What is email spam and why fight it. What is spam? How dangerous is spam for the user?

There are quite a few methods of attracting a person’s attention, but these days spam has become widespread. What is spam and what does it represent?

Regular Internet users, who have been such for quite a long time, most likely already know what spam is, from the fact that they have encountered it more than once in their daily activities. But if most people know about the existence of spam, then their knowledge is usually limited, but spam requires more attention.

Without a doubt, spam is one of the cheapest ways to attract a person's attention. And many advertisers have no qualms about taking advantage of spam. But it’s difficult to get customers for illegal products or materials that even adults don’t need to be familiar with and distribute in a pious way; for this, spam is almost the ideal, and sometimes even the only distribution option.

What is spam and how to understand it

In everyday understanding, spam can be considered absolutely all unwanted information that sometimes arrives in a not entirely clear way via email, this is certainly correct, but modern spam has long been no longer limited to email. Nowadays spam is distributed not only through the Internet, it is part of the Internet. Spam can be considered the excessive presence of any information with which a person has to meet or even interact without his consent, thereby not only interfering and slowing down his activities, but provoking the emergence of danger both for the confidentiality of personal data and other unfavorable phenomena.

If we rely on the same email, then some messages may not be spam, but let’s say it will be unwanted information. In fact, it would be correct if everyone distinguished for themselves what is junk mail and what is spam.

Spam- this is a mass mailing of unwanted information to users, the vast majority of which are automatic, and who, in turn, do not initially need it. This is a slightly outdated definition, although it can be associated not only with mail, but also with other types of messages.

Self spam concept, is a peculiar disease of the Internet, it applies not only to junk mail, but also to instant messaging services, social networks and even websites, search results, etc. For a spammer, spam in some cases is a way to attract attention, advertising and anti-advertising, and sometimes it is a way to enrich oneself due to the ignorance of the final recipient of information.

Why are mass mailings and mass publications used? Everything is simpler than it might seem, because with a large list, how mailing list, and recipients of information found in other ways, if this is advertising, you can almost easily find more potential clients or attract visitors to the site. Also possible, and usually pursued, is the search for potential victims of fraud.

The emergence of spam, how it all began

The term Spam itself comes from the excessive advertising of canned meat products left unconsumed by US soldiers after the end of World War II. They were called spicy or peppered ham from the English. SPICED HAM. People remembered the SPAM they encountered for a long time, and subsequently one of the unintentional mass mailings of e-mail messages was now associated with this parietal in 1993. This was caused by a program written with an error, with the help of which 200 exactly identical emails. But that spam was just a mistake, which cannot be said about many current mailings.

Types of spam and where you can usually find it

As was said earlier, such junk mailings cost the spammer practically nothing, but the recipient, for correct actions can pay quite a serious price. In addition, each Internet provider has its own tariffs and prices, and searching among junk mail and web spam for the necessary information may cost more due to overuse of traffic.

Except in various ways Entire organizations engage in independent collection of email addresses, including automated ones, in this not the most noble way, and mailing lists can also be purchased. Mailing can be carried out using any poorly protected computer, which is possible after activating software specialized for this on it.

Spam email

Existence of the possibility of obtaining potential threat is no longer a rarity, which can ultimately force or convince you to transfer any amount of money to an unknown account. This is nothing more than extorting money, and for an attacker, disseminating such information is a simple and sure way. The spammer hopes that due to the large number of spam recipients, someone will respond to it and fall into the trap.

In order not to fall for a scam, you need to understand the meaning of Phishing; this method of mail-out fraud is used to lure out confidential information. Such information may actually be information about a bank account; the attacker’s goal may be to obtain his login and password. Such mailings are disguised as closely as possible as official organizations with their own clones of official websites, on behalf of which the message was supposedly received. As you know, serious organizations do not ask for personal information. e-mail.

Very often, mailings may contain attachments, sometimes even from the first time it is not clear what the content is computer virus or an email worm, which, for example, independently distributes itself, they can collect all possible necessary information and forward it all to the desired address.

