Don't Let SPAM Win!

We are all familiar with the modern difficulty of having an email address: Spam. It seems more and more prevalent these days as spammers work out new ingenious methods to deliver their advertising junk mail. There are a few methods of spam removal that every user should know. Learn these steps to help counter the flood of spam messages.

The first type of message you should be aware of is the fake "bounce back" message. These are often "spoof" messages wherein the sender's address has been forged. Like the real postal system, the return address on a letter can be modified so it doesn't reflect its true sender. For instance, your email address is collected by a program that searches the Internet and pulls email addresses from online sources, or by means of a list that was obtained by information sharing. The program then sends out emails with your email address in the "From" field and another spam victim's address in the "To" field, or vice versa. This is twice as effective for the spammers, as two users are affected in one instance.

Often, email messages sent from these particular spammers have embedded "spyware" or malicious attachments. Be careful when opening email or attachments from an unknown sender. The bottom line is, if you do not know the sender, delete the message without previewing it. Chances are you will not be missing anything but an infection. Use your email program's preview pane, and always make sure your anti-virus software is up to date and running.

Another variety of spam that has gained notoriety over the past few years is "Guestbook Spam". This occurs when a spam "bot" fills out a form on your site, submitting links to a spammer's commercial website. Any form that accepts user contributions, anywhere on the Internet, is susceptible to this kind of spam.

Here are some steps you can take to protect yourself from these types of spam:

The first step is to make sure that you are using real email addresses, not the "Catch-All" address in your Mail Center. This address will "catch all" of the domain's email that does not match another of your email addresses. Spam bots send junk to hundreds of variations of addresses at your domain name in the hopes that they will hit a valid box. However, since your catch-all is set up to receive every message that would have bounced, all of those spam messages are received. By disabling the "Catch-All" address, you will greatly reduce the number of spam messages you receive.

It is also important to make good use of your email filters. Filters provide that extra support and comfort from unsolicited email. Like other email clients, your Mail Center filters, with specific rules applied, will take your spammed-a-lot blues away.

You will need to setup filters in your mailbox to block out unambiguous content. This will vary if you have your mailbox through Advanced Access or another provider. For Advanced Access users, go to Domain Manager > Mail Center > Login on your POP3 account, and click Options > Filters > Add New Filter. You can then set up specific rules for common keywords in the spam you receive. It is also possible to set up rules to move all "safe" mail (from addresses you know) to named boxes and reject all others.

If you use another email client, check their help documentation to set up specific rules and filters for spam messages.

The next step is to adjust any unused forms on your website.  You can remove our default "Guestbook" and "Contact" forms from your site and replace them with custom forms to throw spammers off the trail.

The guestbook.aspx (and contact.aspx) pages are still accessible to spam bots, since they know the locations even after you remove all links to those pages. To stop the submissions you need to disable the sending capability of the forms. Go to Contact Manager > Form Manager > click Edit next to "Contact Me" (or "Guestbook"). Remove the email address, leaving it completely blank, and set the Intellicards book to "none". Click the 'Update' button; do not click the 'Update on all Forms' button. Removing the email address will make the form unable to send, and useless for sending guestbook spam.

After you disable your guestbook (or contact form), you should create a custom one to replace it and change your navigation button(s) to point to your new form(s). You can create a replacement form in the Page Manager section of your Virtual Office.  You can edit your navigation buttons in your Design Center > Navigation (Nav Bar) Manager.

Your new contact form (or guestbook) will display on the site, and the old form will be unable to send any more spam messages to your email address.

Just remember, you're not helpless when it comes to spam, you can take the extra steps to protect yourself.

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