A presentation read at the 5th meeting of the REDIC Erasmus+ project.

1. Spam
The slides was done by
Gabrielė Bautonytė

2. What is spam ?
 Spam is everywhere. As Internet-based
communication technology evolves so do the
methods unscrupulous individuals use to send
you advertisements.
 When you hear the word spam, your
immediate thoughts go to the more well-
known and common form of spam: email
spam.

3. What is spam ?
 However, other types of spam are found in a
variety of Internet communication mediums
such as instant messaging, discussion
boards, mobile phones with text messaging,
newsgroups, Internet telephony, blogs —
basically any device or client that provides a
means for communications.

4. All about email spam
 While many Internet users have resigned
themselves to the fact that email spam is here
to stay, there is nothing more annoying than
logging in to check your email and
downloading or sifting through tens or
hundreds (or even thousands) of unwanted
email advertising for some product sent
directly to your email address.

5. How SPAM looks

6. All about email spam
 Email spam numbers have been on the rise
because e-mail spam is a cheap way to
garner a few sales. For the solicitor, the costs
associated with spamming are minimal. All
they need is time and enough money for an
Internet connection and lists of e-mail
addresses.

7. 5 Best Practices to Combat Email
Spam
 Currently, there is no way to completely stop
spam. The good news, however, is that individuals
can take proactive steps to limit the number of
incoming spam emails to save time, frustrations
and money.
 1. Keep Your Email Address More Private;
 2. Choose More Complex Email Address;
 3. Don't Click Links in Spam Email;
 4. Use a Good Email Filter;
 5. Remember the Virus Scanner.

8. Keep your email address more
private
 To avoid email address harvesting practices,
it's important to not post (in text) your email
address in public Internet chat rooms, on any
Web site, newsgroup, guestbook or blogs to
which you post.

9. Choose more complex email
address
 Some spammers basically attack mail servers
and use a method called a dictionary attack to
get their junk mail sent out. Basically, the
spam is sent to every combination of letters
and common names at an ISP. In this
scenario, spam is more likely to get through to
a common, short email address like "mary
@insertdomainname.com" than it would
"mary_washinger @insertdomainname.com".

10. Don't click links in spam email
 Even if the links reads "click to unsubscribe,"
if that link appears within a spam message,
chances are your click to unsubscribe is used
solely for the purpose of informing the
spammer that your email address is valid and
you may end up on even more spam lists.

11. Use a good email filter
 The best proactive step you can take to limit
spam mail in your in box is to use a good
email filter. There are many types of filters
available today that will block or filter email
based its content, header or even language.
Most email programs will allow you to define
your own criteria for blocking in addition to
these filters.

12. Remember the virus scanner
 The golden rule for any spam is to never open
or accept files from people you do not know.
Spam is rife with worms, Trojans, and viruses
that can be attached as what seems to be
legitimate files in email messages. While the
above best practices can help with lowering
the number of spam emails you receive, only
a real-time virus scanner can help with
removing the risks to your system security.

13. All about Spam over Instant
messaging (SPIM)
 Spim, is a type of spam that uses IM platforms
as the transport medium. Users of different
public IM systems, who use public profiles are
quite likely to receive unsolicited advertising
messages from spammers. Similar to e-mail
spam, spim messages are advertisements
and will usually contain an embedded
hyperlink link to visit the Web site this
individual or bot is marketing.

14. How SPIM looks

15. Comparing Spam and Spim
 Compared to spam, spim is less common, but
it is often thought to be a bigger annoyance
and intrusion. When you check your email,
you can quickly scan the incoming messages
and read only those you know are legitimate,
leaving the spam for a later time (or for a
mass delete).

16. Comparing Spam and Spim
 Spim, however, is sent through a real-time
communication platform, which means you
have to deal with spim in real-time as well.
You have to stop what you are doing and deal
with the spim as the IM window pops up.
Spim is also considered to be more of a risk
than e-mail spam because IM users expect to
be on the receiving end of a message from a
user in their buddy list — not a spimmer.

17. IM Spam (spim): 3 Best Practices
For Individuals
 If you're familiar with combating e-mail spam,
you'll have a head start in your fight against
spim. Again, the golden rule to protection and
security is to never open or accept files from
people you do not know!
 1. Private access is key;
 2. Even buddies can be harmful;
 3. Remember the virus scanner.

18. Private access is key
 The best way to avoid spim is to never open
or respond to a message from a person you
do not know. If you make your IM user name
and contact details public, just like with e-mail
spam, you are providing spimmers with the
information they need to contact you. Keep
your IM profile and username off public
directories.

19. Even buddies can be harmful
 To avoid security risks, use extreme caution in
opening any file or link in an IM — even if you
do know the user who is sending it. The
nature of Trojans and worms that spread
through IM channels means your buddy's
system could be infected, and the message
you receive may simply be the result of a
worm replicating on its own through their
contact list.

20. Remember the virus scanner
 The golden rule for any spam is to never open
or accept files from people you do not know.
Spam is rife with worms, Trojans, and viruses
which, in IM can seem like a harmless
message from a person in your contact list. A
virus scanner will go a long way in helping to
protect your system from malicious spim.

21. All about Spam over internet
telephony (SPIT)
 According to Internet and technical
publications, spit is already an acronym.
However, when the acronym was created in
October 2004, there wasn't a single reported
cases of spit. Much like spam and spim, it's
believed that as internet telephony becomes
more popular with consumers, spit is sure to
follow.

22. How SPIT looks

23. All about Spam over internet
telephony (SPIT)
 Similar to spam and spim, spit offers
spammers a low-cost alternative to unsolicited
marketing. Mass marketing using automated
voice messages is accomplished literally with
the push of a button. The attraction to
spammers, of course, is that spit can be fully
automated and is certainly cheaper than
staffing a call center with people to make
voice calls.

24. Internet Telephony Spam (spit):
Best Practices For Individuals
 Understand the Risk: While spit is not nearly
as common as spam or spim, it's important to
identify the potential risk to your network and
educate yourself about what is happening in
terms of trends. Being aware that the problem
exists on a small scale now will help you if
and when it becomes a common spam tactic.

25. Interesting facts about spam
 Spam accounts for 14.5 billion messages
globally per day. In other words, spam makes
up 45% of all emails. Some research
companies estimate that spam email makes
up an even greater portion of global emails,
some 73% in fact. The United States is the
number one generator of spam email, with
Korea clocking in as the second largest
contributor of unwanted email.

26. Interesting facts about spam
 The most prevalent type of spam is
advertising-related email; this type of spam
accounts for approximately 36% of all spam
messages. The second most common
category of spam is adult-related in subject
and makes up roughly 31.7% of all spam.
Unwanted emails related to financial matters
is the third most popular form of spam, at
26.5%.

27. The conclusion
 The Internet is a wonderful resource that can
help you find out nearly anything you want to
know. It’s also home to the same types of
people who inhabit the real world: thieves,
con men, liars, cheats, exploiters and other
ruffians.

28. Thank you for your time 