Frying S P A M !
Steps that can Return You to the Time of (Almost) Spam-less Email

How Much Does SPAM Cost Your Company?
Each day, companies experience high volumes of spam—from dozens to hundreds. As spam spreads, businesses are forced to spend time eliminating unwanted messages, risking the accidental deletion of legitimate emails. Businesses also suffer increased security risks and viruses from those who read spam.

How SPAM Originates
Two methods are most prevalent: automated spamming technology and employee Internet abuse. Fortunately, companies can do something about both. Taking a stand against these two methods will drastically decrease spam and increase employee productivity.

You Can Unknowingly Be a SPAMMER
A popular method spammers use is spoofing—forging email addresses to make spam appear as if it originated from a trustworthy source. Through specialized software, spammers scan the Internet for unsecured networks. When spammers find a vulnerability, they spam through a company’s email system—without the company’s knowledge. For example, if ABC Company lacks efficient Internet security, a spammer could create a bogus account such as spammer@abccompany.com and quickly distribute thousands of emails.

Spam incites complaints. The spoofed company then runs the risk of being put on a Block List—a database of spam sources. When this occurs, all corporate resources are blocked from the Internet. Your company could lose access to e-mail because of spam you never sent.

Defeating SPAM
Yes, spam can be defeated. Following are steps that will return you to the time of (almost) spam-less email.

Set Internal Policies
Employees who use email for personal reasons invite spam as spammers scan public Internet areas to "harvest" lists of email addresses. Once an email address is distributed, spam blazes out of control. The first step in defeating spam is to adopt a strict Internet policy that limits employees’ Internet usage to company business. This includes prohibiting all personal email correspondence.

Switch your Email Naming Convention
Are your email addresses spammer-friendly? Spammers frequently take common email designations such as info@, sales@, webmaster@, and attach them to business names to automate addresses similar to: info@abccompany.com, sales@xyzcompany.com, webmaster @123company.com, etc. Spammers also import common personal names to pair up with company names such as steve@abccompany.com, john@xyzcompany.com, or tom@123company.com.

Switching your email naming convention can defeat this scheme. Commonly known as “first name – dot – last name,” naming conventions look like: Lawrence.Witherspoon@abccompany.com.

Invest in Email Filtering Software
E-mail filtering software works in two different ways. One is where the software manufacturer collects spam through “bait” email addresses. A subscription database is then updated with the electronic signatures of junk e-mail circulating through the Internet. The second method identifies and blocks key words and media types within e-mail.

There are plenty out-of-the- box options available, but beware: out-of-the-box software may work well at blocking spam—but it could possibly block legitimate email.

CompuData can help you determine how to best secure your email without running the risk of blocking email from clients, prospects, and vendors. Our technicians can help you set the rules of the email filtering software so that legitimate e-mail is not blocked.

Other important components should also tie into spam filtering. These include proper implementation of a firewall, secure network and remote access, and appropriate antivirus software. Your CompuData representative can help you determine which solutions will best serve your business.

While no spam filtering solution is 100% effective, these steps will drastically reduce spam, bandwidth congestion, and spoofing nightmares.