As an ISP, we are acutely aware of the spam problem on the Internet. Spam originates from the four corners of the world and as much as ISP's and the federal government have been looking into stopping it, it still flows freely. We have tools in place that block thousands of unwanted email solicitations right at out gateway on a daily basis, preventing it from reaching Destek Connect / ASPI customers. Unfortunately many others still get through.

One of the tools we use to identify spam sources compares the source of the email to third party sites that maintain a list of known spam mail servers. If the source of the email matches a server in the list, the mail is rejected and bounced back to the sender. Lately, however, some of these sites are discontinuing these services due to denial of service (DOS) attacks launched against their sites. There are viruses loose on the Internet that infect vulnerable computers and use them to attack these “black list” sites. A few of the best sites have called it quits and this is why in recent weeks you may have noticed an increase in spam. Destek Connect / ASPI has been using other replacement sites for this service. We currently are using three of these services to curb Spam.

Even recent lawsuits in the news will probably not curb the amount of spam on the Internet. We, at Destek Connect / ASPI, are committed to do everything in our power to find solutions to reduce the amount of junk mail reaching your mailbox and ours!

 Alternative, there is a way to decrease it significantly. First one must understand a couple basics of spam. Mail servers will attempt to spam by dictionary methods. This means they will go through a list with a mail program like:

andrew@somesite.net
....
larry@somesite.net
linda@somesite.net
lindab@somesite.net
lindac@somesite.net
lucy@somesite.net
Etc....

Having a common email address like “linda” significantly increases a chance for a match for these lame mail programs. You can change your email address and matching login to something less common by adding number at the beginning or end or even first initial followed by last name if it is uncommon enough. This will prevent this sort of matching. Technical support can help with this, so please give them a call.

Internet habits are also a major factor and can contribute to the amount of spam a person receives. Clicking on the "unsubscribe" links at the bottom of these unsolicited emails is a wonderful tool for the spammers! It just lets them know they have reached a legitimate email address and then save it in their databases for future spam mail and to be sold to other spammers. Posting to newsgroups or bulletin boards that included email addresses allows one's address to be harvested and sold. "Registering" at web sites will also increase the spam if they sell the address or their system is compromised.

Destek Connect / ASPI does have a new anti-spam service currently being beta-tested by some of our customers to curb spam. We are receiving very positive feedback about this new service. It will allow the end users like your self to control the aggressiveness of the mail filtering. This service will be available to all Destek Connect / ASPI customers paying the $19.95 monthly price schedule (less if paying quarterly, semi-annually or annually). Visit http://www.aspi.net/isp.htm for information on current pricing schedules.

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