{"id":538,"date":"2012-11-27T09:35:57","date_gmt":"2012-11-27T14:35:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.epignosysit.com\/blog\/?p=388"},"modified":"2012-11-27T09:35:57","modified_gmt":"2012-11-27T14:35:57","slug":"do-you-know-how-to-spot-spam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eitnetworks.net\/index.php\/2012\/11\/27\/do-you-know-how-to-spot-spam\/","title":{"rendered":"Do you know how to spot spam?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.epignosysit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Security_Nov21_A.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-389\" title=\"Security_Nov21_A\" src=\"http:\/\/www.epignosysit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Security_Nov21_A.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"170\" height=\"170\" \/><\/a>Spam was introduced in the late 1930s as a tinned form of ham that was easy to eat. It quickly became ubiquitous, so much so, that in 1970 Monty Python created a skit about a couple who go to a diner where Spam is in nearly every dish. Throughout the comedy sketch, Spam is said over 132 times and at one point one of the characters yells, \u201cI hate Spam.\u201d It\u2019s because of this comedy moment that unsolicited and unwanted emails have come to be known as spam. The problem is, it\u2019s hard to spot spam these days.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>There are about a million different kinds of spam messages, here\u2019s nine of the most popular (in no particular order) and how to identify that they are spam:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Emergency messages &#8211;<\/strong>\u00a0These often come from family, or people on your contact list, usually asking you for money because they are stranded. While you may have relatives traveling, it\u2019s a good idea to reach out to them using other means of communication when you get an email like this. Be wary, especially if they don\u2019t want to give a phone number or exact location.<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Requests to update your account &#8211;<\/strong>\u00a0These usually come in after a website has had a security breach. They almost always ask you to update contact information, and usually provide a link. Clicking this link will take you to a site that looks almost exactly the same as the real one, only this one usually has viruses or other malicious intent. If you ever get an email like this: Read the email and sender\u2019s email address carefully \u2013 they usually have spelling mistakes \u2013 and don\u2019t click any links. Instead, close and log out of your email, go to the website and log in.<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Requests for your password &#8211;<\/strong>\u00a0Sometimes spammers don\u2019t even bother to set up elaborate websites, they\u2019ll just grab the company logo, make a fancy letterhead and send you an email, or message asking you for your password. This type of spam usually comes from scammers posing as representatives of a bank or credit card company. Never, ever reply with your password. Organizations do not ask for passwords over email.<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Obvious misspellings &#8211;<\/strong>\u00a0Unless you work with people or companies with employees who aren\u2019t native English speakers, obvious misspellings in messages e.g., \u2018Here iS som3 FREE Stuffz\u2019, usually indicate the message is spam. If you\u2019re not sure, and know the sender, contact them. If you don\u2019t know the sender, or the sender has an email address like: pradaoutletonlinestore4u.comGliemATgmail.com, it\u2019s spam.<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Pleas for help &#8211;<\/strong>\u00a0This is a tough one, we all want to help people, but when we receive pleas to help the poor starving hipsters of Manhattan, you have to be skeptical. Charities don\u2019t email you unless you put your name on a mailing list, or gave them your email when you last donated.<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Contest winner &#8211;<\/strong>\u00a0The main rule here is: If you didn\u2019t enter the contest, you\u2019re not a winner, no matter how sweet the prize. The same goes for those spam pop-ups on some of the more adult oriented websites. You\u2019re not the 1,000,000th viewer and clicking on the link, or shooting the three ducks won\u2019t get you a free iPad. You will get more spam however, or a virus if you\u2019re a really good shot.<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Chain emails &#8211;<\/strong>\u00a0These have been circling the globe more or less since the beginning of the Internet and have now made their way onto Facebook and other social networks. The vast majority of them are harmless, but, they are annoying. Think about it, you get one telling you to forward to 10 people or a cute, fluffy kitten will be shaved. If you forward it to 10 people, you\u2019re now the spammer. If you get emails like these, they are spam, just delete them.<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Messages in attachments &#8211;<\/strong>\u00a0Be extra cautious with this one. If you get an email from any contact that says something along the line of, \u201cPlease see my message in this attachment,\u201d or has nothing at all in the body, it\u2019s pretty much guaranteed to be spam. That attachment is likely some malicious software. No organizations or companies will send you messages in an attachment, so when you get one, just delete it.<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Awesome deals \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>Contacted out of the blue by someone offering you an all inclusive ski trip to Steamboat Springs Colorado for just a dollar? Or how about an LV Handbag for just USD$10? These deals seem too good to be true, and what\u2019s the rule with things that seem too good to be true? They are. Just because it\u2019s in an email, or chat message doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s real. If you get these, don\u2019t click on any links or even reply to the sender, just delete or ignore them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There\u2019s one thing in common with nearly all forms of spam, messages usually contain links. If you\u2019re ever unsure about the link, hover your mouse over it for a few seconds, and your browser should tell you where the link will take you i.e., Chrome will display the address at the bottom of the window. If the link looks unfamiliar, or seems wrong, don\u2019t click it.<\/p>\n<p>An important thing to be aware of is that Spam is unwanted, or unasked for. If you sign up for a daily newsletter, that\u2019s not spam, you agreed to allow the company to send you messages. Luckily, most of these have links you can press at the bottom of the message to unsubscribe. To learn more about spam, and how we can help you stop it, please contact us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Spam was introduced in the late 1930s as a tinned form of ham that was easy to eat. It quickly became ubiquitous, so much so, that in 1970 Monty Python created a skit about a couple who go to a diner where Spam is in nearly every dish. Throughout the comedy sketch, Spam is said [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,30,21,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-antivirus","category-email","category-general-tech","category-malware"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eitnetworks.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eitnetworks.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eitnetworks.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eitnetworks.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eitnetworks.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eitnetworks.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eitnetworks.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eitnetworks.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eitnetworks.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}