Indiana’s a Top Spam Target

By Hromadka, Erik

INDIANA EMAIL BOXES are among the top 10 destinations for spam, according to a recent report from MessageLabs, a British-based Internet security company that scans some three billion email connections per day.

The Hoosier state ranked #7 for “unsolicited commercial email” with 87.6 percent of all messages falling into that category. While neighboring Illinois ranked #1 in the study, the problem of junk emails cluttering computers is a widespread problem across the entire country and MessageLabs estimates that more than 80 percent of all emails are considered spam.

Why it’s called spam

Use of the term “spam” to refer to unwanted email has been traced to a 1970 Monty Python skit in which the British comedy featured a couple trying to order breakfast at a restaurant that includes the Hormel Foods SPAM meat product in every dish. During the skit (available on YouTube), the word is mentioned repeatedly and a group of Vikings break out into a chorus of “spam, spam, spam…” nearly drowning out all other conversation.

It’s easy to find out what’s in the more than six billion cans of that pork product that have been sold worldwide since SPAM was invented by Jay Hormel in 1937. “SPAM(R) Classic is made of just a few simple ingredients. Ham, pork, sugar, salt, water, a little potato starch, and a mere hint of sodium nitrite to help SPAM(R) keep its color,” explains the company’s web site, which notes that the company distinguishes its trademark by using all capital letters.

However, it’s harder to define the slang term of “spam” email, which includes billions of messages touting cheap drugs, hot stocks and unclaimed fortunes in foreign lands. While those are commercial messages sent in bulk, many people also lump other unwanted emails into the spam category. For example, daily jokes from an old friend who still forwards such messages some 10 years after first figuring out email… or large attachments such as music or video clips from others who just figured out how to send those and clog up the Inbox.

“The varying spam levels across states can be attributed to different socioeconomic factors and levels of security awareness in each state,” says Matt Sergeant, Senior Anti-Spam Technologist at Message-Labs. “The states that are experiencing higher spam levels may not place as high a priority on IT security overall or employees and businesses may be more willing to share their personal contact information in public domains. When email addresses are openly available, spammers take advantage of it and inundate those inboxes with massive amounts of spam.”

The federal government attempted to help the problem, with its CAN-SPAM (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing. Act) law, which took effect in 2004 and has penalties of up to $11,000 for each violation. The law:

* Bans false or misleading header information, such as false sender information,

* Prohibits deceptive subject lines that mislead the recipient about the contents or subject matter of the message,

* Requires that email give recipients an opt-out method, and

* Requires that commercial email be identified as an advertisement and include the sender’s valid physical postal address.

More information about the law is available at www.ftc.gov/spam.

Dealing with spam

While the federal action reduced some of the worst commercial spammers, Ron Brumbarger, president and CEO of BitWise Solutions in Carmel says managing the growing volume of unwanted email continues to be a problem with no end in sight.

Brumbarger suggests sorting and separating email as much as possible before reading it. His company utilizes layers of spam filters that screen all incoming messages aggressively at the mail server and then again at the users computer But he notes that users can also make a difference.

“A lot of people have a business account and a personal account and often they get commingled, which can lead to chaos,” he says. For example, a key way to keep them separated is not to send personal emails from a work account and vice versa.

In addition, Brumbarger suggests using different business email accounts for different purposes. For example, one account can handle urgent staff matters, another can be used to communicate with clients and a third can receive industry newsletters and other regular email subscriptions.

Using separate accounts makes it easier to prioritize emails and helps to identify where spam is coming from, Brumbarger explains. And it also provides a nice way to catch up on those email jokes “when you get the time.”

Copyright Curtis Magazine Group, Inc. Sep 2008

(c) 2008 Indiana Business Magazine. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.