|
E-mail Security Help Topics This article will educate you about e-mail security. What is spam?
Why do I receive spam?
How can I help reduce spam?
How does H.B. Plant High School Alumni Association help me avoid spam?
What is an e-mail hoax?
What should I do if I receive an e-mail hoax?
Where can I find more information on the latest e-mail hoaxes and false alerts?
What is e-mail spoofing?
What should I do if my e-mail address is being spoofed?
What is phishing?
What should I do if I receive a phishing e-mail?
What should I do if I responded to a phishing e-mail? If you cannot find your answer, please Contact Us at: support (a) HBPlant.org
What is spam? Spam is unwanted, unsolicited commercial e-mail. << Back to Top
Why do I receive spam? You receive spam because the primary goal of a spammer is simple - to make money. Sending spam is cheap and the returns can be very lucrative. It is estimated that 4.7 million Americans have made purchases from spam messages received in their inbox1 . The more messages the spammers can deliver to inboxes, the greater chance the recipient will click on the message and make a purchase. << Back to Top
How can I help reduce spam? - Do not purchase anything from spam messages. Simply delete the message without opening it.
- Help your ISP identify spam by reporting the spam message appropriately. If you are using H.B. Plant High School Alumni Association's webmail service, select the message and click the 'Report As Spam' button. If you are using a mail client such as Outlook or Outlook Express, consider using a spam filtering program.
- Report spam to the Federal Trade Commission, Spam (a) UCE.gov. Be sure to include the full e-mail headers.
- Many security suite programs include an anti-spam feature to help block unwanted e-mail messages.
<< Back to Top
How does H.B. Plant High School Alumni Association help me avoid spam? H.B. Plant High School Alumni Association helps block spam by using anti-spam filters. These special devices utilize optical character recognition (OCR) to filter out messages that contain key words, phrases, and images commonly found in spam. H.B. Plant High School Alumni Association blocks millions of spam messages per year from reaching our customers. << Back to Top
What is an e-mail hoax? An e-mail hoax is an e-mail message that attempts to trick or deceive the recipient into forwarding the message by creating a sense of urgency or with a promise of rewards. E-mail hoaxes often contain request to "Send this message to everyone you know" or some version of that statement. Other examples of e-mail hoaxes include: chain letters, bogus virus information, free gift certificates, etc. << Back to Top
What should I do if I receive an e-mail hoax? It is recommended that you refrain from passing on chain letters, jokes, and rumors. The best practice is to simply delete the message. Passing along hoax messages waste time, bandwidth, system resources, and inconvenience thousands of people. << Back to Top
Where can I find more information on the latest e-mail hoaxes and false alerts? The following pages contain information on new e-mail hoaxes and false alerts: << Back to Top
What is e-mail spoofing? "Spoofing" is when someone forges the headers of e-mail messages to falsify the origin of the e-mails. Spoofing is usually done when sending unsolicited e-mails, phishing attacks, and viruses. << Back to Top
What should I do if my e-mail address is being spoofed? It's unfortunate but if your e-mail address has been spoofed - short of obtaining a new e-mail address - there is little you can do. If you do not want to create a new e-mail address, you can create a filter or rule for your inbox to delete the unwanted messages. You can also attempt to identify the party that has spoofed your e-mail address by reading the e-mail headers and contacting the responsible ISP that the unwanted messages are being sent from. This process can be very lengthy and frustrating. Chances are you will only be able to identify machines that are compromised and not the responsible party. << Back to Top
What is phishing? "Phishing" is a form of Internet fraud that utilizes spoofed e-mails to lead the recipient to a fake website. The fake website is designed to trick the recipient into disclosing financial information such as credit card numbers, account usernames, passwords and social security numbers. << Back to Top
What should I do if I receive a phishing e-mail? If you received a spoofed e-mail claiming to be from H.B. Plant High School Alumni Association, do not alter the e-mail and forward the e-mail in its entirety, including e-mail header information to support (a) HBPlant.org. If you received a spoofed e-mail claiming to be from a company other than H.B. Plant High School Alumni Association, do not alter the e-mail and forward the e-mail in its entirety to the company that is being phished. Most organizations have information on their website about where to report abuse. Also, forward the phishing e-mail to the Federal Trade Commission, Spam (a) UCE.gov and the Anti-Phishing Working Group, reportphishing (a) antiphishing.org. For more informatin regarding phishing, visit: << Back to Top
What should I do if I responded to a phishing e-mail? Responding to a phishing e-mail may or may not lead to Identity Theft. However as a safety precaution, contact the three credit reporting bureaus and place a fraud alert on your credit report. Initial fraud alerts last for 90 days and each credit reporting agency has established nationwide toll-free number for reporting. Equifax: 1-800-525-6285
Experian: 1-888-EXPERIAN (888-397-3742)
TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289
Placing a fraud alert with the credit reporting agencies entitles you to a free copy of your credit report. Review your credit report carefully and look for suspicious activity. Also, file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. The complaint form for the FTC can be found by clicking Here. << Back to Top
1Rockbridge Associates, Inc. (2005, February) 2004 National Technology Rediness Survey. Retrieved March 22, 2007, from http://www.smith.umd.edu/ntrs/NTRS_2004.pdf
Disclaimer:
All Tradenames & Copyright marks belong to their respective owners. Some of the links in this article are to Internet sites maintained by third parties, no inference or assumption should be made and no representation may be implied that either H.B. Plant High School Alumni Association or its affiliated entities operates or controls in any way any information, products or services on these third party sites. |
Printable
Obits - 11/20
-Active :437
-Non active :2
Search