| y companies spam is a serious issue, one that can | | | | Educate users about what they need to do if they do |
| affect the productivity of their employees. A recent | | | | receive spam. Develop a policy on the personal use of |
| study showed that the average computer user can | | | | company computers for sending or receiving emails or |
| spend 20 to 40 minutes every day, just wading | | | | accessing personal email accounts and determine |
| through spam. For a small business the time spent | | | | what will be considered "acceptable use". Educate |
| could be like having a full-time employee on staff just | | | | employees about "phishing" to help prevent identity |
| to deal with spam or junk email, which constitutes | | | | theft scams. |
| more than half of the global traffic of e-mail, according | | | | Spammers can also harvest email addresses entered |
| to the latest report of the global computer security | | | | on web sites. A reputable site will adhere to a privacy |
| company Symantec. | | | | policy and you will be able to opt not to receive any |
| If there is a lack of spam control it is also much more | | | | email promotions. Some sites don’t use such |
| likely that destructive viruses, trojans, worms, hijacks | | | | ethical practices and it is often difficult to tell which are |
| and phishing will be able to enter the system. If a | | | | reputable sites and which are not. Educate employees |
| company network is attacked by any of these, it can | | | | to avoid entering their company email address on sites |
| cause extensive damage in loss of productivity as well | | | | and to use a disposable email address such as Hotmail |
| as expense for repairs. One important point to | | | | or Gmail that can be discarded if it becomes |
| understand is that spam cannot be 100% eliminated, no | | | | overwhelmed with spam. |
| matter what hardware or software you install. It is | | | | An email address becomes more valuable to a |
| important for companies to set clear policies regarding | | | | spammer if it is proven to be active, and that the |
| the handling of email within the company, to prevent | | | | spam arriving at the inbox is actually being read, or at |
| abuse and help protect the network. | | | | least opened. Inform employees to never click to |
| Many employees are not savvy enough to recognize | | | | unsubscribe link, or any link for that matter, in spam |
| all spam and just one click is all it takes to shut down | | | | emails they receive. This only serves to identify an |
| e-mail servers or corrupt important data, wrecking | | | | active email account to the spammer and will likely |
| havoc on an entire company network. Any employee | | | | create an escalation in spam. |
| that has internet access should be made aware of the | | | | Of course these measures will never completely |
| potential hazards of spam, how to recognize it and | | | | eradicate spam, which is most likely an impossible task |
| what steps to take. While extreme vigilance is far | | | | since spammers continue to create new and ingenious |
| from the perfect solution, it seems to be a necessary | | | | ways to harvest addresses and invade email. But |
| precaution for any company with internet access and | | | | armed with knowledge and vigilance there is much an |
| that means educating employees in the proper and | | | | employee can do to at least keep spam at bay. |
| safe use of email and the internet in general. | | | | |