What Is Spamming?

Spam does not yet have a very strict definition. Generally, any email that is forcibly sent to a user's mailbox without the user's permission is spam. ^[1]

The issue of the distinction between normal mail and spam is widely debated on the Internet. Many experts and organizations are trying to define a more accurate definition of spam. However, there is currently no unified standard for the identification of spam in the world.

(1) On October 5, 1997, the Internet Mail Association's theme was "Unsolicited Mass Emails: Definitions and Issues", which defined unsolicited mass emails as spam. UBE (Unsolicited Bulk E-mail). The 2003 Anti-Computer Crime Act of Virginia adopted "unsolicited bulk mail" to define spam. This is the definition of spam from the characteristics of sending (mass) and receiving (uninvited). It is more in line with the actual situation of spam flooding. It can not only cover all types of current spam flooding, but also Covering new types that may emerge in the future.

(2) On May 20, 2002, China Education and Scientific Research Network published the "Regulations on the Control of Spam E-mail", where the definition of spam is: any advertisement that is forcibly sent to the user's mailbox without the user's request , Publicity materials, viruses, and other e-mails generally have the characteristics of batch sending.

(3) On February 26, 2003, Article 3 of the China Internet Association's Anti-Spam Specification issued by the China Internet Association clearly states that emails that include the following attributes are called spam: Requests or consent to receive promotional emails such as advertisements, electronic publications, and various forms of publicity materials; emails that the recipient cannot refuse; emails that hide the sender's identity, address, title, etc. ; contains false information sources, senders,

The common customary method to distinguish normal mail from spam mail is to analyze and analyze the content of the mail, and use artificially formulated rule sets or machine learning methods to judge and distinguish. However, to determine whether an email is spam, it is very difficult to find out the difference between normal email and spam only by analyzing the literal of the email. Because there are many types of human languages, people s perception and acceptance of information is The graphics and the association with the text itself make it difficult to build a good, general, and efficient semantic analysis model to analyze whether an email is a spam. In addition, the method of artificially establishing rule sets is not universally meaningful, because everyone's feelings about email are very different. So to distinguish and determine spam quickly and effectively, you need to take other more effective ways. From the above several types of spam definitions, it is not difficult to see that the distinction between normal mail and spam mail is to determine whether the mail is a mail sent by a user, and a normal mail is naturally a mail that the recipient wants. ^[2]

By comparing emails from standard clients such as Outlook Express and Webmail, we can find ten important characteristics of spam:

(1) No X-Mailer letterhead, or use a special X-Mailer letterhead. We see in the header of the E-mail from Out-look that there is an X-Mailer indicating the sending client: Microsoft Out-look IMO, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2910.0). And spam is either not, or has a characteristic letterhead, for example, X-Mailer: EhooSend ...

(2) Guest words. More polite spam messages with polite words, such as "please delete it", "sorry to bother you", "excuse ... forgive ...".

(3) Forge the sender. The Mail From in the MTP command is not the same as the From in the body. The sender's E. The mail address is not a real e-mail address.

(4) Pass

(1) Occupies a lot of network

Spammers continue to adopt advanced new methods to send their messages. The following methods can be used to reduce the risk of system attacks:

1. Don't leave email addresses easily

Every time you leave someone an email address, your chances of being added to the spammer's mailing list increase. Most online shopping sites require consumers to leave an email address. Some brick-and-mortar stores offer some discounted or free items and require customers to leave an email address. Consumers should be aware that while leaving an e-mail address is a benefit, it can also make the e-mail address available to spammers.

2.Use email filtering

Most email applications have filtering capabilities that allow users to block messages at specific addresses. If the recipient frequently receives spam from the same Internet domain, all messages from this user can be blocked. However, blocking an Internet domain may prevent all messages in this domain from reaching the recipient's mailbox, even if they are intended. So you should only use this feature when you are sure that all messages from this domain are spam. The impact of spam may not be physically disruptive, but it is economically disruptive. Spam uses system resources and reduces employee productivity. Employees spend time filtering from spam, reducing productivity. Some employees may read spam emails and click on malicious URLs or malicious attachments contained in the letters to infect the virus and further cause a chain reaction. Spam email uses numerous services to overload the server, reducing the server's ability to send and receive business-related letters. Excessive traffic slows down the system operation and even paralyzes the mail server.

In addition, spam can disrupt a company's business relationships, trigger legal proceedings, and bring costly costs to both parties.

At present, spam is still a problem that cannot be ignored. Although efforts have been made to prevent spam from entering their mailboxes, the number of spam messages received by users continues to increase. One of the most effective ways to prevent spam is not to easily tell others important email addresses, but only to trusted groups. If you receive a lot of spam from one address, you can use the filtering feature in your email application to block all messages from entering that address. ^[3]