ConfigServer Security and Firewall. Providing Better Security For Your Website
Most spam messages are commercial in nature and are not only annoying, but also can be dangerous. They may contain links that lead to phishing websites or sites that are hosting malware, or include malware as files attachments.
Unfortunately, the problem with spam is here to stay. And the volume of this questionable practice seems to be increasing at an exponential rate.
RSH Web Services receives numerous emails about this issue. The short answer is that there is not a 100% foolproof solution, But implementing some steps listed below can help reduce the amount tremendously.
Spam email, often dubbed the digital equivalent of junk mail, is like an unwelcome guest who repeatedly shows up at your inbox party without an invitation. It clutters your digital space with irrelevant advertisements, dubious offers, and sometimes even malicious content disguised as legitimate communication. Imagine your inbox as a pristine garden; spam is the persistent weed that threatens to overrun it with unwanted growth. Understanding spam email is crucial for maintaining the health of your digital landscape. It’s not just about recognizing the glaringly obvious promotions or the outlandish schemes; it’s about grasping how these emails worm their way into your life, often through seemingly harmless interactions. By becoming adept at identifying the subtle nuances of spam, such as suspicious sender addresses, unsolicited attachments, or overly enticing subject lines, you can safeguard your inbox and ensure that only meaningful, desired messages make it through.
Spam email isn't just a minor inconvenience; it can have significant negative impacts:
Addressing spam proactively is essential to maintaining a secure and efficient email environment.
The easiest way that Spammers find your e-mail address is through the use of spambots, or spiders, that search the web looking for the @ sign. These spiders search the source code of your page and harvest everything that looks like it might be an e-mail address. One way to avoid having your email address found by these Spiders is not to show your address at all.
Try making an image of your email address for people to see, but spiders will not be able to harvest the address.
Or what RSH Web Services uses on our Contact Us page is with HTML Characters.
These look like  " or
So for our "AT" sign or @ you would use @
As you can see, there is no "@" Symbol for the Spiders to find
You can take it farther by changing the ending extension of .com to . c o m
Or even further and make your whole email address into HTML Characters
See the following website for complete listings: W3C Public CVS Repository
Phishing scams are the digital equivalent of a bait-and-switch, luring you in with seemingly legitimate offers that are, in reality, nothing more than traps designed to steal your personal information. Imagine receiving an email that looks like it’s from your bank, asking you to click a link to verify your account details. The link leads to a counterfeit site that mirrors your bank’s official page, but is actually a cleverly disguised fishing hole. To outsmart these nefarious schemes, it’s essential to arm yourself with knowledge. Educate yourself on the telltale signs of phishing emails, suspicious links, urgent language, and unexpected attachments, and always verify the sender’s identity through trusted channels before taking any action. By honing your phishing detection skills, you can transform from a target into a savvy defender, protecting your personal information and significantly reducing the likelihood of falling prey to spam.
Unsubscribing from unwanted newsletters is like reclaiming your inbox from the clutches of digital clutter. Picture your email as a serene, sunlit library where every book is something you genuinely want to read. Unwanted newsletters, however, are akin to stacks of outdated magazines cluttering the shelves, taking up valuable space and obscuring the treasures you truly seek. With just a click of the “unsubscribe” link, you’re liberating your inbox from these persistent intruders, creating a more organized and peaceful space for emails that matter. It’s a small yet powerful act of digital decluttering, restoring balance and ensuring that your inbox becomes a haven of meaningful communication rather than a chaotic repository of irrelevant content.
If you specifically recognize that you voluntarily subscribed to the list then yes, unsubscribe. But Spammers often use a bogus “Unsubscribe Website” to verify that your e-mail address is a good and working email account. Following "Unsubscribe" instructions will most likely result in your address being added to even bigger spam lists.
Almost every chain letter and or virus warning that you receive are either hoaxes, or they are initiated by spammers for the intent of collecting every email address they can. Chain letters spread like wildfire and always tend to end up right back at the spammers with the email address of everyone it was sent to. Before you take any action regarding an unsolicited virus warning, check the validity of the warning at Symantec.com Security Center. We have never received a virus warning by email that did not turn out to be a hoax.
Another popular way of harvesting email addresses is through your own correspondence. Every time you purchase something online or email a company or organization, your email address is available for mailing lists. Do not put too much faith in the privacy statements of websites that you do not have experience with. Spammers make their living by theft and deception. They are certainly not beyond providing false information in their privacy statements.
