How to Make Sure You Don’t Become a Spammer

• Apply updates
  • virus protection
  • operating system updates, Windows or Macintosh
  • application updates (e.g., Microsoft Office)
    • updates prevent infections
      • Botnets
      • Diagram of botnet creation
      • Mail rejection notices

Botnets contribute to 40 percent of the spam, 320,000,000 messages per day, according to Symantec. Once your computer acts as a botnet, the botnet “master” can log your keystrokes and basically see what you can see and what you do on your computer. Spammers can harvest e-mail addresses that you enter or are on your computer.

• How you and others manage your e-mail address
  • A majority of spam goes to addresses posted online,according to CDT
• Brute force or dictionary attacks

• Don’t reply to all automatically when receiving an e-mail from a listserv
  • For example, if you want to opt-out of a mailing list, write directly to the organizer
• Use caution when clicking on links
  • Do not click on links within e-mail messages, enter URLs directly
    • Avoid phishing attempts
  • Do not click on unknown e-mail attachments
  • Be careful when clicking within web pages
    • Clickjacking
• Disable automatic download of graphics in HTML mail