Fighting spam

Avoid getting spam in the first place!

• Look after your email address and refrain from using it in "free-for-all" sites like chat rooms and bulletin boards, where it can easily be seen by spammers. A better idea would be to have one email address for personal mail and another "disposable" address for public use.
• If possible, avoid using an address that is easily predictable, so that if spammers get hold of your domain name, they won't be able to guess your email address.
• Watch out for deceptive unsubscribe and opt-out links! When a spam mail gives you the option to unsubscribe, ignore it. Do not respond because that will only serve to confirm to the spammer that your email is active, and therefore suitable for re-use. Also, avoid replying to the junk mail for any reason.
• Before you sign up at a web site, find out about that site's privacy policy to ensure that your email will not be shared, sold, or given to anyone else; otherwise your email may be sold as part of a marketing database and become easily accessible to spammers.
• Avoid putting your e-mail address(es) on your web site if you have any, because spammers scan web sites regularly to harvest e-mails. You could use a feedback form as an alternative.

Use technology to battle spam

Once you get spam, technology is at your side. There are many packages each with their advantages and disadvantages. One such tool for fighting spam is AQTRONIX MailKnight.

Resources on fighting spam

• http://www.paulgraham.com/antispam.html
• http://www.turnstep.com/Spambot/
• http://www.spamhaus.org/
• http://rr.sans.org/email/spam_battle.php
• http://spam.abuse.net/adminhelp/fmreporter.txt
• http://members.hostedscripts.com/antispam.html
• http://www.junkbusters.com/

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