Horrible that the processed canned meat is, it has not caused 15 years of internet misery. How can businesses and individuals safeguard against the threat?

It’s been 30 years since the first unsolicited bulk email was sent in the US and 15 years since it was first labelled Spam.

Spamhaus, the anti-spam organisation has been quoted that more than 90% of all e-mail is spam.

The billions of spam e-mails sent each day creates havoc to mail servers, slows down networks, infecting PCs with viruses which in turn help to hijack machines to send more spam campaigns.

So why do "spammers" disease us with their activities and what can businesses do to safeguard systems?

There are various reasons why people would send unsolicited bulk mail, none of them constructive or useful.

Questionable Products

Almost all of us have received emails selling Viagra or some other dubious products.

These are equivalent to the dodgy salesmen who sell their wares from the back of an unmarked van or the chap who knocks on your car window and asks if you’d like a £1000 laptop for 200 quid.

Fraudsters

How many of us have received emails notifying us that we have won the Spanish Lotto or been contacted by the Chief Executive of a Nigerian bank offering a business partnership worth millions of dollars. All you have to do is transfer some money.

In hindsight, some of these badly written emails seem ludicrous but these are real people committing fraud. They are not only an internet nuisance but are swindling many unsuspecting victims.

A site that fights back is 419 Eaters. "Don't fall for common scams like this - fight them!" is one of their slogans. Their goal is to expose those who prey on the innocent.

"Monty Python's Dead Parrot sketch, scammer style!"

For more videos like this, visit: http://www.419eater.com

Hackers

Unlike some of the fraudsters out there, these people send viruses via email either to steal information or to feed their narcissistic, malicious natures.

Fight Back

As you can tell from this article - we’re not fans of spam. It causes misery to many people and businesses.

At best it wastes time and resources; at worst it has real negative impact on business and social communities.

Implementing the right spam filter will go a long way. For one of our clients, a particularly bad day of spam saw them receive 19232 emails of which 18580 were quarantined as spam or virus ridden. Fortunately, we had implemented an effective spam filtering system that stops malicious emails before reaching their mail server. Without these filters it would be safe to say that their email servers would be consistently overloaded and somebody would get RSI from having to delete the junk.

Ignoring and deleting these emails is a sure way of staying safe but it does not take away the problem. Speak to an expert who can advise on how to implement a strategy to prevent Spam from crippling your organisation.

If you or anyone you know is suffering from Spam or other Technology related ailments - contact us on 0800 047 0390 or alternatively email