How Do I Reduce Spam?

Personal emails, Business emails and data are all at risk due to spam. It is one of the major email security risks that threatens the very integrity of all emailing services. Reducing the risk of spam can improves the overall security of an inbox. The best exchange hosting providers already have measures in place to help fight and ultimately eradicate spam. Though a challenging task, email service providers, have been implementing Spam Filters and creating a Blacklist directory to detect spam faster and more effectively. Although an online email service has measures in place to detect spam emails, there are additional security steps that email senders and recipients can follow to further reduce the risk of spam. Let’s have a look how.

What Is Spam?

A legitimate business can use a distribution lists to send bulk emails to multiple clients at one time. Unsolicited emails sent in bulk via a distribution list is referred to as spam or spamming. As a result cyber-Criminals often choose spam as a cost-effective way of spreading; Malware, Phishing Links and Scams. No wonder spam poses a major risk to the overall security of an emails and data. A secure inbox is one that actively reduces and or blocks spam.

3 Why Raise the Alarm On Spam?

Preventing unwanted emails entirely is almost impossible however reducing them is not. Spam puts the security of an inbox at risk due to the fact spam emails often contain malware and phishing links. Spam can have unwanted negative consequences on productivity, security and storage. Reducing the amount of spam an inbox receives can have a positive impact on email hosting.

1. Saves Inbox Space

An inbox can only store a fixed amount of emails due to limited storage. Online email service providers are responsible for setting storage limits to inboxes. For example, Email.ICU provides clients with up to 100 GB Of Storage. It is recommended that important emails are stored within the inbox due to limited storage. Though 100 GB may seem like a lot of space for emails, some users do run out of space. In the case of a full inbox, new emails would automatically get rejected. Unwanted spam emails waste valuable inbox space increasing the risk of legitimate emails being rejected. Reduce this risk and save storage by actively removing unwanted spam emails.

2. Improve Productivity

Unwanted spam emails can impact productivity within a business. Without spam filters or blacklists all spam emails will appear within the main inbox. Under those circumstances, users will have to manually remove unwanted emails daily. Unfortunately, this takes time, which consequently costs money. The best hosted exchange solution for businesses ensure measures are in place to detect spam, so that inboxes receive less spam or none at all. Actively reducing the amount of spam an inbox receives has a positive impact on productivity.

3. Increases Security

Each day businesses send multiple emails both internally and externally. In general many emails may contain highly confidential data that require safeguarding, a point often overlooked. Emails stored within the inbox are at risk of being stolen or even tampered with if the email account gets hacked. Lest we forget, spam emails often contain malicious code or links that open doorways to hackers. So, maintaining a high level of security is vital to every company and private emails user. It helps to prevent unauthorised users from accessing inboxes. Spam emails can contain malware that aims to infect systems, malware has the potential to grant unauthorised access to the inbox. As a result, a cyber-criminal can cause havoc on your emailing solution.

How Does Email.ICU Reduce Spam

The best email service provider will have measures in place aimed at reducing spam for clients. Email.ice offers clients a wide range of features that can be customised for spam control. A reliable emailing solution already has built in anti-spam filters and blacklists. As a result, these platforms help in the fight against spam.

Three Anti-Spam Filters

The best email service provider will likewise take advantage of spam filters to reduce unwanted spam emails. So what do they do? Well, spam filters actively scan emails for words or phrases commonly associated with spam emails. A spam email that has been detected by a spam filter is either rejected or redirected to a spam inbox.

Non-spam emails can be redirected to the spam inbox due to a false positive. It is worth noting that some emails not saved in the safe senders list could end up in the spam inbox if the software detects a red flag, like too many links etc. So, we recommend checking the spam inbox form time to time for emails that accidentally end up there.

Blacklists

Emails are sent from servers each with a unique IP address. Cyber-Criminals often use the same server when sending out bulk unsolicited emails. Therefore, all emails are sent from the same IP address to multiple email addresses. A blacklist works by collecting IP Addresses associated with servers known for spam. When an email sent from a blocked IP Address is detected, it is most likely spam. Therefore, it would end up on the blacklist.

How Can I Eradicate Spam?

Do Not Reply To Spam

As a rule of thumb, never respond to unsolicited emails. Responding to a spam email can increase the risk of receiving additional spam emails. Cyber-Criminals send bulk emails to active email addresses. In short, responding to spam indicates the email address is active to cyber-criminals. This increases the chances of a spammer sending future emails.

Limit Where You Post Your Email Address

To receive spam, first a spammer must obtain the email address. Preventing an email address from falling into the hands of a spammer is the best form of spam prevention. Only post your email address when required. Never post email addresses on public forums or discussion boards. Signing up to Giveaways, Random Websites and Coupons leaves your email address vulnerable to spam. At any point, an email address list can be sold to a cyber-criminal. Limiting where you share your email address reduces the risk of a spammer obtaining it in the first place.