Tech Guides :: Information Security :: Spam, Legends, Myths
Overview
"Spamming" is sending unsolicited email to a large group of people, usually people the sender does not know. Examples of spam are advertisements, political messages, pleas to help someone, good luck charms, bad luck charms, urban legends or myths and pyramid schemes or get-rich-quick schemes.
The main problem with spam, aside from the annoyance of receiving it, is that the volume of email distributed tends to clog the network servers. This means that the delivery of legitimate mail is slowed down or can't get through at all.
It is usually difficult to identify the user sending the spam because frequently the sender's address has been forged. A user who looks like they are coming from aol.com may actually be coming from another country.
It is also not always advisable to request being removed from the spammer's list of addresses. Sometimes, this process simply validates your email address for the spammer qualifying you to receive future spam from this person.
What To Do About Spam - 1) Delete the message or 2) Forward the offending mail to spam@humboldt.edu. We can investigate the origin of the spam and notify the Internet Service Provider of the problem.
Spam Filtering Software - The University has recently implemented spam filtering software. For more information regarding this software, visit the links below.