Comments on websites: blogs, forums and message boards

At the moment there are quite a lot of spammers, especially among webmasters who want to leave a link in the comments of a blog or forum, which when the right approach can be a plus for his site, but for a site that has too many outgoing links, this can be a death sentence, because exactly such an Internet resource will be spammed by the search engine. Owners of such sites should not forget about the need to moderate posts and comments.

As for bulletin boards, texts very similar to real advertisements can be published, with a large number of outgoing links, and if an inattentive moderator missed this type of spam, then this will affect not only the fact that the search engine will consider the board or site spam, but users will react with A warning to such Internet resources; strange advertisements will arouse suspicion.

More and more often you can stumble upon the supposed blog of taxi driver Roman, who earns millions, weight loss techniques and other sites that are actually useless for humans. Separate sites are being created to praise their site, which, apparently, due to low information content and usefulness, cannot achieve the required traffic. What can we say about filling such sites with machine text? An overabundance of advertising, including pop-up windows that interfere with viewing the necessary information, which are not always easy to close, is the lot of unscrupulous site owners.

Search spam is a type of clogging of search results with sites that do not provide anything useful other than the needs for which the owner created them. These sites very often appear in the first places in the search results, but thanks to constantly improving search algorithms, they also quickly fall under the filter, still be vigilant.

Spam on social networks

What spam is is most likely already clear from some of the material you’ve read, but social spam is a slightly different method of attracting attention.

For spam in in social networks very often hacked accounts are used ordinary users, accounts can also be created on purpose, false groups are created. You and your friends may also get into such trouble, and a strange message that arrives can only indicate its not entirely human activity. Just like when you receive suspicious email and spend time on a website, you should be wary of scams.

Often, people who use social networks are invited to groups they don’t need, or invited as friends, since this can be a mass invitation; this method is rightfully considered spam. Many social pages The networks to which attraction is carried out may, just like the sites, have unreliable information and offer poor-quality goods, although this is not a pattern, but the administration is constantly fighting this type of fraud.

SMS messages can also be spam

SMS messages with advertising or spam have long been common for mobile phone, and here, as elsewhere, you need to distinguish truth from lies. Otherwise, it is possible to subscribe to paid SMS news channels, the availability of which will only become known over time. Spam for smartphones is not much different; in such messages it often sends links to malware, under the pretext of, for example, looking at a photo or updating your browser.

Several years ago, it was especially popular for a parent to request to top up their account with any amount in connection with a child’s problem, but there were those who fell into such a trap.

How to protect yourself from spam and its consequences

No matter how much I would like to have a short and beautiful name mailbox - this will not be a good option to protect yourself from spam, because such addresses most often end up in the mailing list.

If possible, you should refrain from publishing in open form your email addresses in places where everyone can see them. Except manual addition, such addresses can be added completely automatically using specialized software to the spam database. Even if such a publication is still required, it must be done with minor changes, for example, change the @ symbol to the word of the same name or separate some characters with a space.

This method will help, at least a little, to protect against automated linking of your email address to the spam database. Actually, approximately this method can be used for ICQ and other network identifiers.

To register on websites, it would be a good idea to have an additional mailbox, thereby protecting your main one. On GSM devices you just need to ignore the received message and also not respond to it; the principles of the attackers’ work remain practically unchanged.

If a spam message still reaches you, then you should not follow the links in it and test the security of your computer by opening unknown attachments, and a response to such a message will only confirm that they are using mail and spam has reached the recipient.

Modern email clients provide one of the best ways Anti-spam means filtering incoming messages. Although there are a lot of automatic filtering methods, all of them are not ideal, since the most ordinary message can be blocked, so many services create a separate folder for such messages, the contents of which the user can familiarize themselves with.

Also, to combat spam, you can set up rules that automatically transfer messages from regular spam addresses to a specific folder, this is possible with most email clients. As for fighting spam on websites, a lot depends on their owners, and avoiding such web resources is perhaps the best option to protect your computer.

