Approaches to Solve Email Spam Issues - Essay Example

The paper "Approaches to Solve Email Spam Issues" is a good example of an essay on information technology. Email spam also is known as unsolicited bulk email represents a subset of electronic spam, which involves sending similar messages to different recipients (Schneider, 2010). When the recipient clicks on the email links, they send him/her to the phishing websites that host the malware. There are basic features that characterize spams. These emails are sent from people not known and also in bulk. They are not only annoying but also dangerous to consumers. They are anonymous with the address and the identity of the sender concealed (Schneider and Schneider, 2011). To avoid the possibility of tracking these emails they are sent using an international IP address. The ultimate effect of the spam is the promotion of scam activities that make the users hand over sensitive personal or financial information to the sender (Schneider, 2010). The rising incidences of spams necessitate several measures to deal with the increasing issue of spams.

As long as the sending of emails remains inexpensive, the benefits reaped by spammers will be huge making it an attractive enterprise (Quigley, 2008). The approaches used to require the passing of laws while other technical changes in the mail-handling systems. One way in which individuals can reduce spamming is by reducing the likelihood of the spammer generating and thus using their mails (Goodman, 2004). Individual anti-spam tactics entail generating emails that combine the first and the last name. It can also include combining the first letter of the name and the surname followed by a certain code (Brusilovsky, Kobsa and Nejdl, 2007). Complex email addresses are hard to crack and in the measures, individuals reduce the random generation of the address by the spammer. Individuals need to limit the exposure of their email addresses. Spammers often employ software robots that search the internet for certain character strings (Avoine, Junod and Oechslin, 2007). The robot search through webpages and chat rooms or any other online source with mail addresses. Another anti-spam tactic in maintaining the use of several email addresses for various purposes. This makes the individual switch to either of the accounts in case one of the mail is compromised (Schneider and Schneider, 2011). There are web hosting services that include a large number of emails. This can be useful for individuals with small businesses that have their own websites.

Another approach entails the basic content filtering technique. These solutions require definite software that identifies the content element in an email eliminating it from spam. The techniques employed differ with regards to the content examined by looking at the indications of whether the message in the email is spam (Schneider, 2010). The basic application of the content filter examines the salutations such as the email header and other indicators showing the message to be spam. The software performing these tasks can be installed on individual computers or mail server computers (Schneider, 2010). Mail server computer or all the server-level filtering needs to be implemented on the ISP server or the company mail server or even both. Individuals working in an organization have both ISP and company mail server which filter the content in their emails (Quigley, 2008). The spam that gets through one of the servers can be trapped by the other server. Basic content filtering employs both black and white lists (Goodman, 2004). A blacklist spam filter examines from addresses in the incoming messages. The software, thus can delete the message or reserve it for review (Brusilovsky, Kobsa and Nejdl, 2007). A white list, on the other hand, examines from addresses and makes a comparison to the good sender addresses. They are employed at the individual level.