As the internet expands its horizons and getting the world to shrink inversely to its proportion, the other side of the coin has been defaced. The buzzword, SPAM has struck. This very agency, the SPAM has started to be a global phenomenon by the amount of effect that it has on the range of people using the internet from a novice user to a professional or power user. The SPAM has been a cause of concern for every internet user and organization. Also, the impact of spam on the computer industry in its advanced stages which also includes the spreading of viruses through it has spelled disaster on the IT industry numerous of times.
The Spam is basically the flooding of the Internet with multiple copies of a same piece of a message or a file with the intent of accomplishing a cheap way of commercial advertising which is often about products that are of dubious existence or are illegal to sell or the products that one would never care to look at if given a chance. The spam is a emitted by very sophisticated softwares and worms which scans the vulnerable computers and users over the internet and emites their way through them. Their is a very huge variety of spam blockers that are available off the internet which promises for a user to stay protected from SPAM but neither of them is so effective that keeps pace in sync with the propulsion of new spam which ranges from several thousands a day.
The spam that delivers virus to an email address is usually consisted in a piece of an executable file which might probably look like a funny game or a prank software at first but holds a lethal virus in itself. The virus file actually binds within itself a software that can put all the data on a hard drive exposed to an agency and putting the privacy of the user on a big risk. The virus file usually has an inbuilt mail server built into it which helps the creator of the virus to control the computer of the victim and also use it as a proxy to emit the virus furthermore into the internet through your email. Also if an internet user supposedly visits the ad-ridden websites, its very likely that he/she might click on the advertisements such as pop ups and ad banners which will lead them a step closer to the virii infection.
The business of spam has become very smart in terms of the techniques used to spread it. One technique of spreading SPAM is by configuring the software to send the spam across the random email IDs and when the email loads on the computer of the holder of an ID that was randomly generated by the software, the creator of the spam gets to know the IP address of the person that opened the email and thereby scanning that IP address for any vulnerable entry paths and thereby accomplishing the task of intrusion. This trick of spamming can also promote the use of target advertising by fetching all the private data such as interests, the websites visited, the pages opened or the transactions done on a computer and then sending out the emails to the victim’s ID that would appeal him and thereby luring him into a potential scam.
To combat spam, one must be aware of its workings. Also, for a novice user, if he/she is not very into the technological aspects of the computers, should install an anti-spam software and also should not click on the emails that come from the unknown sources. Only an awaken user can avoid spam and keep him/her secure from losing the data which to some is more important than their lives.