Spam has become so integrated into our lives that many people don’t even notice it. What can we say about the Internet? When asking the question what spam is, you need to look around, on poles, in your mailbox, sometimes you can notice a lot of excessive advertising, which can also be called spam, albeit household.

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. You've probably already encountered spam, even if you didn't know exactly what this outrage is called. And for this it is not even necessary. Spam also pours into your regular mailbox with enviable regularity - these are the same countless advertising booklets that are slipped to you in the hope that you will order or buy something.

So, spam is that is precisely the annoying one, creeping in from all sides advertising(but not only advertising - there are worse things). You didn’t order it, you don’t need it, but he rushes and rushes from every corner. The information you need can easily get lost in this heap and you have to spend a lot of time sifting through it.

In our computer age, the main source of spam. And besides advertising spam mailings can also be dangerous both for your wallet (phishing, social engineering, scams) and for your computer (viruses, worms, Trojans).

What does the word Spam mean, what does it look like and how can you fight it, you will learn by looking at this short article. I hope it will be interesting (well, certainly useful - I promise you that).

Spam - what is it?

What does the word SPAM mean?

Self word Spam comes from the name of canned meat, which was vigorously advertised after the end of the Second World War (obviously, it was necessary to urgently sell out the soldiers' meat rations).

The advertising was so aggressive, comprehensive and ubiquitous that this word (and the “sediment” associated with it) was remembered, but only because of the intrusive advertising that appeared along with it in conferences (then still on the Fidonet, if anyone remembers).

The word stuck, especially since intrusive advertising did not become less, but rather the opposite. When email gained popularity, unauthorized mass advertising and malicious mailings became commonplace. Such mailings were profitable for spammers, because without any special costs necessary information reached a large number of people.

But It's not limited to email. They spam in private messages on social networks, on forums, in instant messengers, on message boards, in comments to blogs, open for editing and adding text by anyone. They will also spam your phone, for example by calling you advertising or sending advertising SMS messages.

Where can you find him on the Internet?

Email- it's just a Klondike for spammers. With the help of mass mailings you can sell anything, you can deceive and rob, you can infect computers and send worms. Databases for mass mailings are collected independently (with the help of programs), or purchased from those who do this professionally.
Forums, comments blogs, wiki sites and message boards - here, essentially, everyone is allowed to leave messages and spammers find it difficult to resist spamming. This is not always advertising - often this is how webmasters try to get a free link to their site so that it ranks higher in the rankings. search results Yandex or Google for various requests. This brings them traffic and money.
Social media and dating sites - spam is very common among incoming personal messages. It is also available in the comments to messages.
Messengers (like ) are also susceptible to this scourge.
SMS-messages from unknown people of an advertising nature. Probably everyone is familiar with it.
Search spam- a rather specific thing, but familiar to everyone. Have you ever had a situation where you enter a query into Yandex (Google), and the responses are entirely sites with some kind of bullshit that have nothing to do with the matter. These are so-called doorways (sites with automatically generated useless texts). They spam search engine results, but they make money from visitors visiting them (in different ways).

Those. all letters in your mailbox (or forum messages, blog comments, personal messages) of an advertising or other nature from a sender unknown to you - this is spam. True, the newsletters you have subscribed to can also be intrusive, but you can still unsubscribe from them (refuse to receive them further).

Spam itself is annoying and annoying, because it litters where it appears. Most often, this is your inbox, and it can be quite difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff when there are too many unwanted messages. But spam can also pose a real danger to both you and your computer. Let's figure this out.

Understanding the types of spam (harmless and dangerous)

From now on I will mainly talk about spam messages arriving by email, because it is this channel that is considered especially susceptible to this phenomenon. Everything else is not as neglected and is not so actively used by spammers, and this does not apply to all network users. But the problem of protecting them from unwanted messages is acute.

