Is Spam on the Increase?

Date Posted: January 24, 2007

Some of you may have been noticing recently that the amount of Spam you are seeing is on the rise. Well, you are not alone. Recent national news coverage has discussed the increase in the amount of Spam that has been seen by many companies and individuals around the globe. While BTInet and it's partners make every effort to limit the amount of Spam that reaches our customers, Spammers are constantly changing the way they distribute their "content" in an effort to circumvent the blocks ISP's and Spam blocking software vendors utilize to prevent these messages from reaching you. We take your enjoyment of our service and the type of e-mail you receive seriously and are constantly working with our partners to counteract the new methods spammers are utilizing.

The following are some recent articles and news casts that discuss this new trend in Spam e-mail.

• NBC Nightly News: "It's not your imagination - Spam is on the rise"
• Barracuda Networks: "Spam doubles, finding new ways to deliver itself"
• Postini: "E-mail Spam becomes front burner issue again in the new year"

If you are asking yourself "What can I do to limit the amount of Spam I receive?" please keep the following in mind.

• A lot of Spam comes from every day people whose computers are unknowingly infected with a mass mailing virus/worm that allows spammer to hijack your computer for their own use. While BTInet does scan all incoming and outgoing e-mail for viruses, there are many other sources where you could become infected that are outside of our control. For this reason, make certain you have up-to-date anti-virus and firewall software on your computer and run a thorough virus scan of your system on a regular basis to prevent an infection and remove one if it exists.
• Be careful where you use your e-mail address online. If you need to use your e-mail address to register with an online site, make certain to read the Privacy Policy of that site. If there is any doubt as to how secure that company will keep your information, or if they state they will sell or share your info with their "partners" you may want to reconsider providing them with your e-mail address.
• Do not open an e-mail that is suspicious to you, especially if it isn't from someone you know personally and it contains an attachment.
• If a majority of your e-mail messages have the word "BULK" or "SPAM" at the beginning of the Subject line, you are seeing one feature of the BTInet Spam Filter service we provide. If you no longer want to receive these messages in your inbox, or want to see what further options our Spam Filter offers, you may want to check out Article SPAM10 on our FAQ site.

For your reference, the article "Is BTInet Really Blocking Spam" posted to Subscriber News gives a break down of the amount of Spam we have blocked in the last two months.

We hope this information proves beneficial to you and we look forward to continuing to provide the best Internet service possible to our subscribers.