Anti-Spam 101

1. Anti-Spam 101

3. Overview • What is spam? Who are the spammers? • How do you get ON spam lists? • How can you avoid getting on the lists? • Helping others (and yourself) avoid spam • How to get OFF spam lists • Extra efforts: things worth knowing • Extended session for those needing extra help

4. Constraints • We have a lot to cover in a limited time • We won’t go deep (unless in Q&A) • We will provide starting points and practical “do it now” suggestions

5. WarningThis is a very difficult/delicate subject • I may insult somebody in this presentation • You • Your friends • Your family • Your co-workers • Me • Spam is largely a result of doing Stupid uneducated things

6. Let’s get educated • Do I owe anyone an apology? Yet?

7. A bit of history • I did a talk on spam in 2000 • At that time, Perimeter was receiving under 100 TOTAL spam messages per day • We started looking for a solution to what seemed a “big” problem

8. Fast forward - January 2003 • Of 2000-3000 messages per day, 500-800 were spam • 20-25% of all received

9. July 2003 • Typical day, we received about 3000-5000 messages • 30-40% were spam! • Weekends, with legitimate mail volume down, spam was about 60-70% • Some users received over 200 per day!

10. June 2005 • Typical day, we received about 5000-7000 messages • 65+% were spam! • Weekends were about 85-90% • Staff aren’t seeing much of the junk – thanks Barracuda

11. May, 2006 (typical) • 6000-8000 incoming messages per day • 4000-5500 instantly rejected as spam (70-85%) • 150-300 “suspicious” • 1800-2500 actually delivered • Weekends have less legitimate mail; not much change in the junk! (90+% spam) • We know we’re not catching everything

12. Some quick Perimeter Spam Statistics

13. ~10:55 AM 5/15/2006

14. What is spam? Who sends it?

15. Some simple (loose) definitions • SPAM: Junk mail you don’t want • Trying to sell you something • Or trying to get you to take some action • UCE: Unsolicited Commercial Email • The official name; minor technical variance • Viruses (including Trojans, time bombs, worms, etc.): programs that intend harm. These are NOT spam!

16. Commercial Email • Is there such a thing as legitimate (Solicited) Commercial Email? • Probably • Subscriptions you ask for: • CNN, Fox, WSB • Christianity Today • Family Life Today • American Airlines, Delta, Church newsletters • Etc.

17. Commercial email (cont) • If you quit wanting email you asked for, that does NOT make it spam! • You need to unsubscribe • Please don’t treat as spam – you might mess up other people who still want these mailings

18. More definitions • Urban Legends: Stories that are fascinating and sound true • But usually aren’t • Hoaxes: Somewhere between spam and Urban Legend; especially virus hoaxes • Chain Mail: "forward this to everyone you know.” Often an Urban Legend or Hoax • Phishing: specific intent to gather [steal] personal data

19. Aside • Possible urban legends, etc. Check out on snopes before distributing • http://www.snopes.com

20. Some “facts” about spammers • They lie! • They sell your email address to others • They don’t care [much] about dead addresses (NDRs) • They use many “harvesting” tools • Most have little morality • A few are unfortunates who have been duped by “you too can get rich using the Internet”

21. “Lie” is a strong word • I believe it’s the right word • We (users) often fall for these lies. In particular: • A spam message often starts with “you are receiving this because you asked for it.” • It often ends with “click here to remove yourself.” • Is #1 a lie? Then why do you believe #2?

22. Anti-spam 101 specifics • Handout 10 parallels this presentation

23. How do you get on a spammer’s list? • Often, voluntarily! • Well, sometimes people do silly things • Especially when the word “free” is used • By registering on questionable sites • By not reading carefully • By exposing your email address on ANY web site

24. How do you get on? (cont.) • By falling for hoaxes • If you forward this … you’ll receive $$$ ... • Responding to scams/probes • Responding to spam! • Watch out for joke lists • And “fun” lists • Choosing your family and friends unwisely • This may take some explaining

25. How spammers harvest emails • Spammers have plenty of tools for finding new addresses • They scan many document sources extracting email addresses • They add those addresses to their lists • And sell them to other spammers

