Tips to avoid spam

Symantec Hosted Services says New Brunswick is the most spammed province in Canada: 92.5% of email there is spam.

Not that there’s much difference between worst and first. Newfoundland is the least spammed province, with a spam rate of 86%.

According to Symantec’s MessageLabs, 90% of spam is sent by five to six million private computers that have been compromised by cyber-criminals. Organized into automated robot networks, or botnets, these computers send an estimated 120 billion emails each day.

Spam drains valuable business resources such as bandwidth, processing power and employee productivity. Here are Symantec’s tips to reduce the chances of falling victim to spam:

• Protect your email address: Exposing your email address online puts you at risk of being targeted. Keep your real address private and only use it with trusted contacts. Use a disposable email address for other online sources.

• Never reply to unsolicited emails: Acknowledging a spam email, even to complain, validates your email address and can lead to more spam.

• Do not click on hyperlinks in unsolicited emails.

• Never open attachments in unsolicited emails: Attachments may install malware on your computer.

• Avoid downloading pictures in spam email: These can notify the spammer that their message has been opened. Many email applications allow you to turn off images that don't come from trusted sources.

• Use privacy controls on social networking sites such as Facebook: Limit what others can see on your profile. Be careful how much information you share about yourself and be careful who you add to your trusted circle of friends.