Spam is a huge problem for anyone using the Internet these days. We are dedicated to being a responsible Internet Service Provider in this regard. To fully understand spam you have to address the following issues:

• What is SPAM?
• Why is there so much SPAM?
• How do spammers get your email address?
• What is the solution to SPAM?
• What must I do when SPAM is received?
• Secure your email account.

What is SPAM?

It is important to define what spam is before you can begin to tackle the problem. Very often email messages are mistaken for spam, and spammers get the blame whether they had anything to do with it or not. Some examples are email hoaxes forwarded by friends or relatives, Trojan emails sent from an infected PC and newsletter based emails. Just as it's important for the fire department to screen false alarms, it's important to seek a definition of spam in order to properly scope the problem.

The word "Spam" as applied to email means Unsolicited Bulk Email ("UBE"):

• Unsolicited means that the recipient has not granted explicit, verifiable and revocable permission for the message to be sent
• Bulk means that the message is sent as part of a larger collection of messages, all having substantively identical content

It is important to note that a message is only spam if it is both Unsolicited and Bulk. Therefore this criteria needs to be taken into account before an email address can be blacklisted.

The current flood of spam into all of our inboxes grows more frustrating everyday. Spam is such a small word but causes such huge problems for both business and home users. Whether you call it spam, junk mail, unsolicited commercial email (UCE) or unsolicited bulk email (UBE) the end result is the same, an inbox full of useless junk.

Why is there so much SPAM?

Spam exists because Internet users support it by purchasing goods from junk mailers, clicking on the link they send you and providing your email address on online forms, in forums and in newsgroups. Spam exists because it is a highly profitable business for those sending out the junk email.

The more action taken against spammers by deleting, blocking and/or blacklisting them the less spam you will receive. The war on spam will only be won by continuous action against spammers.

How do spammers get your email address?

There are many tools available to the spam merchant. The main ones are email extractors, newsgroup harvesters and CD lists.

1. Purchase a CD of email addresses
   Spammers can buy 90 million email addresses on a single CD for about $20. They simply "load" these e-mail addresses into their bulk mail program and hit Send. A lot of the addresses on these CDs would be junk (many would no longer exist) but an equally large number of these addresses would be valid. A CD like this is a junk mailers dream.


2. From a Website
   They set up a website designed to "grab" your email address if you happen to surf to their webpage. All that's required for this to work perfectly for the junk mail merchant is a very small amount of JavaScript. You'll receive no warning when this happens. In the real world you would not visit a certain part of town for safety reasons. Likewise ensure that you visit trusted websites and do not provide you email address to just anyone.


3. Email Harvester Programs
   Email harvesters are specialized programs commonly referred to as bots, which wander around the Internet gathering email addresses from websites and online forums (unprotected forums). Later, a separate program tests the emails for validity to see if they are active. A harvester bot can gather 15 000 email addresses per hour.


4. Online Forums
   Spammers prowl online forums manually gathering email addresses. Paid membership forums are the main targets. Customers who can afford $20 a month to use an online forum are a prime target for their next spam campaign. Money follows money as it were.


5. Newsgroups
   Newsgroup harvesters are programs, which search through newsgroups for valid email addresses. A newsgroup harvester application can gather 20 000 – 30 000 email addresses from newsgroups simultaneously. They can potentially gather hundreds of thousands of e-mail addresses a very short period of time using this method.


6. Hoax Websites
   Spammers setup a hoax competition or similar website. The only condition for entering the draw/lotto is entering your email address. Once you enter your email address you are on yet another spam list.


7. Dictionary Attacks
   A "dictionary" program is used. It generates random email addresses using peoples first and last names and combined with other guesswork attempts to create a list of valid email addresses. This is time consuming and mostly by trial and error but renders a large scale of success.

Once a spammer has your email address they will then gather all the required data for their next mail shot with you as one of the target customers.

What is the solution to SPAM?

There are various levels of defense against spam.

1. Keep your email address safe.
   The first and most important is to keep your email address as safe as possible by not providing your email address to anyone, especially untrusted websites.


2. Get a spam blocking facility enabled by your ISP.
   Spam filtering is a specialized service, which should be done by a dedicated team of professionals. To this end Lando has some of the best spam filters available deployed on our email servers. A free antivirus and antispam service is enabled on all email accounts that should filter most of your spam, however a premium scanning service for both viruses and spam is also available at R15 p/m per mailbox.

The premium service is actively managed by a dedicated team of professionals that analyse trends and adjust filters and content analysers accordingly, to ensure that as much spam as possible is blocked. The premium virus and spam service is also highly customisable to ensure that you receive all your important emails, but still block as much spam as possible.

What must I do if spam is received?

Before any email is reported as spam, it must be evaluated following the criteria above to determine whether the message is spam. All spam must be reported to ensure it is blocked and will not be received by anyone on the Lando network. The following methods can be used for handling spam:

1. Forward any spam message received to abuse@landonet.net with the Subject line: Spam Report. This will be logged with the appropriate authorities to block that email account from sending any further mail. Any other complaints regarding Illegal Use, System or Network Security issues or e-mail abuse or USENET abuse can also be reported here.


2. Click on "Report as Spam" when using Webmail while you are on the spam email. Thereafter the spam message can be deleted from Webmail.


3. Adjust the spam setting of your email account accordingly. Contact Lando if you require assistance.

Secure your email account

An email account is the property of the owner of that email account. However there needs to be sufficient security measures in place to ensure that your email account is not abused for spam related activities. The primary security in place is to ensure that a strongly typed password is enforced i.e. not "password" but rather an alphanumeric password such as "p@s3w8rd", thus making it very difficult for unauthorised access your account.