How To Avoid Spam Robots

Written by Jim Edwards


Despiterepparttar fact that Federal legislation (the CANSPAM act) made it illegal, harvesting email addresses fromrepparttar 142460 web using automated robots remains alive and well.

Spammers who need fresh email addresses release software spider programs that combrepparttar 142461 Internet and suck email addresses off Web pages, guest books, and anywhere else you might post your email address.

Once they get your email address, spammers will trade it around like 5th graders with a new pack of Pokemon cards at recess and you can expectrepparttar 142462 avalanche of email to begin flooding your inbox.

In order to combat this still rampant practice of stealing email addresses from websites and sending people email they don't want,repparttar 142463 following tips should help protect you.

** Break It Up **

Obviouslyrepparttar 142464 best way to avoid getting picked up by an email harvester is not to post your email anywhere on anyone's website (including your own).

Ifrepparttar 142465 only way someone can get your email is if you give it to them, that creates a similar situation to operating with an unlisted phone number.

If telemarketers can't get your phone number, they can't call.

If you must post your email address, post it in a way that a robot won't recognize it as an email address. Instead of posting YOURNAME@YOURDOMAIN.COM, you can put YOURNAME (AT) YOURDOMAIN.COM and then, in parenthesis, put (replace AT with @ to email me).

Though it seems like an extra step for legitimate email, you'll find it a very effective technique.

** Use An Image **

Currently, online spiders (ANY spider, including search engines) cannot read text that appears in a graphic or picture. If you must display an email address on a page, then do it by typing your email address into your favorite graphics program and savingrepparttar 142466 image as a .gif or .jpg. Then postrepparttar 142467 image onto your web page so people can seerepparttar 142468 email, but spiders cannot. This too creates an extra step for people because they must type in your email address, but it's an effective solution if you must display an email address on your own website.

Phishing, Fraudulent and Malicious Websites

Written by Alexandra Gamanenko


Whether we like it or not, we are all living inrepparttar Information Age. We have nothing left but adapt to rapidly developing information technology, no matter who we are and what we do for living.

The Internet, in particular, means for us boundless opportunities in life and business - but also lots of dangers unheard of just a decade ago. We should be aware of these dangers if we want to userepparttar 140624 huge potential ofrepparttar 140625 Internet and to avoidrepparttar 140626 hazards it brings us.

Warning: There are Websites You'd Better Not Visit

Phishing websites

Thanks to authors of numerous articles on this topic, "classic" phishing technique is relatively well known. This scam involves setting bogus websites and luring people to visit them, as a rule, by links in emails. Phishing website is disguised to look like a legitimate one -- of a bank or a credit card company, and users are invited to provide their identifying information. Sites of this kind are used solely to steal users' passwords, PIN numbers, SSNs and other confidential information.

At first phishing consisted only of a social engineering scam in which phishers spammed consumer e-mail accounts with letters ostensibly from banks. The more people got aware ofrepparttar 140627 scam,repparttar 140628 less spelling mistakes these messages contained, andrepparttar 140629 more these fraudulent websites resembled legitimate ones. Phishers are getting smarter. They eagerly learn; there is enough money involved here to turn criminals into earnest students.

Keyloggers and Trojans

Since about November 2004 there has been a lot of publications of a scheme which at first was seen as a new kind of phishing. This technique includes contaminating a PC with a Trojan horse program. The problem is that this Trojan contains a keylogger which lurks atrepparttar 140630 background untilrepparttar 140631 user ofrepparttar 140632 infected PC visits one ofrepparttar 140633 specified websites. Thenrepparttar 140634 keylogger comes to life to do what it was created for -- to steal information.

It seems that this technique is actually a separate scam aimed at stealing personal information and such attacks are onrepparttar 140635 rise. Security vendor Symantec warns about commercialisation of malware -- cybercriminals prefer cash to fun, so various kinds of information-stealing software are used more actively.

Fraudulent websites are onrepparttar 140636 rise

Websense Security Labs -- a well-known authority in information security -- noticed a dramatic rise inrepparttar 140637 number of fraudulent websites as far back as inrepparttar 140638 second half of 2004. These sites pose as ones for e-commerce; they encourage users to apply for a reward or purchase something, of course never deliveringrepparttar 140639 product or paying money. The most popular areas for such fraud are online pharmacies, lottery scams, and loan / mortgage sites. Experts predict there will be more fake merchants in future and their scams will become more sophisticated.

A Hybrid Scam

In April Panda Software warned Internet users of a new particularly brazen scam aimed at stealing confidential information. The technique used here looks like a hybrid between phishing and a fraudulent website. Panda Software identified several websites offering cheap airline tickets which in fact weren't selling anything;repparttar 140640 aim was to cheat users out of credit card details.

This scam is very simple;repparttar 140641 thieves simply wait until some unsuspecting user who is searching for, say, airline ticket offers, finds their site offering dirt-cheap airline tickets. Really pleased with himself and looking forward torepparttar 140642 trip,repparttar 140643 user fills inrepparttar 140644 form, entering his credit card number, expiry date and verification value (CVV).

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