What is spam and how to deal with spammers on the Internet. What is spam and how to deal with spammers on the Internet individual mail servers

Hello, dear blog readers Website. Surely you have already come across spam, even if you didn't know exactly how this disgrace is called. And for this it is not even necessary. Spam with enviable regularity lifts and in a regular mailbox - these are the most countless advertising booklets that you fit in the hope that you order something or buy.

So here spam is just the annoying, brings from all sides advertising (But not only advertising - sometimes worse). You did not order her, you do not need it, but it rushes and rushing from all the cracks. In this pile, it can easily be lost the information you need and have to spend a lot of time on its screening.

In our computer age, the main source of spam. And besides advertising skammy mailing can carry and danger As for your wallet (phishing, social engineering, wiring), and for your computer (viruses, worms, trojans).

What does the word spam mean, what it happens and how you can fight him you learn to review this little note. I hope that it will be interesting (well, it is accurately useful - I promise me).

Spam - what it is

What does the word spam mean

Self word spam Comes from the name of canned meat, which Yaros were advertised after the end of the Second World War (obviously, it was necessary to urgently solder the soldiers' meat rations).

Advertising was so aggressive, comprehensive and omnipresent that this word (and associated "precipitate") was remembered, but already on the obsessive advertising appeared with him in conferences (then in Fidonte, if anyone remembers).

The word gothes, especially since the obsessive advertisement did not become less, but rather, on the contrary. When email has gained popularity, unauthorized mass advertising and malicious emails have become an ordinary business. Spammers such newsletters were beneficial because without special costs the necessary information was adjusted to a large number of people.

But email is not limited to. Spam in a personal social networking, on forums, in messengers instant messages, on bulletin boards, in the comments to blogs, open to edit and add text by all those wishing. Spam and your phone, such as advertising call or sending promotional SMS messages.

Where on the Internet it can be found

Email - It's just a klondike for spammers. With the help of mass mailings, you can sell anything, you can deceive and rob, you can infect computers and send worms. Bases for mass mailings are collected independently (using programs), or bought from those who deal with this professionally.
Forums, Comments Blogs, wiki sites and bulletin boards - here in essence it is allowed to leave messages and spammers difficult to stay so as not to fall. This is not always an advertisement - often the webmaster is trying to get a free link to their website so that it stands above in search results Yandex or Google on different requests. It brings them traffic and money.
Social networks and dating sites - among the incoming personal messages, spam is very often found. It also has in the comments to messages.
Messengers (type) are also susceptible to this attack.
SMS.- Summary from unknown people of an advertising nature. Probably everyone is familiar.
Search spam - A sufficiently specific thing, but familiar to everyone. It was you that you enter the request in Yandex (Google), and in the answers we are completely sites with some biliberd to do a relationship of not having. These are so-called Dorwea (sites with automatically generated useless texts). They will identify the issuance of search engines, but they earn visitors (in different ways) at entering them.

Those. All letters in your mailbox (or reports on the forum, blog comments, reports in PM) advertising or other of the sender unknown to you - this is spam. True, it may be annoying that you have subscribed to, but they can still unsubscribe from them (refuse their further receipt).

The spam itself is annoying and interferes, because it seeks where it appears. Most often it is your mailbox, and it happens quite difficult to separate the grains from the whores, when unwanted messages come too much. But the spam can carry a real danger of both you and your computer. Let's deal with this with it.

We understand in spam grades (harmless and dangerous)

Now and then I will basically speak about space messages coming by emailFor this channel is considered particularly subject to this phenomenon. Everything else is not so running and is not so actively used by spammers, and it concerns not all network users. But the problem of their protection against unwanted messages is sharp.

Varieties of harmless spam

Advertising legal goods and services - In this case, the business owner simply chose spam mailing, as one of the channels to attract customers and buyers, for it is not expensive, quickly and brings the result. Naturally, he is not particularly thinking about the moral (or rather immoral) side.
Forbidden advertising - There are products and services that, according to the law, is prohibited to advertise, and spam mailing can be the main channel to attract customers. By the way, spammers advertise their services, too, with the help of mass mailings, for this activity is prohibited by law. This can also be attributed to the advertising of the disclosure of competitors, because it is also forbidden to do according to the law (humbia yourself, but others do not swear).
Impact - Very often Spam becomes a good choice for those who are trying to manipulate public opinion in the right direction. It may be a policy, as well as. Letters at all can be sent allegedly from a person to compromise it, change the opinion about it or use its authority for profit. But personally you do not care.
Letters that are asked to send by another - It may be a variety of so-called "letters of happiness" (send it 10 friends and you will be happy), or aspecting to send information to friends for some reason. Often such letters use spammers to collect or replenish the already existing email base for subsequent mass mailings.

Spam increased danger - what it can be

If the usual (harmless) spam can only influence your mental balance and mental health, then the examples below can be quite dangerous for your wallet or computer. And this is not a joke.

