Spam#

We are all pretty tired of receiving emails that try to sell us things we don’t need. A great job working from home, a master’s degree that requires no studying, and miracle pharmaceutical pills are all just a click away - as promised by this continual stream of messages. These messages, commonly referred to as spam, can range from mildly annoying to outright deceptive and harmful. In this article, we will explore what spam is as well as how to detect and protect yourself against it.

What is Spam?#

Spam refers to unsolicited junk email, usually sent in bulk to a large number of recipients. Often spam is sent via email, but it can also be distributed via text messages, phone calls, or social media. Along with being a nuisance, spam eats up a lot of network bandwidth and can be the source of spreading malware.

Many organizations have spam filters on their mail servers, and users can configure spam rules within their email clients, but just as virus writers always come up with ways to circumvent antimalware software, spammers come up with clever ways of getting around spam filters.

Common types of Spam:#

Spammers employ various techniques to distribute their unwanted messages and bypass spam filters. Here are some common types of spamming techniques:

Email Spoofing:#

Email spoofing is a technique used by malicious users to forge an email to make it appear to be from a legitimate source. Usually, such emails appear to be from known and trusted email addresses when they are generated from a malicious source. Email spoofing is done by modifying the fields of email headers, such as the From, Return-Path, and Reply-To fields. This results in an email looking as though it is from a known email address.

This technique is widely used by attackers these days for phishing purposes. Using this technique, an attacker tries to acquire the target’s sensitive information, such as username and password or bank account credentials. Sometimes, the email messages contain a link to a known website when it is a fake website used to trick the user into revealing his information.

Botnets:#

Spammers may infect a large number of computers with malware and create a network of compromised machines known as a botnet. They can then use these botnets to send out massive volumes of spam emails, making it difficult to trace the origin.

Email Relaying:#

Email relay is the process of transmitting an email message from one server to another. In this technique, spammers find mail servers on the Internet that have loosely configured relaying mechanisms and use these servers to send their spam. Therefore, if a company does not properly configure its mail relaying, its servers can be used to distribute advertisements for other companies, spam messages, and other unwanted material.

SPIM:#

SPIM, or spam over instant messaging, is a spamming technique that targets the users of instant messaging applications such as Whatsapp, Messenger, Telegram, and much more. An attacker can sometimes guess the phone numbers randomly or hijack the contacts from a legitimate but compromised phone. Spammers then use automated software to distribute large volumes of unwanted messages to their targeted users.

SPIM messages may contain advertisements, promotional content, or links to other websites that promote scams. The more hostile form of SPIM consists of deceiving or manipulating users into divulging sensitive information. This usually happens by enticing the users into clicking on malicious content or links, thus initiating the attack.

How to detect and protect against spam messages?#

This section presents some of the ways you can use to spot spam and protect yourself from it.

  1. Employ spam filters in your company that analyze incoming email messages and block unwanted emails. These filters can be configured to block emails that include typical phrases or words that appear commonly in spam messages.

  2. Always check the source of the email message. If the message appears from a legitimate company, make sure that the sender’s email address matches the company’s domain name.

  3. Do not click on any links or open/download attachments in emails that are from an unknown sender.

  4. Do not provide your email address or phone number to sites unless you trust them.

  5. Beware of emails or messages that contain a lot of grammatical errors, such as spelling mistakes or poor punctuation. This can be a sign that the message is spam.

  6. Report suspected spam messages to help train the spam filters and improve their detection accuracy. Many email clients and service providers offer mechanisms for reporting spam, such as a “Report Spam” button or a designated email address for reporting spam messages.

  7. Configure the privacy settings of the instant messaging platforms to limit who can contact you or send you friend requests. Avoid accepting contact requests from unknown or suspicious individuals.

  8. Avoid sharing sensitive personal information, such as passwords, financial details, or personal identification numbers, through email or instant messaging.

Conclusion:#

In order to avoid spam it is important to employ robust security measures as well as staying vigilant and reporting any spam you encounter.