The most common complaint that internet users have is regarding the large amount of unsolicited junk mail they receive. This unwanted email is called spam, and despite attempts by governments and ISP’s to control it, the problem continues to get worse. Today it is estimated that over 75% of email received is spam.

According to Spamhous, an organization dedicated to the monitoring and prevention of spam, most spammers send out between 1 million to 100 million spams every day, peddling everything from prescription drugs to pornographic websites. Spam is a big nuisance to email users and an expensive problem for ISP’s, as it takes up an enormous amount of disk space as well as bandwidth.

Spam is not just offensive, resource-hogging, harmless junk mail. It is usually associated with a criminal element, and should be treated with extreme caution. In order to understand exactly what the junk in your inbox is all about, here is some information on spam:

Why do spammers spam?

Although most of us never open spam email, a small percentage of people actually purchase products from spammers, making this a lucrative business for them. If a spammer sends out 10 million emails advertising a product that pays a $10 commission and only 500 people purchase the item, he will make $5000 for a few minutes work.

Are spammers selling legitimate products?

Ethical and responsible companies selling legitimate goods never send out unsolicited bulk email. When you see spam advertisements for pharmaceutical drugs such as Valium, Viagra, Cialis, etc… you can bet these medications are counterfeit and probably dangerous. Spam that is selling “get rich quick” and other informational products is selling a scam. Spam that is peddling pornographic websites is most likely selling access to illegal sites.

How do spammers get your email address?

Spammers copy email addresses that are posted on websites, forums, newsgroups, and “read and pass on” email messages that circle the globe. They also steal email addresses by hacking into insecure mail servers and by using computer viruses and spyware to scrape the information from personal address books. Many spammers also purchase massive lists of email addresses that other spammers and cyber-criminals have harvested.

How do spammers send out millions of emails at once?

Most internet service providers have bandwidth control limits in place that prohibit the sending of massive amounts of email. To get around this, spammers often use large groups of “slave” or “robot” computers called “botnets” to send out their spam emails. These computers have been hijacked through spyware, and are totally in the spammer’s control. The spamming task is split up between all the PC’s in the botnet, allowing millions of spam emails to be sent by computers like yours and mine, without the owner’s knowledge. It is very difficult to catch and stop spammers because they are sending spam from hijacked computers all over the world.

Spam can be dangerous

A dangerous type of spam that is becoming very popular is called phishing. This is a method of tricking consumers into giving up personal information such as bank account numbers, passwords, user id’s, and credit card details. These fraudulent spam emails usually appear to come from financial institutions, typically informing the user of a problem with his/her account. The victim is presented with a link to the banks website, and instructed to log in and verify information. The website is actually a copy of the real site, designed to illegally gather information regarding account credentials so the spammer can clean out the victims account.

Spam is also used to lure you to websites that will install spyware on your computer in the blink of an eye. This spyware can steal your personal information or turn your computer into a member of a spamming botnet. Interesting spam messages are also used to transmit and install computer viruses upon opening.

How to handle spam

Since spam it is annoying, offensive, time consuming, and potentially dangerous, it is wise to use anti-spam software. Spam filtering software screens your incoming email and immediately sends spam messages into a special junk mail folder where you can delete it all without ever looking at it. Most of the newer computer security suites include anti-spam software, and there are some good stand-alone anti-spam products as well.

If you want a good “all inclusive” internet security suite that includes a spam blocker, consider BitDefender Professional Plus, Kaspersky Internet Security, F-Secure Internet Security or eTrust Internet Security. For a good stand-alone anti spam product, consider McAfee Spam Killer, Bit Defender Spam Deny, Mail Washer Pro or ZapASpam.