I myself (one who teaches and teaches everyone) a couple of years ago "bought" on a similar letter (phishing) and broke up with several thousand rubles (read ""). Just climbed and did everything "on the machine" only behind, well, and when she was unwritten, it was too late.

- highly effective method Deception is not only gullible, but also just busy or inattentive people (there will be a hook on any). You send a letter to supposedly from your bank, electronic money service or somewhere else. In this younger, you are definitely cutting with something (knock out from the gauze) and are asked to log in to solve the problem. You are logged in, but the site will be a fake (although it looks like a real as two drops) and the data you are communicated immediately used to theft all your money.
Nigerian letters - You will learn that you can get a big amount of money (different prepositions - from an unexpected inheritance to help the prince in exile). You do not believe long, but you are convinced. When you believe, you will be asked to translate some money for "related expenses". You translate and no one else will disturb you.
Viruses, Worms, Trojans - In the letter there may be an invested file with malicious program (or link leading to the site with the virus). It can immediately cause problems with the work of the computer or will sit in a quiet in the corner and will carefully record all the passwords you enter, logins and other things useful in the household. Worms, among other things, can also send themselves to your friends on found in the contacts email addresses (as they will then be ...).

Protection against spam

Where do spammers take a base with email addresses?

Spammers (those who produce mass mailing) collect email addresses from all available sources. It can be forums, guest books, chats, social networks And other sites where postal addresses can be in public access.
To some databases of the addresses of stored sites, you can get to hackers.
Harvesting Eamels is carried out in most cases by the software method (using search bots - harvesters) and this does not require much effort (only time and then not much). And similar spam bases Emeylov You can not collect them, but to buy them from those who specialize in this business ().
Million postal addresses are registered worldwide, and therefore emails can simply try to generate using special programs Using appropriate dictionaries. With a large probability, many of them really will exist. About how spammers check the reality of addresses, read below.
There are special worms (viruses) who know how to send themselves on the basis of addresses found on the sacrifice computer. The base assembled in this way will already be cleared of non-working mailboxes.

How do spammers clean the bases from inactive email addresses?

Those who collect the database of the addresses, in fact, anyway, who owns one or another address - send letters to everyone, for anyone else there will be the one who will respond to them (as they are called - beat on the squares).

But still, to optimize expenses and increase the return on the mailings, it is advantageous to clean the bases from non-existent addresses. How do they do it? Let's see.

The simplest is in the letter, in a letter the picture (may not even be visible - the size of one pixel), which will be booked from the site belonging to the spam when the user opens. If the picture has loaded - it means the letter was opened and an exempted email.
Many postal clients (programs for working with email) automatically refer to a message about reading the letter, which is again on the arm spammers.
The letter may have a link calling somewhere, promising golden mountains. Moved - consider your email will now be marked as suitable. The most unpleasant thing that such a link can be masked under the abuse button, which actually leads to the opposite effect.

How to reduce the likelihood of your email and spambase?

In general, as soon as your mailbox will be "confirmed", spammers with you just do not get drunk. It is important to understand that no one is insured against spam. But you can significantly reduce the likelihood of entering a similar SPAM-databaseif you take the defined precautions:

You can, of course, nowhere will not publish your email and not to report it anyone. But in most cases it is difficult to do, so I advise in addition to the main box Have one or two minor you will use for registration on forums, etc. Often can come in handy and, which can be obtained at all without registration.
Do not cross the links in spammers (even if there is a "unsubscribe" button - this is a trap) and, if possible, turn off automatic loading Images in the mail client program you are using. There is a chance that your email will be counted as inactive and mass mailings will not come to it on a hundred per day.
If the mailbox you have not registered or plan to start a new one (for example, because of the complete charge of an old spam), then proceed not from the convenience and simplicity of his memorization, but on the contrary, make it more authentic and more complicated. To friends, you will still impart it in electronic form, but the spamming programs of the bust of it are unlikely to guess.

What should I do if SPAM does not give sigh?

These were all preventive measures to combat spam (or rather a decrease in its number). But there is the possibility of effective struggle even in a completely launched situation. In this case, it becomes extremely important.

The fact is that in such major services, like or, Powerful antispam filters.

They put all suspicious letters into a separate folder "Spam", thereby freeing the folder "incoming" from garbage. Yes, there is no ideal lecturer, and as far as possible the contents of the Spam folder before cleaning will be better viewed diagonally to enter it legitimate correspondence. But it is still a lot easier than to dig in all this garbage constantly.

If you have a mailbox on another servicewhere the spooner is no success (for example, as c), then it is not worth despair. Get yourself an email on Gmail or Yandex, after which you to adjust the mail to it from your old drawer. Moreover, these settings can be made as in the old box (i.e., adjust the shipment - in the screenshot):

Also, in the new drawer, you can configure the collection of mail from your existing emails (the screenshot shows the settings of the mail collection in Gmail):

The same can be said about postal Client Programs. They also have a built-in spooner.