Types of harmless spam

Advertising of legal goods and services- in this case, the business owner simply chose spam mailings as one of the channels for attracting clients and customers, because it is not expensive, fast and brings results. Naturally, he doesn’t think much about the moral (or rather immoral) side of this matter.
Prohibited advertising— there are goods and services that are prohibited by law from advertising, and for them spam mailings can be the main channel for attracting customers. By the way, spammers also advertise their services through mass mailings, since this activity is prohibited by law. This also includes advertising that discredits competitors, since this is also prohibited by law (praise yourself, but don’t scold others).
Impact on public opinion- very often spam becomes a good choice for those who are trying to manipulate public opinion in the desired direction. It could be politics, but it could also be. Letters in general can be sent supposedly from some person in order to compromise him, change his opinion about him, or use his authority for profit. But this does not pose a danger to you personally.
Letters that ask to be forwarded to others- these can be varieties of so-called “letters of happiness” (send it to 10 friends and you will be happy), or asking to send information to friends for some other reason. Often such letters are used by spammers to collect or replenish an existing email database for subsequent mass mailings.

High-risk spam - what it can be

If ordinary (harmless) spam can only slightly affect your peace of mind and mental health, then the examples below can be very dangerous for your wallet or computer. And this is no joke.

I myself (the one who teaches and trains everyone) a couple of years ago “bought” a similar type of letter (phishing) and parted with several thousand rubles (read “”). I just got busy and did everything “automatically” just to get behind, well, when I realized it, it was too late.

- Very effective method deceiving not only gullible people, but also simply busy or inattentive people (there is a hook for everyone). They send you a letter supposedly from your bank or service electronic money or from somewhere else. In this letter, you will definitely be taken aback by something (unsettled) and asked to log in to the site to solve the problem. You log in, but the site will be fake (although it looks exactly like the real one) and the data you provided will be immediately used to steal all your money.
Nigerian letters- you find out that you can get a large amount of money (various pretexts - from an unexpected inheritance to helping a prince in exile). You don’t believe it for a long time, but they convince you. When you believe it, you will be asked to transfer some money for “related expenses.” You translate and no one will bother you anymore.
Viruses, worms, Trojans— the letter may contain an attached file with a malicious program (or a link leading to a site with a virus). She can immediately cause problems with the operation of the computer, or she will sit quietly in a corner and carefully write down all the passwords, logins and other useful household things you enter. Worms, among other things, can also send themselves to your friends using the email addresses found in your contacts (as they will call you later...).

Spam protection

Where do spammers get databases with email addresses?

Spammers (those who send mass mailings) collect email addresses from all available sources. These can be forums, guest books, chats, social networks and other sites where postal addresses can be publicly available.
Hackers manage to get to some databases of addresses stored on websites.
Collecting Emails is carried out in most cases programmatically (with the help of search bots - harvesters) and this does not require much effort (only time, and even then not very much). Moreover, similar spam email databases You don’t have to collect them, but buy them from those who specialize in this matter ().
There are billions of email addresses registered all over the world, and therefore you can simply try to generate Emails using special programs using appropriate dictionaries. With a high degree of probability, many of them will actually exist. Read below about how spammers check the reality of addresses.
There are special worms (viruses) that can send themselves to a database of addresses found on the victim’s computer. The database collected in this way will already be cleared of non-working mailboxes.

How do spammers clean databases of inactive email addresses?

Those who collect a database of addresses essentially don’t care who owns this or that address - they send letters to everyone, because there will still be someone who will respond to them (as they say - they hit the squares).

But still, in order to optimize costs and increase the return on mailings, it is beneficial for them to clear the databases of non-existent addresses. How do they do it? Let's get a look.

The simplest thing is to place a picture in the letter (maybe not even visible - one pixel in size), which will be loaded from the site owned by the spammer when the user opens the letter. If the picture is loaded, it means the letter was opened and the email is valid.
Many email clients (programs for working with email) automatically send a message that the letter has been read, which again plays into the hands of spammers.
The letter may contain a link urging you to go somewhere, promising mountains of gold. We've moved on - consider that your Email will now be marked as valid. The most unpleasant thing is that such a link can be disguised as an unsubscribe button, which will actually lead to the opposite effect.

