Advances in Email Security
Email is a common way for viruses to infection your computer. No matter how many warnings are issued to avoid opening emails from people they do not know, each day there are users that do just that and suffer the consequences.
One of the biggest problems with email viruses is that they don’t usually stop after infection one computer. Many will access your address book without your knowledge and send the infected email to everyone on it, spreading the virus even further and further.However, there are solutions to helping you avoid email viruses. While they are not 100% foolproof, they do offer a certain amount of protection. Here are some examples:
- SPAM Buttons - Many ISP (Internet Service Providers) such as AOL and ESPs (Email Service Providers) such as Microsoft HotMail allow you the ability to block spam messages. If you look at your email client, you are likely to find a button labeled “Spam” or “This is Spam.” If you report an email as spam, the email client then blocks that address from your inbox. This may sound like a great answer to a big problem, but there are some problems. Many spammers use multiple email addresses, so just because you block one of their email addresses, doesn’t mean they don’t have 100 more to send you emails from. Also, some people use the “Spam” button to unsubscribe from mail to which they actually subscribed. This identifies the legitimate email sender as a spammer.
- Authentication - For most people, it is easy to identify spam from desired mail. However, some people have a problem identifying exactly what spam is. Just because you did not want to receive a joke from a co-worker doesn’t make it spam. To help resolve issues of spam, some email clients use something called authentication. This usually involves a sender ID. This tagging of an email lets your system know whether it is from a desirable, trusted source or not. Unfortunately, not all email clients use authentication and many of the rules are still not agreed upon.
There are other methods of fighting unwanted emails that range from the simple to the sophisticated and most are in different stages of development. One such method is email postage. Another method is called double opt-in, in which you sign up to receive emails, and then you must respond to a confirmation email before you are added to their distribution list. Some email clients are working on additional email buttons such as “Unsubscribe” or “Unknown” to help further clarify emails.
As time goes on, you will see more and more methods of fighting spam emails. Right now, some researchers have estimated that as much as 70% of all emails sent are spam while some feel the percentage is lower. Regardless, most everyone agrees that something needs to be done to help lessen the amount of spam emails received.