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Don't risk attempting to unsubscribe from spam

Read: 9236 Comments: 2 Rating: 20

Monday, April 17, 2017

This issue was inspired by a comment from one of our readers: "I often receive messages even though I never subscribed to the mailing list. And there is no way I can unsubscribe".

If you are interested in a certain subject and want to learn more about it, a mailing list on the topic can really come in handy. Fitness trainers offer mailing lists about nutrition programmes and new exercises; writers can provide a style guide or instructions on how to write a novel; cooking sites share recipes with users; and online stores notify them about promos and discounts… This list is endless. In addition to mailing lists on sites devoted to certain topics, there are also sites that offer mailing list catalogues. And we enjoy receiving messages about things we are interested in or, at least, aren't irritated by them.

But only if we’ve subscribed to the mailing list ourselves.

Unfortunately, spam gets into our mailboxes along with useful messages. Spam emails often feature a button or a link which supposedly can be used to unsubscribe from the mailing list. This gives the impression that the message has been sent by a legitimate, law-abiding organisation. коны.

But can one really unsubscribe? Spammers send us messages we never requested and offer goods and services we aren't interested in. Should we expect these people to eventually act in a decent manner? If spammers were really interested in your opinion, they would never send you dubious messages in the first place.

The Unsubscribe button in messages of this sort doesn't work because spammers do not expect any feedback—they always want to remain anonymous.

When a user presses the button, they get an error message or see a notification that they’ve unsubscribed from the mailing list successfully, but the spam flow doesn't stop or nothing really happens. Or something does happen?

Pressing on any link or a button in a spam message can have the most severe consequences.

  • By pressing on a link, you will indicate that the mail address is being used by someone, which is a signal to criminals that they can and should continue sending spam to the address and possibly sell the information to other criminals
  • An unsubscribe button can also conceal a link to a phishing site. Visiting a site of this kind can be enough to get your system infected with a Trojan.
  • By clicking on a link or a button to unsubscribe, you can initiate a drive-by download of time-delayed malware. And if problems appear in your system after a certain amount of time, you will never connect them with the email. Quite convenient, right?
#email #spam #security

The Anti-virus Times recommends

  1. Never open emails in the Spam folder or messages that look like spam. Do not open links from messages of this kind, and never try to unsubscribe from unsolicited messages; and under no circumstances should you open any files that may be attached to them — just delete the emails.
  2. Pay close attention to what you are doing while registering on websites. Some of them may use your email for purposes other than to simply notify you about certain events related to the site's operation. Alas, your email address may be leaked if the site becomes compromised or deliberately forwarded to a third party. If you don’t read a privacy policy carefully, you may end up consenting to it without realising it. Create a separate mail account for registering on various sites—let spam flow into it.
  3. Use Dr.Web Security Space. Dr.Web Anti-spam will filter out phishing emails—and you will never fall for fraudsters' tricks. The HTTP-monitor SpIDer Gate will help minimize your risk of exposure to bogus sites. Then a Trojan won't be able to steal information from your address book, and crooks won't lure you into divulging your email address. To prevent being exposed to potentially dangerous websites from a mobile device, do not disable the cloud URL filter, and use the call and SMS filter which is included in Dr.Web Security Space for Android.
  4. Always use legal software copies and do security updates for all the applications in the system in a timely manner.

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