Coming in the form of unmissable promotions, miraculous remedies, mind -boggling forms of making money and thousands of misleading promises, spam can come in various ways and with various temptations. You have certainly received such content.
Spam is a strategy implemented by companies that seek to publicize their products and services cheaply , and that reaches as many people as possible. Although it has been practiced since the early days of the Internet, this strategy is not well regarded by users and the market, especially after the general data protection law .
This is because this legislation aims to make companies collect data and send information to their consumers with their consent only. In the case of spam, consent is nonexistent.
In addition to being subject to the penalties imposed by LGPD , the company that ends up known for sending spam also ends up having its image impaired in the market and being poorly seen by consumers, after all, it is a kind of unhappy and unnecessary content.
Placing in simple terms, spam consists of an electronic message that was received without the recipient's request , usually with advertising content. But do you know how this type of content can pose a risk to you and your business? To clarify all your questions about spam, we have prepared this material complete with everything you need to know!
The origin of spam and some examples
Spam is a practice that has been implemented for many years to send advertising content. Although we are used to listening to this term, and using it within our daily lives, many people still do not know its real origin.
The practice of sending unquired messages through electronic channels was named spam because of a humor skit by the British group Monty Python . In a particular episode, two consumers are in a coffee and realize that a canned US brand canned product is present in all menu items, making it consumed regardless of the client's will. Watch the full episode below:
Because of this, the practice of sending unreserved content eventually was named spam. The main feature of this practice is massively sending advertising to random recipients . As a result, spammer (which is the person responsible for sending the spam) seeks to reach as many potential consumers as possible to return from a small portion.
By analogy, we can understand practice in spam as net fishing. A large network is launched into a lake so that the largest number of fish can be captured with this strategy. By concept, this strategy is very similar to phishing practice , however, your goal is to get consumers and customers.
Although it seems interesting for a company to perform a low -cost marketing strategy, these messages end up having a big impact on the business image . This is because they bother many users, who in addition to blocking content, can also report the message as spam.
Thinking about the impact that this strategy can cause within a company, productivity problems certainly lead the list. Workers end up wasting time with messages that are not in the interest of the company and putting the strategy and digital security of the business at risk.
Another very large problem caused by this kind of unwanted content is the loss of important tasks . In a sea of unnecessary emails, important content for the company can end up unnoticed, impairing the continuity of tasks, bringing delays and impacting the company's image in the market.
E-mail is one of the most important communication channels in the company-collaborator relationship, so it is essential to ensure that this is a space free of distractions and content not related to the needs of the business itself, ensuring online productivity .
Some email providers, to combat the threats, began to track the IP from the server from which these spam emails came and created a black list of senders. When a company ends on this black list, all your emails are automatically classified as spam , greatly damaging your image in the market.
In addition to spam in email marketing, which is the most common form of this kind of unwanted content, users can also receive misleading advertising spam.
Consisting of a strategy of false offers and promises, this type of spam aims to make the user open a malicious page or site and provide their sensitive information. These emails can come disguised as irresistible promises, such as miracles in the form of weight loss medicine, products to make hair grow, among other strategies.
The danger of unwanted emails
As we have seen, there are several types of spam that can bring not only annoying, but also security problems for your business. Although most of spam emails are intended to deliver business strategies, this type of content can also impair your company's digital security.
To implement the strategy, companies end up getting the user's email data without consent, usually through lists and companies that sell this type of information . Some of these spam emails may contain corrupted files that can contaminate the company's devices and networks.
These points of vulnerability favor cyber attacks and other threats that can bring substantial problems to the company, such as financial losses, loss of information, data leaks , among other situations.
In addition, in addition to security problems, the company may also suffer from the loss of productivity of employees. When received in excess, this type of content ends up distracting employees and impairing the execution of the activities really relevant to the business.
Spam and phishing, what's the difference?
As we have seen, spam is the term we use to refer to emails (with misleading advertising, chains or advertisements) that have not been requested and are sent in mass. To differentiate it from phishing, we need to clarify some essential characteristics that help differentiate one strategy from another, such as:
Spam
Spam usually contains a commercial message, seeking to offer services or products. In general, this type of email aims to deliver a commercial strategy . In some cases, email may contain the link to the company's website or the product/service being offered.
