We all deal with spam. I’m not talking about the canned ham variety, I’m talking about the junk emails that fill our inboxes every day. According to a study conducted by Kaspersky Lab, a multinational cybersecurity and anti-virus provider, 70% of all emails are spam.
For businesses, deleting spam takes up a significant portion of the day, reducing productivity and taking time away from other important tasks. In addition to wasting time, spam emails can cause major problems if opened. Spam email attachments often contain computer viruses which can damage or destroy files and affect computer performance. In a business setting, opening spam emails can infect the entire network, compromising sensitive data and financial information. This is why it’s so important that employees are fully trained on how to recognize and deal with spam.
What is Spam?
Spam refers to unsolicited bulk email messages. These messages include everything from ads for products and services, prescription drugs, pornography, phishing scams, and everything in between. For many of us, deleting spam is part of our everyday lives. We know how to recognize spam emails without a second glance. However, millions of people still fall for spam. If spam didn’t work, attackers would simply stop trying. The fact that so many people click on spam emails daily proves how big of a problem spam really is.
Why is There So Much Spam?
Spam is incredibly cheap and easy to send. It doesn’t take much to send out thousands of emails. Often times, attackers will use infected computers to continue sending massive amounts of spam emails to other users. This is how spam spreads so quickly.
It doesn’t matter how many people fall for spam. If just one person out of 50,000 falls for it the attacker makes a profit. Because so many emails go out at one time, there is the potential for spammers to make a lot of money.
Preventing Spam
Unfortunately there is no way to avoid spam. The best course of action is to learn as much as you can about it so you can avoid becoming a victim. Having a quality anti-virus in place can help protect your computer and network if employees accidentally click on spam email attachments.
If your computer has been infected by a virus, Computer Repair by Marcus can help! Please contact us today.
