Lake Highlands High School - Dallas, Texas
| Questions about Spam? |
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We at the LHHS Alumni Web Team realize how important it is to
prevent as much Spam as possible with our limited volunteer
resources.
Unfortunately, due to the ever-increasing amount of junk mail being sent through the
Internet, it has become impossible to completely eliminate Spam from traveling
amongst our alumni. Please read the information below to learn more about what we are doing to
fight Spam in your mailbox, and what you can do to protect your email address. |
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What is Spam? How do Spammers get my email address? How is Spam sent? How can I protect my address? How is the LHHS Web Team fighting spam? I am receiving Spam from my classmates and LHHS related addresses. What's with that? How can I fight Spam if I am using a mail client? What should I do if I get Spam? What kind of Spam filtering software is available? What blacklist-type Spam filtering software is available? What whitelist-type spam filtering software is available? What is the government doing about Spam? |
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What is Spam? |
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Spam, or
Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE), is unwanted mail delivered to multiple
email addresses across the world by marketers trying to advertise various
products to as many people as possible. According to the latest
statistics, over 40% of email is actually spam, up 8% from 2001. It is
also estimated that the average spammer sends 250,000 junk emails every
day (Information obtained from www.brightmail.com). |
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How do Spammers get my email address? |
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There are
quite a few ways that your email address can be obtained, especially if
you aren't careful. Spammers can obtain addresses through newsgroups, chat
sessions and mailing lists. Addresses can also be tracked through
registration on various websites, and can be purchased in the form of
email lists. Some companies are now using harvesting techniques to search
web sites across the Internet for
anything with an @ sign. And some Spammers
simply put together random combinations of email addresses using common words and names
in hopes that they will find legitimate addresses.
On the LHHS related activity
specifically, one can have their email address
harvested off the guestbook or off any page
where we have your email address published.
However, we have implemented new measures to
stop this email harvesting from the guestbook
via a password requirement, so you can leave
your email address on the guestbook now with
little risk of being harvested. One can also
have their email address added to a spam list
simply by having their address saved on a
classmate's hard drive. This may seem
impossible, but the new Worm Viruses out there
do exactly that. They infect a computer, then
collect email addresses from anywhere on their
hard drive, such as address books, saved emails,
and other documents. The Worm then turns the
infected computer into a "Spam
Machine" and emails you spam with the FROM
address "forged" to one of the
email addresses of a friend (some may appear to
be from "somebody at lakehighlands.net",
etc). Some Worms may also send a list of the
emails back to the Virus Author.
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How is Spam sent? |
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Most
Spammers use special software that can send millions of messages in a very
short amount of time. Often they use incorrect reply-to addresses, so that
the message appears to be sent from someone other than the real sender. |
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How can I protect my address? |
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1. Watch where you use your email address. It is a good idea to never use your email address in chat rooms or when registering for online services, or anywhere else your address might be captured or saved. Don't list your email address on any web sites (without encoding the address in Java Encryption). All of these situations make it very easy to harvest your email address from anywhere in the world. 2. Have a second address to use in situations that may compromise your main address. Sign up for one of the many free webmail accounts available (yahoo.com, mail.com, etc), or sign up with one of the new disposable email address companies. Use this address in any of the situations described in #1, or at any other time you may feel your main email address could be compromised. You can log in and forward any valid email to your main account, and forget about the rest. Another approach is to have a special email "alias" created that forwards to your main email account. If the alias gets too compromised, simply dump it and make a new one. 3. Read Privacy Policies. If you are going to use your email address when registering for online services, make sure you read the privacy policy to verify how they will use your personal information. If they do not have a privacy policy, inquire about one before signing up. 4. Don't reply to Spam. Many Spammers place remove links, or suggest that you reply to the mail with a message "remove me" so that you will no longer receive their mailings. Often this is simply a means for them to validate that your email address is in use, so that they can send you more Spam, more often. 5. Use filters. Unfortunately, there is no way to stop 100% of Spam. Your email client probably comes with filtering options, and there are lots of great software products you can purchase with additional filtering tools. In many cases, filtering allows you to remove Spam from your inbox without ever having to see it. For more information about Spam filtering software, please continue reading. |
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How is the LHHS Alumni Team fighting spam? |
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We have implemented a password protected guestbook to keep the
"email harvesting spiders" from nabbing our email
addresses. We are also systematically converting all our pages
with published addresses (like reunion coordinators) into Java
Encrypted addresses that cant be read by automated methods. The
method currently in use on the LHHS site to encrypt email
addresses is generated at the website "Anti-spam Countermeasures". |
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I am receiving Spam from my classmates and LHHS related addresses. What's with that? |
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As mentioned above, this
type of Spam is generated by Worm Viruses on our classmates
computers. The "FROM" address is forged by the virus to appear to
be from a familiar address so that you will be more likely to
open it, as well as the attachment. Don't open any unexpected
attachments, as that is usually the method of activating the
virus. If you think you are infected or want to know more about
this go to Symantec's Norton Anti-virus site at http://www.symantec.com
or if you need to buy anti-virus software, here is a link to Norton
System Works I found recently (9/03) for $9.95 (for as long
as this link stays active...). |
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How can I fight Spam if I am using a mail client? |
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Many mail clients like Outlook and Eudora allow you to set up filters in
the same way that webmail does. You can set these filters to send certain
types of mail straight to the trash so that you do not need to see them.
