Beware of a disease called FORWARDITIS

As an organization that is into managing Information Security and Network Security, it is our duty to warn every Email user about the hazards involved in forwarding mails without “cleaning” them up.

Typically people who have the urge to share mails tend to hit the “forward” button without cleaning up the mails.

What we mean is, the email ids of all of the recipients and the mail ids within the mail itself get forwarded to the recipients.

The problem lying herein is that the scamsters capture all these Mail ids and sell it on the internet to other scamsters, Viagra dealers, marketers etc.

When a mail is sent with lots of mail IDs in the CC list, Internet Service Providers’ and the Mail Servers of organizations automatically send these mails to junk folders. And subsequently they have the option to Blacklist the sender.

Also it is very annoying for the receiver to keep scrolling down to reach the actual content.

If you need to send a mail to multiple recipients, then insert their Mail Ids in the BCC column. And remove all the mail Ids from the content, CC field.

Also when a mail arrives,typically you should get suspicious when:

· A mail/greeting comes with an attachment from an unknown sender.

· A mail which says you should forward it to as many people as you can in order to help a cause.

· A mail that asks for help ( Like the one about a long suffering girl who will get funds if you forward mails etc.)

· A mail that says URGENT, IMPORTANT.

· A mail that claims Authenticity by referring to agencies like CNN, BBC, NASA, FBI etc. without furnishing reference links.

If all this is confusing and if you want to find out if a message is true or not, just copy the subject line and Google it or better still, visit dedicated sites like www.snopes.com that maintain an updated database of such scams.

Alternatively, if you would like more technical help, get in touch with us.

Please do communicate and spread this message to your friends so that they too don’t fall prey to the disease called “Forwarditis”.

Keep unwanted mail away with Email filtering

Email filtering is the processing of e-mail to organize it, according to specified criteria. Most often this refers to the automatic processing of incoming messages, but the term also applies to the intervention of human Intelligence in addition to anti-spam techniques, and to outgoing emails as well as those being received.

Email filtering software takes emails as input. For its output, it might pass the message (though unchanged) for delivery to the user's mailbox, redirect the message for delivery elsewhere, or even throw the message away. Some mail filters are able to edit messages during processing.

Common uses for mail filters include removal of spam and of computer viruses. A less common use is to inspect outgoing e-mail at some companies to ensure that employees comply with appropriate laws. Users might also employ a mail filter to prioritize messages, and to sort them into folders based on subject matter or other criteria.

Advantages:

1. Defend against inbound threats

2. Prevent data leakage through emails

3. Encrypt sensitive information

4. Help in analyzing messaging infrastructure.


References: Wikipedia
Inputs from Gerry Tucker. Director- Sales, APAC Proofpoint systems