The Anti-Abuse Project

What is Spam?

Posted on 29. Jan, 2007 by admin.

Spamming is the abuse of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages, which are generally undesired. While the most widely recognized form of spam is email spam, the term is applied to similar abuses in other media: instant messaging spam, Usenet newsgroup spam, Web search engine spam, spam in blogs, mobile phone messaging spam, internet forum spam and junk fax transmissions. (more…)

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Email “Spamming” and Email “Spoofing”

Posted on 20. Dec, 2006 by admin.

Within these days of massive communication via e-mail, it comes to be quite important for anyone to be familiar with the following two terms: email “spamming” and email “spoofing”.

• Email spamming refers to sending email to thousands and thousands of users – similar to a chain letter. Spamming is often done deliberately to use network resources. Email spamming may be combined with email spoofing, so that it is very difficult to determine the actual originating email address of the sender. Some email systems, including our Microsoft Exchange, have the ability to block incoming mail from a specific address. However, because these individuals change their email addresses frequently, it is difficult to prevent some spam from reaching your email inbox.
• Email spoofing refers to email that appears to have originated from one source when it was actually sent from another source. Individuals, who are sending “junk” email or “spam”, typically want the email to appear to be from an email address that may not exist. This way the email cannot be traced back to the originator. (more…)

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Phishing: General Information

Posted on 12. Nov, 2006 by admin.

In computing, phishing is a criminal activity using social engineering techniques. Phishers attempt to fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. (more…)

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