Archive for April, 2008
Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008
The issue of having publically viewable email links that aren’t able to be harvested is still occurring
If this makes sense to you then please comment and explain how?
- I want a visitor to my site to be able to easily copy my email address to their email application.
- I don’t like images or feedback forms because of the above reason
- I am receiving copious quantities of email spam from my web site email address
To me the solution seems obvious … if someone is serious in making contact with you then they will complete a contact form in the first instance. Once they have proven their bona fides and you respond they then have the privelage of spamming the heck out of you (pun intended).
Andreas from Zargony has an article Scramble email addresses in views to reduce spam … the interesting thing about this article, which relates to the use of Ruby on Rails to achieve the scramble, is that nowhere did he provide a live example to prove that it actually works.
I figure that if it actually worked then this statement would not be there … The question is left open, if this method is worth anything.
Action: If the value proposition you place on your web site is compelling to the viewer then a simple form will not be a mountain to climb. The next thing to think of is if that form is getting punished with tyre kickers then make the form longer, collect more data, to get the serious people to contact you.
Posted in Simple Suggestions, Spam Talk | No Comments »
Monday, April 21st, 2008
Today three things have happened that serve to remind me that we get what we ask for when it comes to spam.
David Hinson - has written about how his email communication is clogged to the extent that he may give up using it.
Spoofing Madness - A client and I have been inundated with spoofing bounces the likes of which we’ve never seen. He’s about 12 hours ahead of me from a start view point but I’m running at around 300 a day.
So with all this spam happening … why are we receiving this unwanted mail?
Because we asked for it.
In all instances we’ve plastered websites, forums and more saying click here and send me an email … and we’ve been receiving just what we asked for.
- I’m working with my client to address his issue.
- Mine I’m not fussed about as it’s part of my spam activity tracking process.
- David … I can’t answer for but there are some pointers as to why on his blog.
Action: Remove all mailto: links from your site and adopt Actions 3,4 and 5 and things will improve markedly
Posted in Simple Suggestions, Spam Talk | No Comments »
Sunday, April 13th, 2008
Spammers are increasingly relying on legitimate content and web sites to cloak their messages, attempting to bypass traditional controls by passing their messages off as genuine. IT Week
And this is new?
Come on this spamming strategy has been round for ages.
"… spammers are stepping up attempts to bypass traditional content analysis protection. Spammers are using reputable web sites and content to weaken traditional anti-spam protection"
"Because anti-spam products aim to minimise the number of legitimate messages they flag as spam, spammers are seeking to exploit this by making messages appear authentic."
What email security firm Commtouch Software doesn’t realise is that they have just highlighted the issue that is the biggest weakness with filtering software. It doesn’t work
In one case, Commtouch identified a massive outbreak of spam in January 2008, when 250m spam messages were being pumped out, where the message HTML appeared to be a Hotmail welcome message; anyone opening the message was offered Viagra.
ACTION: Implementing Action 3 ensures that you don’t receive emails such as this. Occasionally one may slip through, if so it is immediatly obvious it’s spam … and you just hit delete key.
Posted in Spam Talk | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008
Paypal phishing is on yet again.
Read this carefully …it’s totally nonsensical to begin with and secondly Paypal wouldn’t send you such an email.
Due to upcoming May 2008, and recent changes in PayPal’s Service Agreement you need to submit additional details on your PayPal account. Starting from June, 2008 all PayPal accounts will come with complete detailed information! Identity protection matters. And PayPal works day and night to help keep your identity safe.
Here’s the pretty email that goes with it.
The tell tale is the Get Verified link.It sends you to gogouk.com wich certainly isn’t a Paypal site.
ACTION: Make sure you have an excusive Spam Protected email address just for Paypal and you can then ensure that these emails just get deleted at worst or you never see them if you use the Spam Strategies from the Guide.
Posted in Spam Talk, Spam of the Day | No Comments »
