Anti Spam Software & Internet Filters Blog - Securence

Glossary of Spam-related Terms

To help educate those interested in learning more about spam, below you'll find a partial glossary of some very interesting spam-related terms.

Address Harvester: A program that searches web pages and filters newsgroup postings looking for valid email addresses to be used for spam purposes.

Complex Dictionary Checking: A feature of anti-spam software that screens text for rude words and isn't fooled by various spam tricks, such as the replacement of letters with look-alike numerals or characters (such as "1nterestr@te").

Honeypot: A computer system on the internet set up to attract and trap spammers and hackers. Sometimes this is a mailserver set up to appear to be an open relay. We use honeypots in the form of email addresses that don’t belong to real people, and then spammers are encouraged to spam these boxes.

Joe Job: Circa 1996, a Joe Job is spam run forged to appear as though it came from an innocent party, who is then generally flooded by the bounces; or, the act of performing such a run. Modern Joe Jobs involve forged email headers and other nasty tricks to make it really convincing. And with the advent of dnsBLs like SPEWS (The Spam Prevention Early Warning System) and peoples’ personal lists, a successful Joe Job can really hurt the victim.

Full glossary at Securence.com

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

Anti-spyware legislation approved

A key committee in the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously approved anti-spyware legislation Wednesday that includes revisions designed to make the bill more palatable to business interests.

HR29, the Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass Act, or Spy Act, is sponsored by Rep. Mary Bono (R-California). It aims to prevent spyware purveyors from hijacking a homepage or tracking users' keystrokes, requires that spyware programs be easily identifiable and removable, and allows for the collection of personal information only after express consent is given by users. 

Full article at Wired News