First, create a new POP user just for the purpose of collecting spam. We named one of ours meandyou556@gmail.com, but you can call yours anything you want. You are never going to use it for anything but collecting spam. Now take a look at the spam you just received and notice the address it is being sent to. In many cases, spammers grab your domain name, and just make up addresses to attach to it. When you notice spam, addressed to an e-mail address that you do not need for regular business or personal use. Create an e-mail forward that redirects mail sent to that address to the spam-catching account, you can create in the preceding step.
Whenever you order a product or service online, create a unique e-mail forward for the company you are ordering from. For example, if you are ordering a CD from amazon.com, use amazon@yourdomainname.com when you register with them. (don’t forget to replace yourdomainname.com with your actual domain name; and don’t forget to create an e-mail forward to deliver mail to a valid POP account).
This approach provides two benefits:
It allows you to redirect that address to your spam-catcher if you start receiving spam
It will let you know who is selling your personal information to spammers. You can then decide whether those companies are deserving of your trust and future business.
PHP Mailer and CGIEmail are powerful yet easy to use mail form processor can be installed to all Websites. In addition to thwarting the spambots, you can use a PHPMailer form that allows you to require or "Verify" certain information from your correspondents. Stopping Spammers from collecting your email address and stopping the dreaded Spam Bots. Without using Googles CAPTCHA.
Spammers often harvest addresses from the Domain Name WHOIS system, grabbing your administrative, billing, and technical contact email addresses to add to their lists. We suggest to always use "Private Domain Registration"
(Domain Whois does not cost Domain Registrar anything. Why do they still charge for this service?).
Most hosting accounts include free SpamAssassin spam-filtering software, which can be configured through a web interface such as cPanel.
How to Set Up a Spam Filter:
By utilizing a spam filter, you can significantly reduce the volume of unwanted emails in your inbox.
Several services are now available that will filter your e-mail for you (most for a fee). They allow you to set up a “whitelist” of all addresses that you want delivered automatically. Senders that do not appear on your “whitelist” are sent an automatic response informing them that they have to log in at the Service's website and “prove” that they’re a human and not a spambot. If the sender complies, the mail is delivered. And you then have the opportunity to add the sender to a blacklist if you no longer want to receive mail from that sender. These services are very effective at blocking spam. The downside is that it does result in some inconvenience to your correspondents. The most popular spam-filtering service is: Spamassassin.apache.org.
Spammers often send their spam to random addresses at your domain. With a Catch-All aliasing enabled, all of this spam is delivered to your default catch-all account. A Catch-All is when you have "Anything" or ALL names addressed to your Domain going into your in box
Some people like this feature because they can use email addresses such as "admin", "webmaster", "owner", "director", " john", "mary". Basically anything in front of the "AT" sign will be delivered. This sounds convent, but Spammers love this too
RSH Web Services only uses "rshweb", any other username or "Catch All" sent to rshweb.com will not be delivered. If you disable the catch-all feature, spam addressed to random, non-active e-mail addresses will simply be deleted before it reaches your account. If you do choose to disable catch-all forwarding, be sure that you have created an e-mail user account or e-mail forward for all the addresses that you do want to receive incoming e-mail.
Utilizing email filters and rules is like enlisting a personal assistant for your inbox, meticulously sorting through the chaos to ensure that only the most relevant messages reach you. Imagine your inbox as a bustling city, and email filters as your trusted traffic signals, guiding the flow of information and preventing traffic jams caused by spam. By setting up filters and rules, you’re creating a streamlined, efficient pathway that directs emails into specific folders based on criteria you set, whether it’s by sender, subject, or keywords. This smart organization transforms your inbox into a well-oiled machine, where important messages are prioritized and spam is neatly rerouted to the digital equivalent of a holding area. With these tools at your disposal, you gain control over the flood of emails, ensuring that your virtual workspace remains uncluttered and focused on what truly matters.
RSH Web Services has its own blacklist that maintains the Spammers IP Addresses. In this way, repeated Spammers cannot send us or any of our clients spam emails. If you receive 5 or more spam emails, let us know the IP numbers, and we will add it to our Blacklist.
To find the senders IP address in an email, you can refer to the following website by Komando.com.
Reducing or stopping spam junk email requires a combination of proactive measures and effective tools. By implementing the steps outlined in this guide, using spam filters, unsubscribing from unwanted newsletters, employing email aliases, being cautious with your email address, using email rules and filters, reporting spam, and regularly cleaning your inbox, you can regain control over your email and reduce the impact of spam.
A guest blogger hailing from Switzerland, dedicated to assisting local companies in expanding their reach from regional to national and international levels. With a proven track record in...
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