Curiously the word spam has a very different origin than many of us could think . And this name comes from a brand of canned meat, which American soldiers received from their families during World War II.
But today in computer science it has acquired a different name; is known as an unsolicited message that usually refers to the sale of products and services without authorization. So it is usual to receive notifications that are not of personal interest.
Previously, these were only targeted or rather, known in emails, but this has expanded to other platforms such as blog, instant messaging, social networks and even mobile devices. To learn more about this, in the following tutorial we will explain step by step What is it? How can spam filters help you? and more.
Index:
What is the SPAM or spam email of my inbox ?
As previously stated, its name comes from an old brand of canned meat. Although, currently has a very different definition and is junk mail. Referring to unsolicited or desired messages. Mainly advertising or those that are sent in bulk.
In the category of spam also you have to add messages that are sent for purposes fraudulent or malicious e-mails. Generally these contain false information to perform scams, for which have the sole objective of obtaining personal data of the recipient.
But, this type of email is not only limited to email today, since social networks or instant messengers such as WhatsApp are also affected. Reason why you have to be very attentive to what we receive on many occasions.
What is an AntiSPAM and what is this kind of program for?
When we talk about anti-spam programs, whether for computers or mobile devices, we talk about the fact that these allow their users to delete or block all emails that they consider unwanted, or that the person has marked in the same way.
What can they do for you? Simple, they are used to keep your email tray, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Twitter or other applications you use to communicate, free of these malicious and annoying ads.
It should be noted that this is not only allowed by programs or applications, can also be configured with email services such as: Gmail, Outlook and others, to block and send to the deleted messages folder , everything you considered spam.
How does an Anti-SPAM work? Main functions
They work by scanning all the messages that come to you, where they are qualified around certain characteristics. Depending on the score, the statement may or may not be considered junk mail.
After analyzing those who have entered, these can be: blocked, deleted or sent to the “Spam” folder. When they are marked as “Deleted”, it is not quite true, since that these are sent to the corresponding folder.
No notice of this type, under any circumstances, is completely removed, because there may be cases where non-spam messages are cataloged in this way. So to avoid being deleted, these are archived until you review it and you are in charge of canceling or recovering them.
What are the types of Anti SPAM that exist and how they differ ?
There are two major types of anti spam, these are:
- Those who identify the spam message based on features they contain. This is reflected through a study, where they are reviewed and qualified. Depending on the qualities, they will receive a score, and the higher they are, the more likely they are to be considered or not.
- The antispam filters that identify them use statistical approximations. This is something similar to the above. But in these cases it is much more precise. However, it needs prior help, this is that the user manually identifies messages of this type.
So that he learns from their characteristics, in the future to block all those that are cataloged as such with the details you learned previously.
In addition to this, we can see other varieties of filters, such as:
Bayesian antispam filters
Bayesian filters work primarily with experience, and learn from those messages that users themselves mark as such. So they need other people to be effective and improve. That is, if the user qualifies an email as such, what he will do will be to compare those marked emails, with others and create a database to discard them at once.
This type of filters can raise the alert by means of words or the use of some effects, for example: the word «FREE» is capitalized or the use of bold fonts with colors, bold or with yellow shading.
The lists they use are generated by detecting patterns, based on the e-mails that were manually marked as junk mail. So it is possible that in some cases, non-junk mail will be marked as such and appear in the spam tray.
Blacklists
Blacklists exclude any message that comes from certain IPs. These are databases that yield addresses where bad actions have been taken, such as mass mailing.
It works by the mail servers that check if it is hosted there, in order to know whether to accept or reject the received mail. The problem arises when it cannot differentiate if these are sent voluntarily. So you may, without reason, find yourself in one of them.
The reasons may be the following:
- You may have sent a message to a spamtrap or mail trap , these are emails that mail service providers have created and have no activity. They use it as an alarm method, to catch spammers.
- Your email has been hacked and they have sent messages automatically.
- Your computers were infected by a virus that constantly sends emails to anyone.
Email Firewalls 
Firewalls also known as firewalls, are nothing more than systems responsible for restricting the unauthorized access of certain elements. Those work by rules that are established by the provider and administrator of this. They usually use a combination with the Bayesian filter, blacklists and others to prevent spam.
So this will cause all messages received or sent, go through the firewall that will be responsible for examining each message, and not meeting any of the security criteria will be blocked.
Challenge / response filters
Although these are not as widely used, there are many who still implement them. It works as follows; if you send an email with this filter, and still the contact is not in the list of friends or in that person’s notebook, you will be considered a stranger. So you will be labeled as a spammer .
This to verify that you are or not, what it does is that you are sent an automatic response with a question to answer or some link you must enter, to prove that you are not a robot. In case of To be labeled as such, it only remains to speak with the receiver to include you in his list.
Antispam filters based on your reputation span >
Reputation depends as you say, on your position, that is, on the scores acquired by the identification of the recipient. This filter is based on the sending IP address and the name of your domain used in the e-mail shipments. If they do not have a reputation they will be watching you, as this will measure your actions and the of your followers.
If you get a good reputation, you will get a good percentage through the people who open your campaigns and email links.
Why should I use a spam guard? The dangers of SPAM and how to avoid it
It is important to use an anti-spam program or application, because these allow you to keep your e-mail accounts more secure. In such a way, that you can protect your personal information and status of the team.
You should know that there are not only spam emails from those that are sent as a repetitive or recurring message. But there are also those that may contain malware intended to steal your information or cause damage to your teams. Such damages can be solved or in the worst case not. It is common to happen for those few experienced users or for some carelessness.
Similarly, save time by not having to check emails of this type, because you can even identify those senders who use fraudulent or unbelievable accounts. The best way to avoid it is through any anti spam program.
We suggest that if you do not have them and you receive any suspicious mail, never open the document or the link that comes attached to it.
On what platform can we be victims of SPAM besides email? span>
There are many platforms where you can be a victim of unsolicited mail. Since, nowadays you can connect from any device to almost any platform.
Blogs
blogs are sites where spam can usually exist , because users do annoying practices to gain recognition, intimidate, or for unethical purposes.
Social networks
Those sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and many more often send junk mail from pages you don’t follow, from other users or from any other similar content.
Forums
These types of websites are intended to share information or discussions mainly. But, there are cases where malicious users use it to spam various things.
Instant messaging
Even if you don’t believe it, instant messengers can receive spam, and not only through text messages. You can also receive them by platform like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Skype and others.
>
Inside gaming platforms
It is common for online games to have options to add friends or send messages. So that by these means you can also send junk messages that only generate annoyance, or that can steal user information.
In summary, spam can affect virtually any area . Either for annoying purposes, to discredit or for more dangerous purposes. Therefore, it is very important to be aware of this type of modality.