26. Harvesting (cont.) • Where do they get the sources for harvesting? • From you. (certainly not) • What about your friends? And family? • Anyone who “exposes” a lot of addresses is a problem • Mass forwarders

27. Harvesting (cont.) • Exposed addresses • How about hoaxes of the “forward this to your friends” type? • Those emails that ask you to add your friends’ emails for pyramid schemes • EXPECT that a spammer ultimately will see these messages • AND extract the emails

28. Virus/spam overlap • Some recent viruses seem to have been written specifically to help expose email addresses • Spammers picked up those addresses

29. Practical avoidances • Do a web search for your own email address • At Perimeter, you have several. Check them all • If you find your email address on the web, you can expect spammers will too, eventually • Avoid “forward this to everyone you know” messages • Don’t send them • Look out when you receive them

30. Avoidances (cont.) • Hide addresses when emailing • Use disposable email addresses for potentially risky needs • Use reply-to-all sparingly, or better, not at all • Beware using your email address on behalf of your children or others; especially having them use your email address

31. Home Avoidances(obvious?) • Use Anti-virus software and keep it up-to-date. (daily updates to pattern files!) • Use an anti-spyware tool • Use multiple login accounts – avoid “administrator” settings • SpamAware, AVG – good, cheap (free!)

32. So what’s the point? • Choose your friends well • Teach the benefits of BCC • AND hoax/Urban Legend research • AND cleaning up addresses in forwards • Or better yet… • Teach your friends not to forward • Easy, right?

33. Can you be part of the solution? • Teach other about hiding addresses • Teach others about phishing • Teach others NOT to reply to spam • Teach other NOT to mass forward • Avoid trivial email messages, including attachment only email. Teach others the same • Avoid “killer” subjects and phrases

34. One more consideration • What about Plaxo and Jigsaw and similar services for keeping up with email addresses? • My opinion: Risky! Some disagree. Caveat Emptor. Oh, wait, it’s free! Hmmm…

35. How do you get off spam lists? • I have bad news: You don’t! • You especially don’t get off by trying to unsubscribe • That can often make things worse • Remember – they are liars

36. What can you do? • Switch to a new email address (alias) • Carefully inform others of the new address • Wean yourself from the old address • How quickly can you afford to do this? • Don’t expect it to be painless

37. Good email messages • Non-trivial subjects • Subject doesn’t start with hi, hello, or hey • Worse if that’s the entire subject! • Non-trivial message text • NOT just an attachment (including pictures) • If replying, include the original, or extracts • But, of course, suppressing email addresses

38. Email Headers • Handout 11 is stuff most people don’t want to know • Sometimes you need to know it • What about non-Outlook users?

39. Learn all your email aliases(does this apply to your church?) • See handout 12 • As a Perimeter staff member, you have a lot of email addresses, all coming to a single mailbox • You can have more (why!?) • You can use “disposable” addresses

41. Looking at your addresses(one of many ways – Exchange assumed) Click the Address Book Icon Find Your Name

42. Double-Click to open

43. Click the email tab

44. Tom can receive email as: tomm@perimeter.org tommullis@perimeter.org tom.mullis@perimeter.org tmullis@perimeter.org The upper case SMTP indicates the outbound address to be used: TomM Note: email addresses are case-insensitive

45. Summary • We’ve talked about spam, and spammers • How you get ON spam lists • How can you avoid getting on the lists • For yourself and others • Getting OFF spam lists – it doesn’t happen • Extra efforts: things worth knowing

46. Questions?

47. Extended Session • Special invitation to our own “dirty dozen” • Others are welcomed to stay • Taking the hard steps to get away from “lost cause” email addresses

48. Other dangers? • Can you think of any other ways you ended up on spam lists?

49. Steps for abandoning a heavily spammed email address • IT will work with you to establish a ‘new’ email alias. Suggestion: Firstname.Lastname@perimeter.org • Example: Tom.Mullis@perimeter.org • We’re OK with something else • IT will switch this to become your primary email address • Note: This has very little effect, only OUT-going email will have any changed appearance, only for those really paying attention

50. Abandonment steps (cont.) • Carefully start giving this email address to your • Avoid the things that caused the original problems • Change items on the web and printed materials that have your old address • Be sure to encrypt addresses on the web