What is Spam?
Spam—also known as Unsolicited Commercial E-mail (UCE) or junk e-mail—is an e-mail message sent to a large number of people without consent. It is usually sent to promote a product or service. Spam is also found in newsgroups, where people post identical and irrelevant messages to many different newsgroups that have nothing to do with the content of the posting. Some newsgroup users distinguish spam from Velveeta (which is to cross-post to an excessive number of newsgroups), and consider spam to be worse because posting messages separately drains more disk space and network bandwidth.
What can I do about spam?
Below is a list of some general recommendations that can help reduce spam:
1) Never send an e-mail (or reply to an e-mail) requesting that you be removed from their mailing list, unless you are familiar with the company. Some individuals and companies use this reply as a method of verifying that the e-mail is valid and using this information to subscribe you to other mailing lists. If you do not know the individual or company simply delete the e-mail.
2) When filling out any kind of form on the Internet, watch carefully for any type of check box that by default may be checked for you to receive a newsletter or give permission to share your e-mail with a third party.
3) When signing up for any e-mail list, see if the company has any type of spam or e-mail sharing disclaimer.
4) Be careful who you send e-mails to. Sites that require you to sign up or request an e-mail for free products, free services, or contests commonly share your e-mail as a method of generating revenue.
5) Don't send or recommend a friend or family e-mail address unless you are familiar with the service.
6) Never forward an e-mail that claims it is capable of tracking how many times it has been sent or will help generate revenue for a certain cause. These e-mails are commonly referred to as chain mail and are often false. They help individuals get additional e-mail addresses for spam.
The following are recommended web pages that will provide you with background information on spam email, the issues surrounding it and what to do about it.
www.abuse.net (Network Abuse Clearinghouse) www.mail-abuse.org (Mail Abuse Prevention System)
If you receive Spam, you should forward the mail in its entirety to: spamblock@security.rr.com
Do you have any non-English links about Spam?
Italian: http://www.maxkava.com/spam.htm
French: http://www.usenet-fr.net/fur/usenet/abus/reagir-conseils.html
French: http://www.arobase.org/spam/index.htm
French: http://www.prism.uvsq.fr/~pda/kit-jussieu/anti-spam/anti-spam.html
Chinese: http://www.ofta.gov.hk/chinese/junk-email/chi_page1.htm
Taiwanese: http://spam.gsnmm.gov.tw/
Belgian: http://allserv.rug.ac.be/helpdesk/software/spam.html
Spanish: http://www.rnp.br/newsgen/0101/spam.shtml
German: http://spam.trash.net/
Esperanto: http://www.esperanto.net/veb/spam-faq.html
Polish: http://arch.ipsec.pl/art/spam-faq.html
Portuguese: http://diginetbr.tripod.com/internet/e_spam.htm
Danish: https://www.cert.dk/sikkerhed/spam.shtml
NOTE: Your computer may be spamming without your knowledge via Open Relay/Open Proxy.
What is an Open Relay?
Open Relay - an SMTP server that is configured to allow anyone on the Internet to relay email through it. (SMTP servers handle Internet e-mail and communicate with each other using a protocol.)
Spammers, or those who send unsolicited bulk advertising, learned long ago that they could abuse the resources of other people to send out their spam faster and safer than if they used their own servers. Spammers typically use a slow modem connection to the Internet, known as a throwaway account, because it is low cost and the spammer knows it will be terminated very quickly. They use this account to send their spam very quickly to Open Relays around the world. These Open Relays then do the hard work of relaying the spam onto the various recipients of the message. This is not the only mechanism spammers use to send out large amounts of spam, but it is still very popular.
The people who own the Open Relays get accused of assisting the spammers. Their mail servers, which they may rely on for their own important communications, get bogged down sending the freeloader's e-mail. Many sites block all e-mail from known Open Relays, which means legitimate mail flowing through these servers will end up being blocked by remote sites trying to protect themselves from the flow of spam.
Spammers scan the Internet for Open Relays. They also share information about Open Relays with each other. If someone is running an Open Relay, it will eventually be discovered, and it will then be abused until fixed.
Finally, if the owner of an Open Relay is billed for their traffic, they may end up paying a considerable financial penalty for inadvertently forwarding mail for spammers.
How to fix Open Relays:
http://www.mail-abuse.com/an_sec3rdparty.html
What is an Open Proxy?
Open Proxy - an "open" or insecure proxy server that can directly connect your PC to another's computer.
An Open Proxy enables the abuser to use your internet connection. Therefore, you may not know who is in control of your computer. With sufficient knowledge, they may be able to use your computer for whatever purposes they want.
Many times abusers will use an open proxy to spam or for various other purposes. Not only is this a problem on our network, but your open proxy server unwittingly assists in this abuse. This means that if they are able to appear on the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) or any other service that you can use through the internet, they will be able to do so through your proxy using your connection. If they cause abuse, your Internet Service Provider (ISP) may be contacted and you may get in trouble for the abuse they caused. This situation should be taken seriously, so it is extremely important to secure your open proxy.
The method to secure an open proxy varies based on the software that you are using. In general, you must configure your proxy server to only allow connections from your local area network IP addresses. You must then be sure that the proxy denies requests from all but the preceding addresses.
The methods of configuring your proxy obviously vary based on the proxy software that you are using. We are unable to provide support for how to configure your proxy. Some common proxy links are listed below. Please refer to your proxy's documentation for more information.
WinProxy
Microsoft Proxy Server
Comsocks
