Olga: Spam is becomming a real danger for any e-mail account worldwide. The problem is not so big if you receive only 1 spam letter per day, but if you get a a pile of spam letters every day this is very disturbing. I'm using 11 different e-mail accounts at work and I sometimes the amount of spam seems truly enormous.

Dimitar: It is true. I'm nervous every time I opem my Microsoft Outlook and if I go this way I'll probably need to start visiting a shrink. I also check about 10 different POP 3 e-mail accounts five times a day and SPAM comes from everywhere. Let me say that I'm very conservative in my behaviour as a web surfer. I don't leave my personal data or e-mail anywhere and never open attachments came from third party.

Olga: I get about 1,500 letters every day and only about 30 of them are informative and useful. Others are just Spam. I don't think anyone likes Spam, except spammers who want to get some form of profit. But they maybe also hate spam to come to their mailboxes. I remember that web hosts have not used to offer antispam and anti-virus protection six years ago. No any of them adds antispam and anti-virus as features to their standart offerings.

Dimitar: It was not too much spam in the late 90's. The "Goog old times". I'm talking the same way my father explains the life in sixties. Everithing was "better" then! But let's get serious. It is true that there was not too much spam then, but at the same there were no too many e-mail users where to send it. Now they are billions of mailboxes and they will become more and more. Is this mean we will be receiving more and more spam?

Olga: It can be like that. You've perhaps noticed that the number of spam increases together with the inreased popularity of your web site.

Dimitar: Sure, but I have a feeling that my e-mail is a few hundred times more popular then my web site!

Olga: :) So, to avoid spam-letters you may hide your e-mail and to give it only to friends, partners and people you work with. Never use it to register in any kind of forums, social networks and anywhere whre someone may obtain it and use it for spam. The use of a special anti-virus and anti-spyware software programs with regularly updated definitions also helps.

Dimitar: You mean I'll stop receving all this!

Olga: Well, keeping you e-mail in safe helps a lot but will not completely resolve the Spam problem. Of course it helps you a lot to decrease the number of unsolicited e-mail messages in your mailbox. Be adviced that you may not place any kind of e-mails on your web pages. It works like invitation to spammers. If you need to make sure your customer will be able to contact you, place the e-mail in an image file or use a contact form. I have to say however that both put only a little obstacle in spammers' way who use "smart scripts" to find a way to send you something. Check for some advanced antispam contact forms which require additional step to be made so someone would send you a message.

Dimitar: It is also interesting to say more about how web hosting companies fight against spam. Take a look at Olga's suggestions.

Use a Secure Mail Server Connections

You can use a secure e-mail connection in two different ways - by using encryption or by placing a firewall.

The most frequently used encryption methods are SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and TLS (Transport Layer Security). Please note that if an encryption is used incorrectly, a security breaches may occur. This may happen if both secure and non-secure elements are used in one and the same web page.

Securing Mail Server Protocols

This is the next step after securing mail server connections. You can also limit the number of connections and authentication errors or to set a time-out for the sessions help to protect a server.

Securing Email Control Parameters

These are so-called grey and black lists are used. "Grey lists" are such kind of lists where a server saves the recipient and the sender's IP and returns a temporary error. Black lists usually contain the lists of IP addresses of open-relay servers, open proxies and ISPs with no spam filtering.

Also host control is used for ensuring only valid emails. There are two main methods to do it. They are SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and DNS based black hole lists.

Secure Configuration and Administration

There is no an perfect solution that can ensure a full protection. Each method has its breaches. The best approach is to implement those methods that best suit your needs.