Also, you can set filters in your webmail account so that your email will
go through that sorting process before you even pop your mail into your
mail client. Netscape users only need to download the
new Version 7.1 which has integrated spam filtering that you
"teach" what is and what is not spam. I
personally use this and have taught it to filter 95% of my
spam. There are similar add-on programs for Outlook and
Eudora users (see list below).
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What should I do if I get Spam? |
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If you get Spam: 1. Forward the message to abuse@netidentity.com. When you forward email to abuse@netidentity.com, it gets automatically forwarded to Brightmail. Brightmail's automated filters examine the message and log information that can eventually turn into filters. Please note, you must include the full email header information in order for proper filtering to be established. 2. It is also a good idea to forward the message, with full header information, to the Federal Trade Commission. They are working hard to implement legislation against Spam, and they store any email forwarded to them in a database that is used to pursue legal action against Spammers. Email can be forwarded to uce@ftc.gov. 3. Also forward the message, with the full header information, to the sender's ISP or email hosting provider. Most of these companies do not tolerate Spam sent through their servers, as it jeopardizes legitimate sending capabilities by their normal users. This makes them quick to shut down accounts that have been reported for abusing their sending policies, and thus reduces the options Spammers have for sending mail. |
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What kinds of Spam filtering software is available? |
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There are currently two different groups of Spam filtering products available:
those that filter based on blacklists, and those that filter based on whitelists.
Blacklist-type filters create rules based on email that should not be accepted, whether
determined by words in the subject or body of the email, or by pulling abuser addresses
and ISPs from lists. Most blacklist-type software combines pre-existing rules with rules
you can create based on your own needs.
Whitelist-type filters allow you to create a list of accepted email addresses. Email received
from addresses that are not on this list will be rejected by your account. Again, this software
usually combines pre-existing rules with rules you can create based on your own needs.
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What blacklist-type Spam filtering software is available? |
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PC
Magazine recently reviewed this type of filtering software. You can read
their review by going to http://www.pcmag.com.
Click on any of the links below to check out various software options: Junk Spy www.junkspy.com Mac OS X Mail www.apple.com/macosx MailWasher www.mailwasher.net Matador www.mailfrontier.com Netscape 7.1 www.netscape.com (built into their email client - free download) Norton Internet Security www.symantec.com SpamAssassin Pro www.deersoft.com SpamButcher www.spambutcher.com SpamCatcher www.mailshell.com/spamcatcher SpamKiller www.spamkiller.com SpamNet www.cloudmark.com/products/spamnet |
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What whitelist-type spam filtering software is available? |
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PC Magazine recently reviewed this type of software. You can read their review by going to:
www.pcmag.com
Click any of the links below to check out various software options: ChoiceMail One www.digiportal.com Goodbye Spam www.goodbyespam.com Qurb www.qurb.com |
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What is the government doing about Spam? |
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Spam can be fought on both the State and Federal levels. Currently 26 states have
laws regarding Spam. To check your state's policies, go to www.spamlaws.com. Congress
is currently working on several federal anti-spam bills in order to combat the issue on
a wider scale.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently held a forum to discuss the increasing Spam
problem. Many industry leaders, along with many members of the US Government, attended.
To view their Spam website, go to www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/spam/index.html.
It is important to let your local legislator know that you oppose Spam email so that
they can continue to work towards effective solutions, and send the message to Spammers that
this abuse will no longer be tolerated without penalty.
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