This type of content may also be related to user navigation data, such as surveys conducted on price comparison sites and stores, and registrations made.
Phishing
Phishing is an attempted fraud through which the cybercriminy seeks to obtain personal information or financial data from its victim. For this, he makes use of tools and social engineering . This type of email is a malicious strategy whose purpose is to collect personal data, apply financial blows or favor cyber attacks.
This type of email, unlike spam, contains malicious links to fake sites or corrupted files, aiming to collect confidential data such as personal information, credit card data (such as numbers, passwords, check code, salary, etc.). This content can also be accompanied by download or update download requests.
We can include as phishing the fake security notices that arrive through the email, informing about a possible contamination with viruses or malware. This email usually victims users who do not have a great knowledge in digital security.
In its content, this same email brings a false solution to the fake problem, usually involving the download of a malicious file.
Important care
While it is virtually impossible to prevent spam content from reaching emails, some practices can help reduce the incidence of this type of practice and avoid problems within your business:
Awareness your employees
Most spam emails are sent by registration on websites . Companies collect our information and end up firing an absurd amount of emails to registered users. It is important for employees to understand the need to avoid registration on any type of page, especially with corporate email.
The large number of unquited messages that are received by spam can impair worker productivity and bring security problems to the business so that this practice should be avoided. Exposure of email on the internet favors the presence of your data on lists that is purchased and sold by companies illegitimately. The less registrations made, the more difficult to use your email to send spam.
Beware of the traps
Electronic devices, cars, gifts, among other things, are usually scams only for information collection. It is important that employees have good behavior in the online environment and avoid at all costs to provide their website data of any kind, especially when it is not directly related to activity performed within the company.
Opt in and opt out
This concept refers to the permission given to send messages and notifications from a website or page to your email box. This type of form is usually found on blogs and news pages, and often the user ends up clicking automatically.
Once they get this consent, the site can email us whenever you want to this user and often with excessive frequency. When it comes to corporate email, this type of content can greatly damage the business, making unquenchant messages that take the time and attention of employees.
It is important that in the 's safe use policy of the company, it is informed that this type of practice is not well regarded and can pose a risk to productivity and business. Employee awareness is the most important part to prevent the company from being impaired and the worker himself undergoes sanctions due to the inadequate use of corporate internet.
OPT OUT, although it seems like a solution to the problem, informs from the user's disqualification that the email to which messages are being sent is legitimate, making a greater demand for this communication channel to be created.
Antivirus and firewall
These features are essential, and it is important for the company to count on these tools to help keep your network safer and protect your information from cybercriminals and suspicious companies.
These tools must remain up to date to ensure that the protection offered is adequate and in accordance with the new practices applied to the market. These updates are made available for a reason, and should be performed whenever possible.
Spam marking
Although it seems obvious, it is very important that unquited messages are immediately marked as spam to avoid receiving new content. Many users end up ignoring their choice, but it is essential to identify the malicious or discomfort character of these messages and the damage it can cause.
This strategy helps block future contacts and avoid overloading your email with unwanted content , maintaining productivity and focus on activities that are really important.
Blocking sites with Lumiun Box
Block access to websites sent on emails and spam messages may be the best solution to avoid data or scams on the internet from this type of attack. Lumiun Lumiun Box is a complete aimed at small and medium -sized Brazilian companies , where the control of internet access and the security of the organization's data guide its features.
With an intuitive panel and without the need for technical knowledge , Lumiun Box blocks websites by categories considered harmful, such as: access anonymitors, hacking, keyloggers, malware and spyware, cryptocurrency mining, phishing and online fraud .
In addition to blocking sites considered harmful, Lumiun Box has the following features:
- Blocking social networks, music, video, pornography and many others;
- Firewall ;
- VPN ;
- Traffic management and network connected to the network;
- Complete and customizable management reports
- And much more.
Make a free demonstration or request a quote without commitment and see how Lumiun Box can add an extra layer of the company's internet protection .
Until later!
