What is Spam in Computer?

Last Updated on 2 years by Touhid

Spam is an unsolicited email which sends to the users without their request or interest. The spam email may contain a link called phishing email, which redirect users to a vulnerable website in order to compromise their sensitive information. In this post, we will discuss on “What is Spam in Computer” and types of spam email in computer.

What is Spam in Computer?

What is spam in computer? Spam is unsolicited and unwanted junk email that sent out in bulk to user’s computer through the internet. Typically, most spam message is sent for commercial advertising and phishing, which is economically very cost-effective medium for the spammer.

The spam is sent to the user’s computer in the different form such as bulk email, phishing email, social media posts, text messaging and blog comments.

It is observed, that maximum spam sent as email to the users mail box. Spam emails are time and resource consuming and some spam email are dangerous to handle. Spammer sends email to users in order to get sensitive information such as bank details, credit card information and personal identity.

Types of Spam in Computer

There are different types of spam in computer, which are as follows:

1. Email Spam
2. SEO Spam
3. Mobile phone spam
4. Link Spam
5. Social Networking spam

1. Email Spam

Email spam is a junk or unsolicited email messages that sent from scammers through email system. It is very difficult to identify the scammers and stop the spam email.

So, it is better if you receive a spam email then don’t open or click any links. A spam email may have the following symptoms:

• Sender address may like noreply@company.com.
• Use an unfamiliar sender name.
• Sending domain is not professional.
• Grammar and Spelling Errors.
• Attachment file is suspicious.
• Request for credit card details, payment information.
• Incorrect sentence and repetitive punctuation.

2. SEO Spam

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) spam is also called spamdexing, is a set of techniques which used to improve the search engine ranking of a website. It is the most popular way to gain financial profit by hacking your website.

When the hackers have access your website admin panel, they may inject SEO spam into your website pages. A hacker an access your website using different ways such as outdated software, plugins, themes, admin credentials, and by sending phishing email.

After gaining access to a website, hacker injects their targeted keywords and create a link for malware website.

3. Mobile Phone Spam

Mobile phone spam is an unsolicited and unwanted text message that sent in bulk to target mobile phone.  It is also called SMS spam or text spam.

The scammers sent spam to the mobile phone users through text messaging for the purpose of commercial advertisements. Some mobile recipients have to pay fee for every spam message received from scammers. Most of the mobile users receive or familiar this type of spam message.

4. Link Spam

Link spam is a vulnerable link which is added by scammers on websites, discussion forums, and blog comments. It is also called comment spam or blog spam.

When you are visiting a website or discussion forum section, you may see some post filled with irrelevant links, so these links are spam link. If you click on that link then it may redirect to you a malicious website.

5. Social Networking Spam

What is Social Networking Spam in computer? Social Networking spam is unwanted, malicious, unsolicited content which spread in many ways, including bulk messages, malicious links, fraudulent reviews and fake friends.

Spammers are now spreading spam using social media websites such as Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, or MySpace. They may include vulnerable links, pornographic or product sites of a post using fraudulent accounts.

It is very difficult to track spammers, because they frequently change their address from one account to another.

How to Prevent Spam in Computer?

Already we have discussed “What is Spam in Computer” and types of spam in computer. Now, we will focus on how to protect from spam in computer. Here are some special tips:

1. Don’t publish contact information

Spammers can easily find out your contact address such as email, phone number from your website or social media networking sites. So, it is better to keep your address as private or if possible then don’t publish your contact address on websites.

2. Avoid opening advertisement email

Most spam message is sent for the purpose of commercial advertising and phishing. So, if you receive an email which is related to advertisement then don’t open. This type of email may contain URL to redirect you vulnerable website and gain sensitive information.

3. Don’t Open Suspicious Email

If you think the incoming email is suspicious then don’t click or open that email. A suspicious email may be spam email and it can also contain malicious code.

However, if you click on that suspicious link, then there has a chance to install malware on your computer or you may redirect to a vulnerable website.

To check a link is suspicious or not “hover your mouse over the URL and see where the URL is redirecting to you, if it is redirecting to your targeted site then the link is valid, otherwise the link is scammers site or suspicious”.

Learn more about Malicious Code.

4. Keep up-to-date your website

You have to keep up-to-date your software and services in order to protect from spam. Attackers are looking for website vulnerabilities so; they can inject malicious code, or add spam content into the vulnerable site.

5. Don’t respond to spam email

If you receive a spam email or sender is unknown to you then never respond to that email. If you think the email is mistrustful then you can direct communicate with sender to approve as he sends the email.

6. Don’t Visit Unsecured Websites

An unsecured website may have spam, computer virus and malicious software. When you visit a website please check the site is secured or trusted. So, don’t visit an unsecured website in order to protect from spam to your computer.

You can check a website is secure by SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificate. In URL, you can see that a website starts with https instead of http such as https:// such as: https://www.google.com.

7. Block the Email address

Most of the email providers have option to block the unwanted email address. If you continuously receive spam email from an email address, then there has an option to mark it as Spam. Here are the very simple steps to stop spam emails on email.

• Login and Open the Email Message
• Click on the Dotted Icon on the right side
• Click on Report Spam Email Address

Learn More about How to stop spam email

8. Use a Disposable Email Address

If you have to enter your email address for signup, submit comments, online shopping, travelling or others then try to avoid use your primary email address. In that case, use a disposable or secondary email address to protect from spam in computer.

Conclusion

Finally, spam is time-consuming and it is sent to users for commercial purposes. In this post, we have discussed “What is Spam in Computer”, types of spam and also discussed how to prevent from spam in computer. Hope the article will be helpful for you!!!