But in this case, do not forget that On the mail service will be its own folder with spamthat will also need to periodically view (or look for messages there, which should come, but did not reach - for example, the registration confirmation somewhere is often cut in spamfilter), for the email of the default mail to your computer will not be sent (although This can be corrected in the service settings or client program).

Good luck to you! To ambiguous meetings on the blog pages Website

Do not respond to spam!

Of course, we are not talking about a complaint about the letter to the spammers. It is not only useless, but even harmful - the fact of sending a letter in response to spam you only aggravate your position. After all, receiving a spammer on spam (not personally, of course, but through automated software) understands that:

his letter was obtained, which is important, went around spam filters;
it was read. It is generally a big joy for spammer, as it comes to the middle boxes, no more than 2-3% of the spam departed. The rest is recognized and destroyed by filters on the approach;
the reader was a man, not another program. Moreover, it is rather increasing to answer this letter and confirm that the address exists and the mail coming on it regularly read;

What conclusion will make a spammer program after receiving such a letter? Right! "The address is confirmed. A man was found. Sit here even more spam. " Therefore, do not make spammers such gifts - do not respond to their garbage.

How to determine the sender spam?

Before deciding on further actions, determine which mail server spam was sent to your box. Do not pay attention to the FROM field: (from :) - by virtue technical features SMTP protocol, developed more than 30 years ago, the sender's address can be completely arbitrary. In the event of spamming, it is randomly generated. Necessary information The data on the mail server-sender, which you can see viewing the source code of the letter. In different mail clients and web interfaces, this is done differently, but the essence is one - see the source code, the initial titles of the message. Pay attention to the very first, upper header, starting with words

Received: from.

Behind them follows the name of the mail server through which Spam was sent. Remember it domain name, it will soon need us.
By the way, in popular by mail client Mozilla Thunderbird View the source text of the letter with service headers by clicking Ctrl and U.

Contact Support

Famous mail services

We are talking about a complaint in the support service of the mail server / hosting, through which spam was placed. Often spammers use hacked or incorrectly configured mail servers For sending them to their garbage. Spam filtering systems to recognize such letters is much more complicated than tagnet-zombie computers - technical characteristics Connections I. appearance Such letters have signs of legitimate. Therefore, in the process of determining "spam / not spam", filters remain only to analyze the internal content of the letter, and this data may not always be enough for a correct and unambiguous verdict. As a result, such spam can penetrate users' mailboxes.

To give the mail server administration to know that the spam is sent through them, and so to counteract the spread of spam to contact the address of the sender server recovered from the headers. For example, if in the first header Received: from the server name is something like forward.yandex.net, then you need to complain about Yandex, and if hotmail.com, then, respectively, in hotmail. By the way, through Hotmail, now the Microsoft belongs, quite a lot of spam.

Various postal services provide for options. feedback From users to address support, spam complaints.
For example,
Rambler - Help by mail, Feedback http://help.rambler.ru/1/feedback/mail/
Yandex - form of contacting the support service http://feedback.yandex.ru/?from\u003dmail
Mail.Ru - Form of spam complaints http://help.mail.ru/mail-Support/SPAM

The most imputed reaction to the message about sending them post service Spama features rambler support. Answers come promptly and essentially reporting the closure of spammer box. But in support of Gmail it is meaningless - these are not responsible, it seems that it is fundamentally ...

Unfortunately, the closure of the administration of one mailbox On a free mail server leads to the fact that the spammer immediately opens another and sending spam starts again. We have already written about the systemic disabilities of free postage hostings in the article "Corporate Email: why not you should use free postal hosting", craving for free cheese can not be overcome completely, and therefore this kind of spam, it seems to be inexperienced ... But in any case, timely Informing the administrator gives him the opportunity to take operational measures to counter the spammer, which highly significantly complicates the destructive activities of the latter.

Separate mail servers

If the source of the sending spam was not a well-known post of free mail and on the site sender-sender-sender there is no feedback form, the way to contact his staff is still there. A message about sending a spam message can be sent to standard, reserved and, according to RFC 2142, be sure to be present in any postal address of the administration address:

[Email Protected]
[Email Protected]

In theory and, as a rule, in practice, mail at these addresses receive system administrators and IT specialists responsible for work information system. By informing them with the information about the fact of spreading spam through their mail server / network you will do certainly important and useful things. Specialists, in turn, are grateful to such reports and consider them essentially, making the necessary corrections to work their servers. Do not forget only about the rules of courtesy (this is not the administrators themselves send spam, it is pointless to swear with them, but they can help them) and the maximum informativeness that your request must meet. Briefly explain in the subject of the letter of the appeal - "sending spam through your mail server" and attach a sample to the proof. The sample will help determine the direct mailing chain or closure. Sample spam letters must be made as an attachment so that extremely important service headlines are not lost. Direct a letter with a complaint about spam without them there is no point.

Of course, this method of fighting spam cannot be the only fighter in the arsenal for the purity of email. Of course, automated anti-spam control methods should play a major role in creating an insurmountable barrier spammers on the way to our mail. But since the spam soon got into the box, the way to make the world of email is cleaner and better there.

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