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Free Tips: Best Practices for Fighting Spam
Practical advice on how to defend against spam.

Keywords: spam, best, practices, e-mail, email, defense, defenses, spamming, spammers, unsolicited, unsolicited

As you may know, the volume of spam messages sent across the Internet has reached epidemic levels. Some industry experts estimate that three out of every five e-mail messages that are sent today are spam. The spam epidemic is costing companies, professionals, and individual users considerable amounts of time, money, and resources.

Covenant Designs is committed to fighting spam. Our current spam filtering systems block nearly two billion e-mail messages each month. Our systems are updated daily and we are constantly working to improve our spam filtering.

You may be asking what you, as an Covenant Designs customer, can do to combat spam effectively. To assist you in your efforts, we provide the following answers to your questions.

Q: How can I prevent spam from reaching my e-mail account?

A: People who send spam compile their mailing lists in many ways. Methods to compile such lists include:

• Sending spam to e-mail addresses that are most commonly used. A common tactic consists of building lists of targeted addresses that use frequently used words such as "webmaster" or "info" (for example, "webmaster@mydomainname" or "info@mydomainname").
  
• Obtaining e-mail addresses that are automatically "harvested" from web sites by specialized software.
  
• Compiling lists of e-mail addresses that are either chosen or generate at random (for example, " joe1@mydomainname", "joe2@mydomainname" or "joe3@mydomainname". This method is becoming increasingly frequent.The hosting plans that we offer allow for the configuration of POP3, forwarding, and autoresponder e-mail address types. We also offer both the Master POP3 and a Master Forward. The Master POP3 is your account userid. The Master Forward is an address that is marked as a "catch-all" for e-mail messages that are not specifically sent to a defined account. Because spammers often send spam to undefined e-mail aliases, you can combat the receipt of spam effectively by using our devnull process.

Note Devnull is an alias that you can use to auto-delete spam that is sent to undefined aliases.

For example, let's assume that your Master Forward is set to info@mydomainname.com and this e-mail address is acting as the catch-all for a POP3 account. Then, in your review of received e-mail, let's say that you notice that there are many spam e-mail messages being sent to undefined aliases that use "mydomainname.com". To combat that spam, just edit the Master Forward to devnull@mydomainname.com (be sure to replace "mydomainname.com" with your actual domain). By doing this, the e-mail messages that are sent to undefined users (undefined "aliases") will be deleted. As a result, the ability that spammers have to reach you is drastically reduced.

Q: What is spoofing and how can I fight it?

A: "Spoofing" occurs when a spammer uses some version of your domain name in the "From" address field. Spammers use spoofing to try to hide their identities and to pass blame for spam to innocent Internet users. The large amount of spam messages -- many of which are sent to invalid address -- result in a significant amount of "bounced" e-mail (that is, mail that returned as being undeliverable). Unfortunately, bounced mail is sent back to the address found in the "From" line of the spammed message. Typically, the "From" line is also an undefined e-mail address not found in your mail settings. To combat receiving bounced mail messages, you can use the "devnull" alias that we mentioned in the previous question and answer.

Q: Even if my account is not generating any spam, can the mail server I use get blocked because of spam?

A: Unfortunately, yes. The main cause for blacklisting your mail server depends on where the spammed e-mail is ultimately received and how the ISP who maintains that location reacts to spam and to spam complaints.

In short, you must be careful about where you forward e-mail, how you report spam, and to whom you report it.

Q: How can I filter spam in my Inbox once I receive it?

A: First, do NOT click any links in the spam or try to reply or unsubscribe to the spammed e-mail message. Often, these links will subscribe you to even more spam lists despite the fact that those links appear to promise that you will be unsubscribed. And, as spammers are always looking for legitimate e-mail addresses to spam, replying to a spam message in any way only tells the spammer that your e-mail address is valid.

Second, some e-mail programs have built-in functionality that deals with spam that reaches your Inbox. Outlook 2000 is one such a e-mail program. The Outlook 2000 help files state the following:

In much the same way that retailers and businesses use mailing lists of postal addresses to send potential clients catalogs and other information, others use e-mail messages as a direct marketing tool. If you do not want to receive these messages, Microsoft Outlook can automatically move them from your Inbox to your Deleted Items folder or to any other folder you specify. Outlook creates a folder called Junk Mail, where you can move junk e-mail and then review it before deleting. Or, you can have junk e-mail delivered to your Inbox, but color-coded so you can easily identify it. The list of terms that Outlook uses to filter suspected junk e-mail messages is found in a file named Filters.txt.You can also filter messages based on the e-mail addresses of junk and adult content senders, allowing you to move or delete all future messages from a particular sender. You can review the Junk Senders list and add and remove e-mail addresses from it.

If you do not use Outlook 2000 or higher, please refer to your mail program's help files for any information related to spam filtering.

Q: Are there any low cost programs out there that I can install to help filter the spam?

A: Yes. There are many programs available that use a variety of methods to help e-mail end users filter spam. Effective spam prevention should include client-side software (that is, software that is installed on your local computer). Below are some links that you may want to visit:

Spam Bully: http://www.spambully.com
McAfee Spamkiller: http://us.mcafee.com/root/package.asp?pkgid=156
Inbox Cop: http://www.spamassassin.com

Realize that there are many products on the market that you can install to help filter spam. However, as we are not affiliated with the vendors or authors of those products, we cannot specify which of those products would work best for your specific situation. We ask that you "do your research" in order to locate which product is best for you.

Q: The spam that is reaching me is being sent to defined e-mail accounts. What can I do about it?

A: If any of your defined e-mail addresses are receiving too many spam messages, it may be well worth it to you to change your e-mail address. For example, if "info@mydomainname" is the recipient of too much spam, it may be a good idea to delete "info@mydomainname" in favor of "information@mydomainname". We realize that this may be a tough decision, but such an action could be a huge benefit as it would immediately reduce -- if not entirely eliminate -- the amount of spam that you would be receiving at your e-mail address.

Q: How can I prevent my e-mail address from being added to spammer's mailing lists?

A: As mentioned above, spammers use a variety of methods to compile lists. Here are key ways to fight spam:

• Protect Your Privacy: If you plan to enter your information to any Web site, please review the Terms of Service and Privacy Policies of the Web site. If the policies do not clearly indicate what will be done with your information, you should reconsider posting any details to that Web site.
  
• Publishing Your E-mail Address on Your Web Site: Instead of having a simple "mailto" link on your Web site, such as "Please e-mail me at joe@example.com," consider using a form-to-e-mail CGI script that allows Web site visitors to fill out a form to send you e-mail. Covenant Designs can program CGI scripts for these purposes. This will help prevent e-mail address harvesting robots and other spammers from capturing your address.
  
• Member Profiles: Try to stay away from creating and posting a member profile, on any Web site, for others to see publicly. Spammers are always reviewing such information for new e-mail addresses.
  
• Product Registration: Many of us register products online. Many times the product registration form has options pre-selected that enable the company to solicit you by e-mail, even though you may not want it. Be sure to review the options you are selecting and any options that may have been selected for you by default.
  
• Posting to a Newsgroup: Never post anything to a newsgroup with your real e-mail address. Consider cloaking the address or using a "disposable" e-mail address. Consider creating and using an e-mail address from one of the free e-mail address providers.
  
• Do Not Reply to Spam or an Unsubscribe Request:
  Never reply to a piece of spam or request to be unsubscribed. Your reply confirms that your address is working and provides the spammer the opportunity to add your address to their list or sell it to another entity. This actually helps facilitate more spam.