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2007-05-09 12:00:46

Fighting Spam

Email spam is not just a nuisance - its costing firms billions. Here are some helpful tips on reducing spam in your mailbox.

To begin to understand the scale of the global spam problem, you only need to look at the statistics of our busiest mail server here at eTailor. During April 2007, the ratio of real email to spam hovered between 50% and 85%. This means that, on a given day, possibly only 15% of the many thousands of emails passing through our servers was legitimate email.

Spam is not just a nuisance either - its costing companies a fortune. A recent study suggests that spam this year will cost U.S. companies at least $10 billion (Ferris Research).

So how can you fight spam?

The first step is having the right email provider (ISP). If you are receiving massive amounts of spam to your inbox every day, you are not using the right provider. For example, eTailor servers use a finely tuned spam filtering system that ensures a only a minimal amount of spam, if any, will ever reach a users mailbox in the first place.

The next step is to consider putting in place an email policy for all employees. For example, if an employee wishes to sign up for newsgroups, mailing lists, newsletters etc., ensure that they always use a personal e-mail address rather than their work address.
It is also vital to tell your employees that they should never reply to a spam message. Many spam messages include an "unsubscribe" link - all this does is tell the spammer that this is a legitimate email address, and they will send more spam.

The final step is your own email client. If you use Outlook or Thunderbird, you can configure the email client to check each message in your inbox for spam. While not as effective as the first step above, it can be useful for taking care of some spam messages. Check out the help section in your mail client, searching for 'spam filter', 'block messages' or 'rules wizard'.