Since the dawn of the internet, a force as unstoppable as a roach in a nuclear blast has plagued our computers. I am referring to spam; no, not the canned meat product, although some may find them equally unappealing.
Spam in the computer world is the name assigned to junk e-mail. We all get them. We all need some kind of email protection. Flashy e-mails promising weight loss, lower interest rates, increased sexual potency, and etc.; all available to you with a click of your mouse. They invade your inbox, slowing your system and causing your legitimate messages to get lost in the shuffle.
KnujOn, a technological equivalent to a can of Raid, is an anti spam organization which identifies domains which are responsible for high amounts of spam and other malevolent internet activities. A report generated by KnujOn in May of 2008 called out 20 organizations that supply domain names which are responsible for 90% of spam in circulation. Another list was released by KnujOn this month, and only two of the top ten spam contenders remained from the previous list. The remaining had either gone defunct or decided to straighten up their act. But, the new list has a fresh group of offenders, some with an even higher concentration of spam generating percentages.
A San Jose, California company by the name of McColo, which had been identified as the starting place for a large volume of spam, was shutdown in November. While spam production did show a marked decrease that month, it did not take long for the numbers to climb just as high as before.
Security software giant Symantec has stated that since the shutdown of McColo spam volumes have continued to rise. They also went on to state that as long as spammers are making money on their e-mails, those volumes will not decrease anytime soon.
What this means is that as long as there is someone to click on the offer, the spam will continue. If internet users continue to fall for the false promises and flashy gimmicks of spam e-mails, there really is no end in sight.
Unfortunately, the failing economy is a driving force behind spam production. In all reality, each spam message offers a miniscule profit, so the producers of spam are driven to mass produce even more spam to make a decent paycheck. Also, regular people who are suffering financially may be a little quicker to let their guard down and more willingly accept a bogus offer of financial help.
The bottom line is we have the power to reduce spam. By using your judgment and weighing the legitimacy in the email offers you receive, you can help reduce spam levels in circulation. |
