Spam On the Uprise Again

by Aaron Howard, Senior Web Designer

Spammers Develop Another New Tool

The last thing any of us wants to hear is that we can expect more spam unsolicited commercial "junk" e-mail sent to huge numbers of people to promote products or services. Currently, about 75 percent of all e-mail sent throughout the world is spam and numbers could approach 90 percent by the end of the year.

This new increase in spam is due to yet another round of innovations in the unsolicited commercial e-mail industry an industry that survives by developing ever more sophisticated technology to get around regulations and anti-spam technology.

The latest attack is a variation on an old trick. For some time, spammers have used software that can attack an individual computer, and use that computer as the mail server to distribute spam. The new software ups the ante by enabling these "zombie computers," as they are called, to actually send spam via the mail server of that computer's Internet Service Provider (ISP).  Spam filters blacklist an individual computer when it distributes spam, and will no longer accept mail from that address. But it is much more difficult even impossible to reject mail from an entire ISP. Can you imagine no longer receiving email from anyone with an AOL email address?

ISPs are working to negate or decrease the effects of this measure. In the meantime, as consumers and users of email, we can all do our part to decrease spam. The following are spam-reducing and e-mail security recommendations from Consumer Reports:

• Don't buy anything promoted in a spam message
• Don't reply to spam, or click on its "unsubscribe" link
• Disable preview panels in e-mail programs to prevent the spam from reporting back to its sender
• Don't open unexpected email attachments
• Regularly update your operating system, Web browser, and major software
• Use antivirus software, updated often to recognize the latest threats
• Download and install software only from trusted online sources
• Adjust your web browser's security settings to the medium or high level
• Use updated antispyware software to scan the hard drive regularly
• Never directly respond to email asking for personal information
• Questionable messages should be verified by contacting the institution itself
• When prompted for a password, give an incorrect one first. A "phishing" site will accept it; a legitimate one won't.

(Click here to see the entire Consumer Reports article.)

You may love or hate e-mail, but I doubt you can imagine living without it. Although spam is expected to rise, ISPs will continue the battle to keep it under control  You can do your part in the battle by being a knowledgeable, responsible user of e-mail and the Internet.

References: 

Hu, Jim, "Zombie Trick Expected to Send SPAM Skyhigh," February 2, 2005,

The SPAMHaus Project, Increasing SPAM Threat from Proxy Hijackers, February 3, 2005,

For More Information...

Check out the Federal Trade Commission's E-Commerce and the Internet web section, and their new Spam.gov web pages.