E-Mail Spam on the Rise

I have this great new stock opportunity for you...

Tuesday, November 28, 2006 by Zoomba | Discussion: WinCustomize News

I'm sure everyone's noticed the steady increase in the number of junk messages that come through your e-mail inbox every day.  What was once an occasional nuisance has now become such a large problem that it has spawned a multi-billion dollar industry in e-mail security tools and appliances.  It has turned into an arms race between spammers and spam blockers, as each side is continually both trying to circumvent known protections/exploits as well as developing brand new tools to defeat their foes.  It has reached the point now where spam actually accounts for 9 out of 10 messages, with the volume of spam tripling since June of this year.

Where is it coming from?  The United States, China and Poland mainly.  The most common tool for sending spam?  Botnets, or collections of hundreds if not thousands of home/work PCs that have been hacked or infected with a virus that allows a single individual to direct all compromised systems to send out emails, ensuring anonymity of the original spammer. 

For more details on the rise in spam and what companies such as Postini, Barracuda and others are doing to keep your inbox clean, check the story on CNN.

14 Reply 15 Referrals
seldomseen
Reply #1 Tuesday, November 28, 2006 10:39 AM
Yep, costs me, the average consumer and internet user, money I don't have to spare, every time I renew my TrendMicro and AdAware/AdWatch, Norton, and McAfee. That's a lot of food for my kids and me. My ISP bundles a "free" subscription to Postini, which seems to catch about 40-50 junk mails a day and a nasty virus weekly. Some get through to my inbox if I don't preread email on my ISP server before I download it, a pain at best. Any word on existence of "reactive armor" so we can send back a nice present to the offending parties? I'll even spend more non-disposable income just to get even with the [expletive deleted]!

Adamness
Reply #2 Tuesday, November 28, 2006 11:33 AM
It comes in waves for me. I usually get about 5-10 real emails a day, and sometimes that's it. Other days, my inbox has 30-60 spam emails. That continues for a couple days, and then dies down.

I didn't check my email over Thanksgiving, and when I got back I saw I had over 100 emails, and only 15 or so were real.

Jim Latimer
Reply #3 Tuesday, November 28, 2006 12:20 PM
"Reactive armor"...I love the idea . BUT...as the article says, much of the spam is from zombie/bot computers that are compromised, not the spammer himself. That would only get the zombies (not necessarily a bad idea, personally, but....) not the spammers. I wish I could come up with a real solution that really worked....I could be a rich as Bill Gates!!!!

Keikonium
Reply #4 Tuesday, November 28, 2006 12:25 PM
Spam isn't a problem for me. I use gmail, and hotmail. Take a guess which one receives MORE spam? I bet you're thinking hotmail right? You'd be wrong. I get maybe 2-3 emails tops a day that hit my hotmail, and they go right to my junk email folder anyway. The odd one sneaks thru into my inbox however.

Gmail gets 10-20 junk emails a day that always get sent to the junk email folder. Yesterday was the first time in a while that I got spam in my gmail inbox .

The odd thing is, not many people (afaik) have my gmail address... cause I use my hotmail one for everything lol.

Koasati
Reply #5 Tuesday, November 28, 2006 1:07 PM
The combination of MailWasher Pro, and Avast keeps the aggravation down to a minimum for me.....

RadialFX
Reply #6 Tuesday, November 28, 2006 1:41 PM
I'm with Koasati on the MailWasher Pro. It really does make dealing with it much easier. Deleting the mail on the server keeps it off of your machine also.

starkers
Reply #7 Tuesday, November 28, 2006 2:44 PM
Haven't had a single spam message in hotmail in months now, not even in the junk folder .....and I never ever get spam in my ISP email account. which is reserved purely for personal friends & relatives. I refuse to use Yahoo mail or Gmail for the very reason that both parent companies are funded by or rely heavily on advertising income .... meaning they themselves have a vested interest in getting the advertising message to users.

I used to get a few spams in my hotmail junk folder, but after a couple of weeks of 'report and delete' I haven't been bothered by unwelcomed email since. Another clue to that is never using google search....ever, and using yahoo search more carefully and avoiding sites whose front pages are covered in promos and banner ads.

I once had a medical query and yahoo search took me to a 'supposed' medical site: however, the front page was covered in pharmacuetical ads, etc, and the next thing I know my yahoo email account is being bombarded by spam because I was logged in at the time. I still use yahoo search, but I deleted their email client from my machine and haven't bothered with another, feeling that keeping my search and email providers seperate is a much safer/happier option.

AV-A-TORE
Reply #8 Tuesday, November 28, 2006 5:10 PM
I have had the same problem as the rest of you all but yesterday it came to a climax when i recieved 376 junk e-mails in an 8 hour period, on reporting the issue to my ISP they have advised me that a virus is causing the problem which has infested numerous servers around the world. on average i recieve at least 60-100 in a 24 hour period, the problem i am suffering is that my monthy usage is capped and my service is suspended or i have to pay an additional fee to carry my service to the next months quota.

