A Magic Number To Avoid Spam?( Computer Networking Solution)

Spam is a common topic today, all computer user know what spam is? Do you know why people do spamming? The answer is because this method works. It' works in generate sales, membership, opt-in list and etc. This time Computer Networking Solution find an interesting question ask by user in www.pcmag.com. Neil J. Rubenking answer the question.

Q. I was told that e-mail addresses with numbers in them get less spam. Is this true? Is it worth changing my e-mail address for?—Linda Young

A. Spammers get a hold of e-mail addresses in roughly a zillion ways. When you buy something at a small, lesser-known online store there's a decent chance they will sell your address to spammers. Even if it's a big, reputable store that gets your cash, the store's records could still be stolen or leaked. Sign up for a newsletter? Your address could certainly get sold. Ever write comments in blogs or discussion forums that display your e-mail address? Spammers have tools that "scrape" those addresses. That is, they process the text on the page and strip out anything that looks like an e-mail address.

In any of the above scenarios—and plenty more—it doesn't matter what your address is. The one technique your number idea could foil is what is called a "dictionary attack." The spammers get a list of common first names, a list of common last names, and a list of ISP e-mail domains they want to try. Then they generate all possible combinations and fire off a gazillion messages (at next to no cost). Anyone unwary enough to respond gets moved to a list of "live" addresses that can be sold to other spammers. Yes, an address like Joe142857Blow@domain.com would be more resistant to this attack than plain JoeBlow@domain.com.

In general, when you change your e-mail address, it takes the spammers a while to catch up. So any change, with or without a number, will bring temporary relief. If you also change your habits to guard this new e-mail address more carefully, it will take the spammers longer to get you back on their lists. But sooner or later they always seem to find us.(end of answer)

So basically at the moment spam email will still come unless we take precaution. Computer Networking Solution will discuss about it later.