How to reduce the likelihood of your email getting into the spam database?

In general, as soon as your mailbox is “verified,” spammers won’t just leave you. It is important to understand that no one is immune from spam. But it is possible significantly reduce the likelihood of getting into such a spam database if you take the following precautions:

You can, of course, not publish your Email anywhere at all and not tell it to anyone. But in most cases this is difficult to do, so I advise except the main drawer have one or two minor ones that you will use to register on forums, etc. Often they can also come in handy, which can be obtained without registration at all.
Don't click on links in spam emails (even if there is an "Unsubscribe" button - it's a trap) and if possible, disable automatic downloading of images in the email client you use. There is a chance that your Email will be counted as inactive and mass mailings will not arrive at hundreds per day.
If you have not yet registered a mailbox or are planning to create a new one (for example, because the old one is completely clogged with spam), then do not proceed from the convenience and ease of remembering it, but on the contrary, make it longer and more complex. To your friends, you will still send it to in electronic format, but spam search programs are unlikely to guess it.

What to do if spam no longer lets you breathe?

These were all preventive measures to combat spam (or rather, reduce its quantity). But there is the possibility of an effective fight even in an already completely neglected situation. In this case, it becomes extremely important.

The fact is that in such large services as or, there are powerful antispam filters.

They place all suspicious emails in a separate Spam folder, thereby freeing the Inbox from junk. Yes, there is no perfect spam cutter, and whenever possible, before cleaning, it would be better to view the contents of the Spam folder diagonally to see if it contains legitimate correspondence. But it’s still much easier than digging through all this garbage all the time.

If you have a mailbox on another service, where the spam cutting is poor (for example, as in), then you shouldn’t despair. Get yourself an Email on Gmail or Yandex, and then set up mail forwarding to it from your old mailbox. Moreover, these settings can be made as in the old mailbox (i.e. set up forwarding - shown in the screenshot):

Also, in the new mailbox, you can configure the collection of mail from your existing Emails (the screenshot shows the settings for collecting mail in Gmail):

The same can be said about programs mail clients . Most of them also have a built-in spam cutter.

But in this case we should not forget that the mail service will have its own spam folder. this can be corrected in the settings of the service or client program).

Good luck to you! See you soon on the pages of the blog site

The concept of spam and its main features

Before understanding the meaning of the term, let's find out what the word "spam" means and where it came from. In fact, the history of the origin of this concept is quite interesting and unusual.

People first learned about the word spam in 1936. It was at this time that an American company was created with a trademark called SPAM. Therefore, it would be most correct to say not “spam”, but “spam”, but this is not a fundamental issue.

The company was engaged in the production of canned meat, but during the Second World War they produced so many that they began to spoil. In order not to incur losses, the company began to advertise its products everywhere, on almost every corner. The advertisement was even shown on the radio.

By the way, if you look for a translation of the word SPAM, it will not have anything to do with what this term implies in the modern context. That is, there is no logical explanation why streams of unnecessary correspondence arriving by phone or e-mail are called spam.

However, the term “spam mailing” as such began to be widely used since 1986. It was during this period that all advertising pyramids began to mass produce and send people leaflets that were almost identical to each other. And now the amount of spam on the Internet is increasing every year. This is why users are so interested in protecting their accounts from such unnecessary information.

Let's understand the term

So what is spam? in simple words? If you have not yet figured out the meaning of this word, then the following definition will be useful for you.

In most cases, such mailings apply only to emails - those that arrive by mail, phone, instant messengers or personal messages on social networks. However, spam messages are considered notifications that the user did not sign up to receive. It is for this reason that their appearance is annoying and annoying.

Types of spam and their features

Now you know what spam means and what it is used for. Such mailings have their own varieties, which we will discuss in more detail.

