IT Tip of the Week

From: "Marlon Palha" <Marlon.Palha@Ithaka.org>

Subject: IT Tip of the Week

Date: 2007-06-26 07:35

In an effort to make life easier for everyone in the technical world, we will be sending out an IT tip every week. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about the tips or suggestions for new ones.

The Fight Against Spam

This week’s tip is more of an informational tip rather than a how-to and is something that affects most of us.

spam (sp m)
n.

Unsolicited e-mail, often of a commercial nature, sent indiscriminately to multiple mailing lists, individuals, or newsgroups; junk e-mail.

Spam techniques have evolved over the years and one of the more common types of spam we are receiving are those sent in the form of an image (often soliciting stocks), for example:

These are particularly hard to fight because spam filters are accustomed to looking for trigger words or addresses in a message and in this case, the image adds a layer of complexity. Spammers make it even more difficult by including borders containing randomly generated dots in them so that filters are fooled by them. This would explain why even with the best spam filters in place, certain emails will still get through.

Most vendors, including ours (IronPort), are working meticulously to come up with methods to combat this and keep us informed of their advances.

For those who would like to read more about various spam methods, please read HYPERLINK "http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/21/business/yourmoney/21spam.html?ex=1305864000en=ed85ebb0320ad00eei=5088partner=rssnytemc=rss"this article from the New York Times.

Please feel free to call or email 2323 with any questions you may have.

Thanks,

Marlon

___________________________________

Marlon Palha
Support Services Manager
Ithaka Shared IT
151 East 61st Street
New York, NY 10021
Phone (212) 500-2336

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