With the technological advancements of the Internet and
its ease and usefulness to use for most Americans; another group of deviants
have come out of the woodwork to use the Internet as a useful tool to scam and
annoy the average Internet user.
How
are these deviants annoying us?
TWO WORDS: Spam
and Phishing
What is Spam?
When discussing
this topic with my father, he thought he knew all about it. Until I realized he
thought I meant that wonderful ham like creation that comes in a square can
made by Hormel. Supposedly it was a hot item to eat during my father’s
childhood and the time he spent in the service. Spam, in the sense of the
Internet, deals with our email accounts and the endless amount of junk mail we
receive.
Spam is electronic
junk email that is unsolicited. Unsolicited email is email that you did not
request. This type of email usually contains “advertisements for services or
products.” It is similar to the junk mail we receive in our home mailboxes.
How many types
of Spam are there?
Indiana University
describes the following types of Spam:
·
"Phishing" scams
- Foreign
bank scams or advance fee fraud schemes
- Pyramid
schemes, including multilevel marketing
- Other
"Get Rich Quick" or "Make Money Fast"
- Quack
health products and remedies
- Ads for
pornographic web sites
- Offers of
software for collecting email addresses and sending UCE
- Offers of
bulk emailing services for sending UCE
- Chain
letters
- Illegally
pirated software
How do spammers
work?
Spam email costs
very little to the producer of the email. In most cases, spammers use free
services with large ISPs. Once they create a Spam email, the spammer drops that
email account. Some spammers use the same email account but forge the headings
of the message. When trying to trace
spammers, investigators are usually lead to dead ends.
How to prevent
it?
Spamming cannot be
stopped; however, you can lessen the amount of Spam you receive by monitoring
who you give your email address too and if your address is viewable on a
published web page.
Why is it called
spamming?
The following
description comes from www.webopedia.com:
There is some debate about the source of the
term, but the generally accepted version is that it comes from the Monty Python
song, "Spam spam spam spam, spam spam spam spam, lovely spam, wonderful
spam…" Like the song, spam is an endless repetition of worthless text.
Another school of thought maintains that it comes from the computer group lab
at the University
of Southern California who gave it the name because it has many of the same
characteristics as the lunchmeat Spam:
·
Nobody wants it or ever asks for it.
·
No one ever eats it; it is the first item to be pushed to the
side when eating the entree.
·
Sometimes it is actually tasty, like 1% of junk mail that is
really useful to some people.
The most
commonly used type of spamming is PHISHING?
Phishing is a type
of deception that is designed to steal your personal identity. This use to be a
scam played over the phone lines, but now scam artists can hit a larger
population by using email. The email directs the user to a phony website set up
to have the user give up bank account information, social security number,
passwords, and other personal information. Scammers send out multiple messages
in hopes that at least a small percentage will “bite on the bait.”
Why is it called
Phishing?
The following
description comes from www.webopedia.com:
Phishing, also referred to as brand spoofing or
carding, is a variation on “fishing,” the idea being that bait is thrown out
with the hopes that while most will ignore the bait, some will be tempted into
biting.
Resources:
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/s/spam.html
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/p/phishing.html
http://kb.iu.edu/data/afne.html
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/email/phishing.mspx
