What is spam?
It has been estimated that the volume of spam messages globally traversing the Internet tripled within a six-month period during 2006. The increase was attributed largely to millions of personal computers being compromised by Trojan horse software. These programs are designed to lure the user into installing them under the guise of being something useful. Once installed, the hidden payload of the program uses the computer to send a large volume of spam messages without the knowledge of the user.
Aspects of spamming can be criminal--from illegally hijacking systems to propagate the messages to the hundreds of organized groups that seek to make the messages available to millions of users for fees. It is marketing of the worst kind and is fueled by users that respond to offers received in the spam messages.
Controlling Spam
Controlling spam is an ongoing and ever-changing task. In addition to the growing number of machines hijacked for sending spam, spam messages themselves have evolved in an effort to elude preemptive detection. Many e-mail service providers employ sophisticated detection systems to block and filter spam content. The sheer volume of messages sent to systems by spammers taxes system resources that can slow e-mail processing.
As detection systems evolve to catch more spam, spammers revise their tactics to improve the chances of their messages getting through. Common tactics are modifying the spelling of words indicating what they are advertising, or encasing the words within an image which makes it difficult for spam detection software to analyze.
Efforts to control spam are very necessary and fall into two major categories:
- What users can do to make their e-mail addresses less likely get on spam lists
- What organizations can do to block and filter as much spam as possible
For more information on spam:
- What WVU does to minimize spam
- What you can do to minimize spam
- OIT Anti-Spam Policy
- See the WVU e-mail processing statistics
Updated May 29, 2008