So, today we can distinguish the following types of spam.

Mass mailings

What does mass spam mean? Almost everyone is familiar with this concept, since it is one of the most common types of such notifications.

How it works? Spammers acquire databases where users' email addresses are collected, after which they begin sending letters with a specific content. In addition to advertising information, they may also contain viruses and other unpleasant “bonuses”.

On a note. A spammer is a person who sends such notifications. Can work for a specific company or do freelance work.

Newsletters on social networks

What is spam on VK? Previously, spammers created separate accounts to send advertising or political emails (and more). But in recent years, a less pleasant picture has emerged. Unscrupulous users hack Accounts other users and send spam from them. Typically, this is a request to transfer a certain amount of money.

Thus, contact spam is part of a fraudulent scheme, but not everyone can recognize such a dirty trick.

Notifications on forums

Spam is often sent on forums. For example, interested users leave the necessary notifications in comments to discussions, and also write to other people in private messages, adding a link to a particular source of information.

Often such notifications are created and sent with the aim of attracting more visitors to the site.

SPAM mailing on websites

Some users really like to spam comments on different sites. That is why the owners of such resources have more trouble. The goal of spammers in this case is either to advertise their services or products, or to promote their own projects.

SMS spam

What is a spam message on your phone? The principle of its operation is the same as when sending letters to email boxes. Only spammers in this case buy databases from mobile operators. SMS spam arrives to the client in the form of a regular text or graphic message. The content of such a notice may be completely different.

In this case we are talking about spam in WhatsApp, Viber and others popular programs, which users install on phones, tablets or computers. Since they work based on a phone number or email address, spammers can easily reach the accounts of potential victims.

Search spam

What is considered search spam? Every Internet user is familiar with this type of mailing, even if he himself is not aware of it. Surely, you have encountered such a phenomenon as the appearance in your browser of a list of sites that are not related to yours. search query. Such resources do not provide any benefit, but they are well promoted and bring good income to their owners through clicks on the link.

In addition to the above varieties, there are 2 more types of spam – harmless and dangerous. The first type includes:

How dangerous is spam for the user?

It all depends on what specific subtype of such mailings the user encountered.

Phishing. This is a fraudulent scheme that is designed to “hook” a person, unsettling him. For example, the user receives a letter via email, instant messenger or phone number stating that there are problems with your bank or virtual account. As a result, you need to follow the link to log in to the site. This is where the whole “salt” lies, since the specified site ultimately turns out to be fake. Although it is almost impossible to determine this on your own, since it is like two drops of water similar to the official resource of a bank or electronic payment system. How to identify this type of spam? It is difficult to expose scammers, but it is possible. In order not to fall for the trick, you need to check all incoming messages of similar content by calling the bank, or logging into the electronic payment system through a phone application or a website familiar to the user.
The so-called Nigerian letters. A person receives a letter stating that he can receive a large sum of money, and the pretexts can be very different. To receive funds, the recipient only needs to “pay minor expenses” for sending or transferring Money. If the user follows these directions and makes payment, the scammers disappear.
Viruses. Letters that arrive en masse on your phone or email may contain malware. The smallest harm they cause is a computer breakdown. It’s another matter if these viruses “hide” among files and gradually write down everything important information– personal data, logins, passwords, etc. And by creating a virus, he will subsequently be able to use this data for his own purposes.

What is flooding?

Note. There is another concept - flood. It involves sending messages of the same type that have large volumes. This is why users cannot always understand the difference between flood and spam.

We've covered the concept of spam, now let's understand what flooding is. It also has a second interpretation - it is an attack on the server by so-called botnets. Moreover, the flow of information and requests is so great that under its influence the server sooner or later stops working. Thus, flooding is much more dangerous than spam.

In a safer context, "flood" implies "nonsense", "nonsense". That is, if someone asks “not to bullshit” in response to another person’s comment, this could mean asking “not to bullshit.”

