Why You Need To Worry About Spam

Why You Need To Worry About Spam
What is Spam? According to spam abuse .net "Spam is
flooding the Internet with many copies of the same message,
in an attempt to force the message on people who would not
otherwise choose to receive it. Most spam is commercial
advertising, often for dubious products, get-rich-quick
schemes, or quasi-legal services. Spam costs the sender
very little to send -- most of the costs are paid for by
the recipient or the carriers rather than by the sender."

What Are Some of Spam's Consequences? Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia advises, "Spam's direct effects include the
consumption of computer and network resources, and the cost
in human time and attention of dismissing unwanted
messages. In addition, spam has costs stemming from the
kinds of spam messages sent, from the ways spammers send
them, and from the arms race between spammers and those who
try to stop or control spam. In addition, there are the
opportunity cost of those who forgo the use of
spam-afflicted systems. There are the direct costs, as well
as the indirect costs borne by the victims - both those
related to the spamming itself, and to other crimes that
usually accompany it, such as financial theft, identity
theft, data and intellectual property theft, virus and
other malware infection, child pornography, fraud, and
deceptive marketing." Also they say, "The secondary
consequence of spamming is that search engine indexes are
inundated with useless pages, increasing the cost of each
processed query."

According to a new study released by the Federal Trade
Commission, spammers continue to harvest email addresses
from public areas of the Internet, but Internet Service
Providers' anti-spam technologies can block the vast
majority of spam sent to these email addresses. The FTC
staff report also found that consumers who must post their
e-mail addresses on the Internet can prevent them from
being harvested by using a technique known as "masking."

Why Lose Sleep Over Spammers? According to
onguardonline.gov/botnet "Spammers can install hidden
software on your computer in several ways. First, they scan
the Internet to find computers that are unprotected, and
then install software through those "open doors." Spammers
may send you an email with attachments, links or images
which, if you click on or open them, install hidden
software. Sometimes just visiting a website or downloading
files may cause a "drive-by download," which installs
malicious software that could turn your computer into a
"bot." The consequences can be more than just annoying:
your Internet Service Provider (ISP) may shut down your
account."

Additionally they say "Computers that are taken over this
way often become part of a robot network, known as a
"botnet" for short. A botnet, also known as a "zombie
army," usually is made up of tens or hundreds of thousands
of home computers sending emails by the millions. Computer
security experts estimate that most spam is sent by home
computers that are controlled remotely, and that millions
of these home computers are part of botnets."

Fighting Back Con artists are clever and cunning,
constantly hatching new variations on age-old scams. Still,
skeptical consumers can spot questionable or unsavory
promotions in email offers. Should you receive an email
that you think may be fraudulent, forward it to the FTC at
spam@uce.gov, hit delete, and smile. You'll be doing your
part to help put a scam artist out of work.

Take action immediately If your computer is infected,if
your computer has been hacked or infected by a virus -
disconnect from the Internet right away. Then scan your
entire computer with fully updated anti-virus and
anti-spyware software. Report unauthorized accesses to your
ISP and to the FBI at www.ic3.gov. If you suspect that any
of your passwords have been compromised, call that company
immediately to change your password.

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To learn more about how spam scanner software detects spam
riddled throughout a user's existing email account and
Protects consumers from even the most sophisticated email
threats such as phishing and malware attacks visit
http://www.registryfixing.com . Access the site Navigation
Button labeled "Spam Control".