware, rootkits, viruses that frequently cause the computers slow down, and some cases change the computer configuration such as IP address (check the IP address when the malware causes network disconnection).

The previous article discussed about the Internet security guidelines, and the next article you need to read is about computer protection against viruses.

Cisco Spam & Virus Blocker

In industry, you can consider deploying the Cisco Spam $ Virus Blocker appliance which is a powerful protection against Spam, Viruses, and Email Threats. Cisco Spam & Virus Blocker is very powerful to immediately stop spam coming into your business email system with minimal management requirement and is backed by the SenderBase services, a network database of email security threats.  It is an easy to use solution which is designed specifically for small businesses. You don’t need to manually to do a time-consuming administration to make the system effective.  Check here in Amazon.

See also:

• Cisco ASA 5500 security appliance
• Any types of network security threats
• Secure@office internet security appliance