Now you fully know the meaning of the word spam and know how to recognize its varieties. But the situation should not be considered hopeless. There are several ways to help protect against such mailings, and now we will look at them in detail.

How to get rid of spam?

Many users, knowing what spam in mail means, are wondering how to avoid it. Experts give one helpful advice: you need to create 2 e-mail addresses. One of them must be used to save data, conduct business correspondence and perform other important operations. The second box can be used for subscriptions to different channels, sites, communities. These are the addresses that are most often attacked by spammers.

The second tip is to create an email account on reliably protected services - for example, on . There is a specially created folder where such notifications are moved.

What is antispam on the phone? This is a special application that blocks incoming messages from unwanted recipients. It can be downloaded and installed on mobile device, and then configure it as needed. As practice shows, this method of combating spam gives quite good results.

Spam is the mass sending of messages to users who have not consented to receive them. Carried out for the purpose of advertising certain products, disseminating information, stealing personal data, etc. This is intrusive advertising of something. In most cases, spam is presented in the form of sending emails, but in reality it is used wherever there is open access to the dissemination of information: social networks and media, forums, comments on websites, instant messengers, emails, SMS to the phone. Even in the offline space there is spam. For example, promotional brochures in your mailbox. People who send spam messages are called spammers. Spam advertising is one of the cheapest methods of online promotion, but not the most effective. Such mailing is perceived negatively by the audience, which prevents all companies from using it. Those who value their reputation and image do not use spam.

Where does the word "spam" come from?

The word “spam” first appeared in the 40s of the 20th century, in the post-war period. Initially, it meant the name of canned food included in the meat ration of soldiers. After the war, they had to be urgently sold before the expiration date expired and they spoiled. This led to the fact that advertising for this product was everywhere: on the streets, in newspapers, in transport. It was deliberately made aggressive, imposing on people the need to purchase these canned foods. It was this event that came to mind when this kind of advertising began to be actively used on the Internet. Aggressive and intrusive sending of advertising messages is appropriately called spam. Since then, the word “spam” has meant “mass sending of intrusive advertising.” The user did not ask, did not subscribe, but they send him letters in the contents of which he is not interested. At first (as soon as the Internet and email appeared), spam advertising on the Internet was more effective than it is now. People were not used to this, and advertising “blindness” did not yet exist. But it still remains one of the most inexpensive ways to reach the maximum audience, which allows it to remain afloat as one of the most popular ways to promote your services and products.

A spam attack is the sending of spam messages with increased concentration on certain sites or channels. For example, spammers have discovered that a certain forum has a high return rate. This information spread through spam circles, and the site was hit with a huge wave of messages with intrusive advertising. This event is called a spam attack. Spamming attacks are not always carried out due to the high impact of the site. Sometimes they happen due to someone’s malicious intent with the aim of harming the site and its owner. For example, they are carried out by unscrupulous competitors.

Types of spam

All spam can be classified according to several criteria.

By area of distribution:

online spam – distributed in the online space;

offline spam – distributed in the offline space.

By distribution method:

manual – messages are sent manually.

By degree of danger:

Most popular sites and electronic mailboxes have sufficient protection against dangerous spam. They use spam filters. Messages that can cause real harm are blocked automatically. The most dangerous of them are deleted permanently, less dangerous or simply dubious ones are placed in the Spam folder. Often, the system mistakenly places messages in the Spam folder that do not cause any harm to the user, for example, a letter confirming registration on a website. For the system, these are unfamiliar sources, therefore, it does not trust them. Therefore, regularly check your Spam folder and remove the necessary messages from there.

