Spam intro

What comes to mind when you think of spam? Miracle pills from Internet pharmacies, requests for money from “princes” of other countries, or perhaps the food, Spam? This article is all about spam with a lowercase “s.” While many people enjoy the food Spam, no one wants to be tricked into losing money or downloading malware because of the other kind of spam.

Spam is annoying, but it’s also a threat. While many of us might think we’re savvy enough to recognize any form of it, spammers regularly update their methods and messages to trick potential victims. The reality is that we’re all constantly under attack from cybercriminals and the proof is in your inbox.

So read on to learn what spam is, how to recognize it, and how to protect yourself against it.

Spam definition

Spam is any kind of unwanted, unsolicited digital communication that gets sent out in bulk. Often spam is sent via email, but it can also be distributed via text messages, phone calls, or social media.

Spam is not an acronym for a computer threat, although some have been proposed (stupid pointless annoying malware, for instance). The inspiration for using the term “spam” to describe mass unwanted messages is a Monty Python skit in which the actors declare that everyone must eat the food Spam, whether they want it or not. Similarly, everyone with an email address must unfortunately be bothered by spam messages, whether we like it or not.

Install cybersecurity

In the event that you click a bad link or download malware sent to you via spam, good cybersecurity software will recognize the malware and shut it down before it can do any damage to your system or network. With products for home and business, Malwarebytes has got you covered wherever technology takes you.

Report spam

Email providers have gotten pretty good at filtering out spam, but when messages make it through to your inbox, you can report them. This is true for spam calls and text messages, as many carriers give you the ability to report spam as well.
You can also choose to block the sender, often in the same step as reporting the message. Reporting spam can help your email provider or phone service carrier get better at detecting spam. If legitimate emails get sent to your spam filter, you can report that they should not be marked as spam, and that also provides useful information on what should not be filtered. Another helpful step is to add senders you want to hear from to your contacts list proactively.

Spam

Chengjiang He

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