Defense against spam

Spam is junk email. It's annoying at best and a security risk at worst. Some spam is harmless. However, spam that is sent by cybercriminals can capture your personal data or install malware on your computer.

5 tips to defend against spam
How spam works
How to unsubscribe from marketing emails

5 tips to help defend against spam

These are some top tips to help defend your inbox against spam: 

 

  1. Use a spam filter. Most email programs offer this tool. Your Q.com email includes an smart spam filter. 

  2. Report any spam messages that get past the filter. In your Q.com email, click the Spam button or icon at the top. You can also report messages to Cisco's Spam Cop. Just don't forward the original spam message to anyone else, as this can cause you to be flagged as a spam sender.

  3. Block the sender. In addition to flagging a message as spam in your email program, block the sender as well to keep their messages out of your inbox. 

  4. Use a good antivirus program. Quantum Fiber customers with 360 WiFi™ get automatic security protection. 360 WiFi includes a built-in firewall that helps keep your network and connected devices safe.

  5. Be cautious. If you see unexpected or unknown content in your email, don't click or open anything unless you trust the sender. Some spam messages are also phishing scams.

How spam works

Spammers send hundreds of thousands of messages in hopes that at least some of the recipients will click on the links or attachments. When someone clicks on a spam email, they're sent to phishing or malware websites, where they're tricked into providing personal information, activating a virus, or downloading malicious software.

Spammers collect email addresses from a variety of sources:

 

  • Buying customer information from marketers and commercial sellers 

  • Forwarded email chains containing jokes, email hoaxes, and videos

  • Email spambots (web crawlers) that harvest email addresses from newsgroups, forums, and social media sites

  • Buying and trading via mailing lists

  • Randomly generating (guessing) common email addresses

Unsubscribe from marketing emails

Not all bulk email is spam. If you provided your email address to a company or website, you likely agreed (in the fine print) to receive marketing emails from them. While these emails are not technically spam, they can still be annoying, clogging up your inbox. Fortunately, it's easy to unsubscribe.

 

To be removed from a mailing list, simply look for the unsubscribe link in the message, usually in tiny print at the very bottom. 

 

It can take several days for your request to be fulfilled, and it's not uncommon to be subscribed to more than one list from a company. Most senders provide an option to unsubscribe from all mailing lists or from specific ones when you click the "unsubscribe" link.

 

The CAN-SPAM Act requires that a mailer process an unsubscribe request within 10 business days. 

Use caution when unsubscribing

Before clicking on that "Unsubscribe" link, make sure the email and sender are legitimate. If you never signed up to receive emails from that company, or if the email looks suspicious in any way, then trying to unsubscribe could actually lead to bigger problems. Scammers sometimes use unsubscribe links to verify email addresses, which are then traded or sold to others, causing you to receive ... you guessed it, more spam. If in doubt, mark the email as "spam" and block the sender instead of clicking "unsubscribe."