Safe

commercial advertising. Includes sending messages advertising various types of goods, services, websites, etc. As mentioned earlier, spam mailing is one of the most inexpensive ways to promote on the Internet. Hence, it is in demand among online entrepreneurs. They simply chose spam as one of their promotion channels;

advertising that is prohibited by law. Russian legislation contains a list of goods and services that are prohibited from advertising. Most popular channels ( search engines, social networks) adhere to these requirements, and sometimes add their own. This causes certain difficulties for advertisers. Electronic mailing does not have such restrictions, which allows advertisers to freely advertise any products and in any form;

manipulation of public opinion. Spam is often used as a tool to influence the public opinion of the audience. These are not only political motives, but also commercial ones. For example, someone decided to send out compromising material about a competitor or send out mailings on someone else’s behalf with the aim of receiving a negative reaction in return. Such mailings do not harm users, but can cause certain sentiments in society;

mailing with a request to forward the message. A particularly popular type of spam on social networks. As a rule, it does not carry any meaning and does not pursue any goals. These are messages in the spirit of “Forward this letter to 20 friends and next year you will find the love of your life.” Oddly enough, there are people who continue to do this. Rarely may contain hidden advertising.

Dangerous (malicious)

This type of spam can cause real harm to users - steal their personal data (logins, passwords), gain access to electronic wallets, infect the computer with viruses, etc. Most often, the contents of such letters include links or attachments. Do not click on them or download them under any circumstances. Types of dangerous spam:

Places of distribution

Where can you find spam?

Email is the most common place for spam messages. Letters are not moderated before being sent, therefore their content is not limited in any way. As a rule, spam filters are used after sending.

Forums – those sites where there is no moderation are very popular among spammers, as this allows you to freely publish any information. Forums where all messages are verified are not used at all or are used to publish hidden advertising.

Comments on sites - similar to forums, those sites where there is no moderation are increasingly popular among spammers.

Social networks are for Lately The number of spam messages on social networks has only increased. Personal messages and comments are the most popular tool dissemination of information. Spam on social networks is characterized by greater “friendliness”. Senders, as a rule, do not just send you an advertising message, but try to enter into a dialogue and get to know each other. Of course, such an unexpected desire to communicate is caused only by commercial purposes - to sell a product or service.

Messengers – in recent years, with the growing popularity of instant messengers (Viber, Telegram, WhatsApp), the number of spam messages in them has also increased.

SMS – probably everyone has received an SMS with advertising from unknown numbers on their phone. This is spam.

How spammers find mailing addresses

One of the most popular questions is “How do spammers know my address or phone number?” Find user contacts is not big problem. You can get them in several ways.

Based on the above, the conclusion suggests itself: do not leave your contact information anywhere. Create several email addresses - one for important correspondence and important services, the other for everything else. If spam catches up with you, then let it be in the second mailbox.

How to disable spam

In some cases, it is easy to disable spam - just click the “Unsubscribe” button in the letter. The method works if you yourself once subscribed to the source. Sometimes a subscription is issued automatically after registering on the site.

But be careful. Sometimes spammers design links as an “Unsubscribe” button. Of course, after clicking, no unsubscribe will occur. You will simply be transferred to the promoted resource. If the source seems unfamiliar to you, it is better to use the following method and block it to get rid of annoying letters. In most email services, as well as in social networks, you can block addresses and users from whom unwanted emails come. How to block spam (using Gmail as an example):

Ready! After these steps, the selected address will not be able to send you letters. Now he is blacklisted. Similar actions can be performed on social networks.

Anti-spam methods

To avoid having to block each spammer manually (after all, there can be hundreds of sources), just follow simple tips and anti-spam recommendations.

Do not publish your address and contacts in public or dubious places.

Create a second mailbox for unimportant messages and use it.

Do not download files as attachments.

Use only popular email services (they have the maximum level of protection against spam).

Create a more complex mailing address. The lighter the address, the easier it is for spam programs to generate it.

The most secure mailboxes

In terms of protection from spam mailings, the safest mailboxes are considered:

Google mail (gmail);

Yandex mail;

Mail.ru-mail.

It is important to understand that no service will provide 100% protection. Promotional emails will always pop through. After all, spam methods are improving every year, becoming more sophisticated and secretive; spammers are constantly finding new ways to bypass filters. But the services described above are capable of minimizing the number of unwanted messages.