Fighting Spam - Part Two
It seems like an eon since I wrote part one of this post. I’ve had part two sitting amongst my draft posts for ages, so it’s about time it was unleashed… and it’ll make a nice break from all the recent Google stuff! Plus I’m fed up of looking at it sitting there!!
So without further ado, as promised (a long time ago), five more slightly geekier anti-spam tips…
6. Keep your computer up to date with security patches.
This may seem obvious, but I think it’s still worth mentioning and reinforcing as a top tip.
It’s guesstimated that about two thirds of spam is supposed to originate from PC’s that have been compromised in some form or another (known as spam zombies). So, when Microsoft are sometimes taking weeks to issue patches for published security holes, it’s best to update asap.
7. Get a good firewall and anti-virus combo.
Using a good router/firewall should really be a no-brainer these days. Installing a software firewall (Zone Alarm etc) isn’t a bad idea either as it’ll hopefully spot any malware that you may pick up on your web travels as it tries to phone home back to spam central.
If you’re signing up for a new broadband service, chances are that you’ll probably get a new router/adsl modem thrown in for free. Take 20 minutes to see exactly what you’ve got. Change the default password on it. See what settings might need tweaking.
A good start would be to test your defenses with something like “Shields Up!“. Every little helps when it comes to hiding yourself from the latest worm which would open up your PC to all sorts of spam sending nastiness.
8. Don’t help the spammers! Be extra careful - scan for rootkits.
Unfortunately these days, even running up to date anti-virus checking software isn’t quite enough. Rootkits are alive and thriving. But what is a Rootkit?
Imagine you are Mr Spammer. Setting up your own email server and sending out a few million spam emails every day would soon get you noticed. It would be much better to fool other innocent net users into sending spam to millions of people on your behalf wouldn’t it. But how?
There are quite a few ways… one might be to create a virus that tries to trick people into running an attachment on an email - which then secretly installs spam software onto your PC. It’ll quietly run in the background and merrily start sending out spam without you knowing. It’ll probably also leave the PC open for any Joe Bloggs to abuse your pooter.
The problem for spammers is that most Anti-virus programs are getting wise to this sort of activity. This is where a Rootkit comes in.
Basically, a Rootkit is a piece of software packaged with the virus/worm that attaches itself SO deeply into the operating system (eg Windows) that once installed, you can’t trust the operating system to correctly report *anything*. The Rootkit has first dibs on all the answers the O/S throws out.
When you scan your PC for viruses/worms, your anti-virus software asks the operating system what files are on the hard drive and then it checks all the files given to it in turn. But, the rootkit intercepts this request and hides the presence of the malicious files. So if you’ve been infected, your anti-virus can sometimes declare you infection free, as it is blissfully unaware of all the nasty files being hidden on the PC. Doh.
Worrying isn’t it. You can scan for Rootkits, but I’m not entirely convinced on their effectiveness yet. Once you’ve got a rootkit installed, as they are embedded so deeply, they can be very difficult to remove/spot. So preventing rootkits from reaching your PC in the first place is essential.
9. Use webmail.
Using a free webmail service is sometimes a good choice. Chances are it’ll help with tip #3 that I mentioned previously and as most good webmails provide virus scanning on attachments, it’ll help prevent your PC from being turned into a spam zombie. Bonus!
Hotmail and Gmail both provide spam filtering. Gmail also has free forwarding/POP3, so I suppose in theory you can ’sieve’ your email through it before it reaches your Outlook Express (or whatever email client). You can then check Gmail’s spam folder in your own time and get rid of the crap that’s accumulated. It won’t be perfect, but it’d probably catch 99% of junk emails.
Alternatively, using an email client such as Thunderbird might be a better alternative to Outhouse as it includes various anti-spam measures built-in.
10. Educate yourself.
Probably the most important one of all! You don’t have to be a geek and know the ins-and-outs of everything pooter related, but it’ll help if you roughly know a bit about your foe. If you can at least take some steps to prevent yourself from receiving *some* spam and stop yourself from unwittingly aiding the spammers by sending it, we’re all half way there.
The very fact that you’ve read this far is a good start! Good luck!
Got any more good anti-spam top tips? Let me know…
September 12th, 2006 at 12:33 pm
Wow does your knowledge know no bounds? Sorry but all this really made me think of was your Spam Hands from college…ha ha the fun!!!