How to deal with Spam

Spam is a big problem that anyone with an email address has to deal with. Although I title this post about spam, I am going to discuss any unwanted email. Spam can be defined as unwanted electronic mail or disruptive messages. There are several reasons to spam including advertising, obtaining information, or being destructive. Spamming is also a multi-million dollar business. It is estimated that spam takes up about 80 to 90 percent of the total email sent today.

Here are some of the types of spam.

• Commercial spamming is the most common type of spam. It is simply meant to get attention to a product. 
• "Phishing" attempts are another type of spam. These are emails that are meant to scam or trick you into providing some kind of information. 
• Malicious spam are emails that try to spread viruses or get you to go to a malicious website.

So what do you do about it? Spammers are good at getting past filters so sometimes a spam email can get into your inbox and it's obvious spam. If you see these, simply do not open it and delete it. If  you receive an email from someone you do not know and you weren't expecting it, it is usually junk. Next, do not give out personal information in response to emails. Spammers have many methods to trick you and are professional scammers. Information spammers want are your name, position, address, phone number, passwords, credit card numbers, and much more. When in doubt, do not reply with this information.

Another thing to know is that even though an email may come from someone you know, it can still be malicious. If something looks out of the ordinary, it may indicate your friend has a comprised email address.

Malicious emails are very difficult to deal with. Once again, if you know it's spam, just delete it. Some other things to keep in mind are attachments and links. If you were not expecting an email with an attachment, do not download it. Executable files (.exe) are the most dangerous, there is almost no reason to send an exe file except to send a virus. Microsoft Office files (Word and Excel for example) can also be dangerous. As for links, don't click them. Simply going to a website can give you a virus.

If you do get spam at work, this can be more serious. Workplaces usually have some kind of enterprise spam filter. Therefore, if you are getting spammed a lot, telling your IT staff about it is a good idea. If you suspect a phishing attempt where they are trying to get confidential work information, you can let your manager know.

If you want any more information on this topic, please feel free to ask.