I get a lot of spam in my mail. What can I do about that?
To overview"Action required!", "Attention! A message is waiting for you.", "Don't forget to make your payment", "[Reminder] ICS Credit Card blocked!"
Do you recognize any of these subjects from emails you've received before? They are subjects of "well-known" spam emails. In this blog post we will tell you what exactly spam is, why it is sent but most importantly what you can do to stop spam.
Before we delve deeper into the consequences of spam and what you can do about spam, let's go back to the basics: What is spam? Spam is the unsolicited sending of messages. In most cases, this sending occurs in thousands, tens of thousands and sometimes millions of messages at a time. In nine out of ten cases, spam is sent via e-mail. But you can also be spammed via SMS, social media or even physical mail.
By whom and why?
Sending spam messages comes in all shapes and sizes. It could be the boy (or girl) next door who buys a list of e-mail addresses from a third party. But it can also be a professional (criminal) organization that sends unsolicited millions of messages a day. So while the scope of spam may vary, the reason behind spam is almost always the same: the spammer wants you to respond. This may be in a reply, but in most cases it is a click on a link.
Usually these spam messages are made to look identical to that email from your bank, credit card company or other trusted entity. The formatting combined with a certain subject line can entice you to click on something.
What can you do about spam?
There are a number of things you can do to reduce spam in your e-mail:
- Don't just share your e-mail address everywhere.
It sounds very obvious and perhaps it is. But the most important tip for reducing spam is to not share your e-mail address (and personal information in general) just anywhere. The less information you share, the less likely you are to get spam. - Never respond to emails whose origin you don't trust. If you receive an e-mail from someone you do not know, do not open the e-mail and delete it immediately. Following on from the above; most e-mail providers allow you to mark the e-mail in question as 'spam'. This way, the provider can block it in the future.
- Use a spam filtering software.
The above things are more focused on the fact that you have already received spam. But a spam filter actually ensures that you don't receive spam (anymore) in the first place.
At OXXA, we have been deploying SpamExperts' anti-spam filtering technology for over 10 years. We are currently deploying SpamExperts' inbound and outbound filtering solutions on several of our DirectAdmin and cPanel servers.
SpamExperts
With SpamExperts' inbound email filtering solution, we ensure optimal email continuity and protection against spam, viruses, ransomware, phishing, malware. With the outgoing email filtering solution, we precisely have abuse management in place to prevent IP blacklisting and improve email delivery.
Check out our SpamExperts page for more information.
Spam is a big problem on the Internet and is actually only getting bigger. Not to mention the consequences. Fortunately, there are things you can do to combat spam emails. Need help reducing spam emails? Then contact one of our customer support representatives.