If you send or receive e-mail, you've probably gotten junk e-mail, also known as spam. Maybe a lot of spam. Unfortunately, spam isn't limited to e-mail—it has spilled over to instant messages (IM) as well, and has become enough of a problem for instant messaging spam to warrant its own word, spim. Ever wonder why you get so much junk e-mail? Sending spam is a lucrative business. It costs spammers next to nothing to send out millions, even billions, of e-mail messages. And consider this: If even a tiny percentage of a hundred million people buy something in response to a junk message, that's a lot! How do spammers get e-mail addresses? Spammers steal, swap, or buy lists of valid e-mail addresses (and the addresses of people who have responded to spam command a premium). Spammers also build their own lists using special software that rapidly generates millions of random e-mail addresses from well-known providers, such as MSN Hotmail and others, and then sends messages to these addresses. Invalid e-mail accounts return e-mail to the sender, so the software very rapidly records which e-mail addresses are active and which are not. Some spammers also gather or harvest addresses from Web sites where people sign up for free offers, enter contests, and so on. Harvesters may also use programs (known as Web bots) that trawl for e-mail addresses anywhere they're posted for all to see—on Internet white pages, job postings, newsgroups, message boards, chat rooms, and even personal Web pages. What's so bad about spam? Spam is certainly annoying and disruptive, even disturbing. But spam can also potentially be dangerous to your computer, to your bank account, and to your privacy. Spammers can overwhelm you with offers to buy things (real or fake), or trick you into simply giving your money away. They may pretend to be a company you trust, such as your bank, to entice you to reveal personal or financial information. Spammers have also been known to masquerade as legitimate charity organizations, especially in times of crisis. Click a spammer's link and you may risk downloading a virus or software that could be used to track your Web activity. Even that e-greeting card from someone you don't know could be spam. |
