Spam Mail Here to Stay

Everyone is familiar with the so-called junk mail delivered by the U.S. Postal Service every day--particularly during the holiday season when it multiplies. Junk e-mail, more commonly referred to as spam, is the same thing in your electronic mailbox. Since we have entered the era of communication through e-mail, spam has become a large problem to both the home computer user and the corporate information services department. In addition to wasting people's time with unwanted e-mail, spam also wastes a lot of network resources.

Spam is generally some sort of e-mail advertising for a product sent to a mailing list or newsgroup. Junk e-mail can be cleverly disguised, making it difficult to distinguish from personal e-mail. Below are some tips on how to detect junk e-mail and how to limit the amount of it you receive.

Identifying Spam

Always check the sender's name before opening any e-mail. Quickly glance down the "from" column in your inbox and look for e-mail from addresses you do not recognize.

You can also use the domain name (what appears after the @) to spot spam. For example, I know that any message with the domain name "nysscpa.org" is from a Society member but a message with a domain like "getrich.com" is from no one I know.

Once you finish cleaning out what appears to be junk e-mail, only e-mail from people you know should remain. Of course, you could inadvertently delete a message from a long lost friend, but this is a price I am willing to pay for a quick way to limit spam.

Some subject lines make it obvious the message is spam. My rule is that any message that has a subject that includes the words or phrases "free," "hot," or "make money fast," probably is not from someone I know or want to know. I also avoid any message that does not have a subject.

Reducing Spam

After you have learned how to pick out spam, the next step is to reduce the amount you receive. Just like junk mail delivered to our homes and offices has proliferated over the years, spam has become increasingly hard to stop completely. There are a few things you can do to reduce the flood in your inbox.

If you receive a lot of junk e-mail, you should report it to your Internet service provider (ISP). Your ISP can take certain actions to block mail from spam offenders. Most junk e-mail is "forged," meaning the addresses and domains shown on the "from," "to," "reply-to," and "return-path" lines are fake. You should forward the original e-mail to your ISP support staff because information in the header record can be used to track down the true origin of the e-mail.

You should not respond to junk e-mail in any way--even if you want to request to be removed from the sender's list. This is frequently a way for the "spammer" to confirm your e-mail address and it demonstrates to the sender that you read the messages. Responding to a piece of junk e-mail guarantees that even more junk e-mail will be sent to you.

Anytime you do something that makes your e-mail address open to the public you may receive unsolicited mailings. You should be aware that if you post to a message board or newsgroup, chat online, or join mailing lists, you open yourself up to getting junk mail: These three activities are the easiest way for spammers to "harvest" names and addresses. If you want to participate in these means of electronic communication, I suggest creating a separate e-mail account to use for these functions.

Just like junk paper mail, spam will not go away. Hopefully the suggestions I have offered will help to reduce the amount that you get. If you would like to read further on this topic, visit the sites provided in the accompanying sidebar. For more information, please contact NYSSCPA Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lewis at (212) 719-8340, (800) 633-6320, or klewis@nysscpa.org. *