I have been informed the problem is being rectified and normal service should resume shortly.

Is it the ISP responsibility to reduce this to a bare minimum so my monthly subscription is not effected? My ISP seems not to think so!!


Fourth Letter
Reply #9 Tuesday, November 28, 2006 5:42 PM
i think its time spammers were labeled as "terrorists" then Bush can set the military on them

seldomseen
Reply #10 Tuesday, November 28, 2006 6:51 PM
Thanks, Starkers, for the tips, especially re: Google Search. I've been using it for a while as I put a docklet for it in my ObjectBar with a custom icon and it's been handy to use. I also installed a Yahoo widget a week or two ago, a news ticker that's been fun and handy, but now am reconsidering these mods. Have Gmail, but haven't used it in a year.
AV-A-TORE, that's a horrible tale! Hope you get it sorted out a.s.a.p.
"Terrorists"? Just publishing their physical address would be great...then we could go punch 'em! Perhaps an app similar to McAfee's: "trace this event", with a physical trail of the spam-slingers. Had a beggar in a third-world country once sling shiite down my back...didn't like that much either.
K and RFX, thanks for the tips on the alternative, MailWasher and Avast. Will consider them.
Checked my mail 3X today, and had 20 spams trapped by Postini at the server.
Thought: If I deface a letter-box belonging to the P.O., it's a Federal rap...if I spam, it's "advertising". What up with that?
AArrgh! Peel they feet 'n' salt 'em, I say!   

wilson1992
Reply #11 Tuesday, November 28, 2006 9:42 PM
I get an estimate of 300 junk messages in Chinese each week, I don't even speak or read Chinese. Anyway McAfee marks my messages as spam and I delete them. Sending spam violates the "Acceptable Use Policy" unless they follow the standards for the sending of commercial e-mail from the can spam act of 2003. You know the "CAN-SPAM Act of 2003" Prohibits advertising companies to send "SEXUALLY ORIENTED SPAM" without the label or subject named "SEXUALLY EXPLICIT" I get "SEXUALLY ORIENTED SPAM" with out the label or subject called "SEXUALLY EXPLICIT" or any other name that tells this message is "SEXUALLY ORIENTED". These spammers are not only sending spam....... THEY ARE VIOLATING THE LAW !!! In my opinion the "CAN-SPAM Act of 2003" didn't help at all, because more spam has "INCREASED" in mail accounts. Something should be done about this.

wilson1992
Reply #12 Tuesday, November 28, 2006 9:42 PM
Spam makes me mad

starkers
Reply #13 Wednesday, November 29, 2006 3:11 AM
Another thing that helps keep the spam down is to clean out your cookies cache and run both Adaware & Spybot after each and every web search, without fail....

I do it religiously, because removing the adware, spy-bots and cookies disables/severely hampers the spam-bots ability to identify your IP address, thus reducing the amount of spam received. Believe me, it really helps...as does avoiding sites with banner ads and frequent popups, as these are notorious for infesting PC's with the adware, spyware and tracking devices which identify your IP addy....

For example, if I'm doing a search on health issues, I carefully check the results and will not open a link that previously has backdoored me with spy/adware....then, if a site I've never visited before has a front page with popups, banner ads and google links, I immediately close it and move on to another. Yeah it's a pain in the arse and more time consuming, but I'm paranoid after a total system shutdown over malware, so I'm playing safe rather than being sorry.

Oh, and why I mentioned health related searches....cos these frequently resulted in penis enlargement spam and emails with links to anatomy sites - of the pornographic variety. Now I'm not prudish and am neither for or against (regular) porn, but clicking on just one of those links can result in a deluge of similar/related material inundating your email folders, so are best deleted unopened.

Jim Latimer
Reply #14 Wednesday, November 29, 2006 10:28 AM
#11...CAN-SPAM is a US law....it cannot apply to non-US spammers. From the article, spam comes from "The United States, China and Poland mainly."
International network, international problem.
Also, the US spammers cover their tracks, use zombie computers, or use false addresses to do their illegal acts. When someone robs a bank, they don't leave a note that says who committed the robbery to make it easy to catch them. Spammers don't "leave their address"nto make it easy to catch them either.
You're right...CAN-SPAM did nothing really to help...clueless legislators writing laws about things they have no idea about....

Please login to comment and/or vote for this skin.

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

  • Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums and downloading skins.
  • Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
  • Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
  • It's simple, and FREE!
Login

Home | About | Privacy | Upload Guidelines | Terms of Service | Help
Copyright © Stardock Corporation. All Rights Reserved.


web-wc01