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Spam update

According to the book “Spam Nation,” 85 billion spam emails are sent every day and have been for more than a decade.  That means that 70% of all email messages are spam.  If anyone thinks spam is harmless, consider the load on computers and networks and your ISP to push that much data through for no purpose.  As for me, I get this exact email three times a day

You thought escalating your brain activity is nothing more than a pipe dream? These pills will change your life. Don’t miss out on those mind-blowing special offers; find out more about them out here  http://jujhsp.brainbrainbtr.xyz/zcuwsbtwffnp

It is always from a different email sender and always has multiple people in the “to” line with my email address is the middle.  This makes if very difficult for spam blockers to parse it and stop it.

From my research, there are two primary spam machines.  They are both Russian.  The Russians use their own spam machines to sell knock-off pharmaceuticals.  However, these two spam engines are for hire and anyone, including legitimate businesses have hired them.  There is evidence that Ford, Chrysler, IBM, Microsoft, Levitz furniture, Walmart, Macy’s and many other name brand retailers that you would recognize have used the same spam engines as the Nigerian billionaires and Canadian pharmacies.

Companies, both legitimate and criminal, get your email address because companies like Target, Walmart, Amazon, Google and thousands of other companies sell email lists on auction.  People who buy them, either  use the emails for spam or add the data to huge identity databases, building a profile of you.  Google and Amazon both buy data from these companies in order to advertise to you more effectively.  Many months ago, someone leaked that Amazon has a profile on everyone who has bought anything from them.  That profile contains 6,000 data points.  It is possible that Amazon knows more about you than you do.

No database is perfectly secure and as Amazon gets hacked and leaks your personal information,  your spam  will increase.  Like everyone you will get cheap drugs offered and Nigerian money scams, but you will also get spam from companies that you recognize and that you buy from.

There is no real way to stop the spam since the originators are in Russia and  individual home PCs are infected to multiply the sources of spam.  Anyone who owns a Windows computer needs to format their computer and start from scratch twice a year.  Backup photos and documents and just wipe our the computer and start over.  That is the only way to keep malware off the front lines.  No one should ever click on any link in any email without verifying that it is real.  Use an anti-spam and anti-malware system and hope for the best.

There is vastly more spam emails in the wild than actually useful emails.  It is never going to end and cannot be stopped.  The spam machines know everybody’s email and no-one is seriously trying to stop them.  It is too profitable for everyone involved.

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