Wednesday, Feb 07, 2007 at 21:22
The following is copied from the recent BigPond newsletter and explains a few things re Spam.
Noticed an increase in spam lately?
If you’ve noticed an increase in spam lately, you’re not imagining things.
Spammers are finding new techniques to sneak past filters and end up in your inbox. The latest techniques are more advanced than we’ve ever seen, but as always, we’re working with cutting-edge technology to help reduce the clutter in your mailbox.
Spam has doubled over the past year
In October 2005, it’s estimated that spammers sent 31 billion unsolicited bulk emails every day. In December 2006, it’s 61 billion – that’s over 700,000 every second.
While email is always gaining popularity, the growth in spam doesn’t match the growth in email generally. What’s more, as the world becomes cleverer at filtering spam, spammers become more creative in the techniques they use in an effort to fool spam filters. The most successful technique they’ve found recently is image-based spam.
Image spam is unsolicited email that relies on an image to communicate its message. It may include a graphic of the objects it’s trying to sell, or might simply be text saved as a graphic. It’s estimated that 40% of image spam is health-related (i.e. trying to sell a vitamin or health products) and about 20% recommends stocks or shares. According to BigPond security partner Sophos, at the beginning of 2006, image spam made up 18% of all spam. But now it’s estimated that it makes up to 40% of all spam.
Why image spam is so successful
The key to most image spam campaigns is that each email is unique – the images are changed for every email. Spammers set up ‘zombies’ on their PCs or those of unsuspecting users through Trojans or viruses, which include programs that alter the image slightly on each send. This may be by changing colours, or simply by adding a few small dots or lines in the image. Spam filters that are trained only to block known spam based on content will probably be fooled.
Image spam also rarely contains a URL, another common criterion for an image to be blocked by a spam filter. It may contain a URL or a link to a URL in an image, but because it’s not actually text, it may be allowed to pass through.
Banjo (WA)
AnswerID:
220480
Follow Up By: Willem - Thursday, Feb 08, 2007 at 10:30
Thursday, Feb 08, 2007 at 10:30
Yep, having my own website doesn't help either.
I have my Spam filter cranked up to its max through the webmaster but still get around 8 Spams a day. This includes stock and shares, viagra et al, microsoft products, job offers and the occasional Rolex watch offer.
I had been receiving my emails through my ISP who has a very strong Firewall. This unfortunately led to many of my personal emails including EO stuff being blocked. I had to whitelist a few addresses. But it got worse so I changed back to the spam filter with the webmaster through my website.
Shift/Delete thats all I do. Go away for a week or two and then spend an hour on your return
clearing the Inbox.
Its a pain!!!
Cheers
FollowupID:
481148