How to avoid spam - updated January 2008

Spam is a reality, the question is not will you get spam but how much? Follow our step by step FAQ guide to keeping the quantity of incoming spam to a minimum.

What is spam?

Spam is unsolicited bulk email. Sometimes malicious, often sales focused and often sent in ignorance of the law rather than in defiance of it. Make sure you are not inadvertently spamming by checking The website of the Data Protection Commissioner or visiting our Email Marketing page and signing up for a Constant Contact trial and tutorial

The worst thing you can do with incoming spam is confirm to the sender that you exist and that the address is a real one with a person at the end of it! If you do your spam will rapidly multiply.

Should I install a spam filter?

By all means but you may not need to if you follow a few simple rules. If you do install a spam filter make sure that you regularly check the mail that has been filtered and follow the directions to 'train' your filter to recognise spam. Its wonderful suddenly to get none, but not so good if you lose important emails wrongly labelled as spam.

So what steps do I need to take to protect myself from spam with or without a filter?

• NEVER open an email that you suspect is spam, at best you just advertise that your email address is real, at worst you could find yourself with more than you bargain for in the shape of a virus. Just delete them unread and make it OK for your team to do this too, even if the odd mail is deleted in error
• Turn off the preview pane in your email programme, this can 'open' the mail and give rise to the above
• Never use an auto responder when you are out of the office - that just confirms your reality by responding to any spam coming in
• Disable receipt, delete or open confirmation request response mechanisms in your mail programme, many spammers request receipts or notification of deletion
• Be very careful about signing up for newsletters, free software downloads etc. Check that the site has a valid privacy policy and is owned by a reputable organisation. If in doubt have a free email account from Google, Hotmail or similar that you use for subscription rather than risking your own
• Do not allow your email address to be published on sites without protection against 'scrapers' that harvest emails. Simple encryption processes like those used on all SitesToGo websites can prevent this happening. Lobby essential directories to implement this technology
• Use this simple email encoder to enter encrypted email addresses into your SitesToGo pages (the footer email is automatically encoded this way)
• Avoid using general Internet Service Providers (ISP) email addresses such as yourname@eircom.net. Research in late 2007 put BT among the worst offenders. Instead use an email address at your own domain.
• Do not use 'catch all email boxes' where any prefix at your domain is delivered to the mailbox

So what do I do if I open a spam email by mistake?

NEVER reply to a spam email or request that they take you off their mailing list. Just delete it and prepare yourself to be extra vigilant for increased spam in the future

Should I report spam?

To report spam you need to identify elements of the mail that may result in you identifying yourself to the sender. And reporting spam to major facilitators like Eircom is just futile and frustrating. We tested their response and never got one! Its up to you but there are better things to do with your time!

Want to find out more, make a report? www.spamhaus.org/ is worth exploring!
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