Spam! Some proactive ideas to prevent it

Businesses are making a fortune selling anti spam software, but what if you could take some pro-active steps to try and minimise it in the first place?

Here are some top tips:

Website owners

1. Try not to use your email address on your website. Spammers use email address harvesting software to locate these. Use a contact form instead.
2. If you must use your address on your website try encoding it. Try this free encoder which I've just put on my website. You just put the encoded text after the mailto: tag.  www.expertiseontap.co.uk/4n/email_encoder.htm
3. If you're using a "catch all forwarder" for your domain switch it off and only set up addresses that you actually use eg. yourname@ or info@.  "Catch all forwarding" means you'll get all mail for your domain irrespective of the prefix. Eg. you'd get sales@ admin@ info@ anyword@  etc etc. Spammers will try all words like this and more. 
4. And an additional point from Paul Howes of SSI Web:
   If you are concerned about spam sources and have direct access to your email admin panel and can set up aliases then set one up for each site you subscribe e.g. amazon@yourdomain.co.uk, viking@yourdomain.co.uk, dabsdirect@yourdomain.co.uk - That way if you start getting an email form amazon@yourdomain.co.uk you will know that the ONLY place it can originate from (been sold on from) is amazon. Of course the examples I have given would never sell on emails they value their customer highly so it would normally be small or medium sized companies.

General

1. If you must put your email address on web forums (like here!) do so in a limited way. The more forums you put it on the greater the chance of getting picked up by spam harvesting software.
2. Alternatively you could cloak it by putting john.smith [AT] xyz.co.uk. Most people will figure this out if they really want to contact you.
3. If signing up for stuff on the internet always watch out for the box that says "you consent to receiving marketing information from ourselves and trusted third parties". That means they could sell your address on.
4. Consider using a different address for use in Internet forums and such like. Most ISPs will allow you to create more than one address. Or you could set up a Hotmail address. Then if you start getting spam on that address, just stop using it and get a new one.
5. Always look out for a privacy statement next to the sign up box. I always encourage my email newsletter clients to use these.
6. Never reply to a spam message. It confirms to the sender that your address is valid thus opening the floodgates to send you some more.
7. Never click on links in a spam message for the same reason.
8. View the spam message in the preview pane only. Some spammers insert an invisible tracking image in the body of the email which signals to them when you've opened it thus confirming your address is valid. Viewing in preview pane only should avoid that.
9. If choosing a new address choose something unusual or try a mixture of words and numbers. Spammers use dictionary attacks and directory harvest attacks to guess email addresses. So instead of johnsmith@  try john4n2c3q@.

Date: 14/03/2008
Category: BUSINESS EDITORIAL