Search /
Docfinder:
Advanced search  |  Help  |  Site map
RESEARCH CENTERS
SITE RESOURCES
Click for Layer 8! No, really, click NOW!
Networking for Small Business
TODAY'S NEWS
• FBI warns of holiday cyber scams
• U.S. Open used Web filtering to prevent online gambling
• Google Earth used by terrorists in India attacks
• Verizon trounces competition in wireless quality survey
• Mumbai terrorist attacks don't deter technology companies
• Google layoffs: 10,000 jobs being cut, report claims
• Experts to Feds: Sign the DNS root ASAP
• Cisco shutting down between holidays
• Sprint completes Clearwire WiMAX deal
• Mobile sales to beat economic gloom, forecasts Ovum
• Start-ups starting to feel economic pain
• Spam levels fluctuate as crooks try to revive botnets
• Mozilla eyes extra beta for Firefox 3.1
• Grim forecast for holiday e-commerce sales
• Talking Web, memory assistants and solar-powered cell phones headed mainstream, IBM says
•


Web/E-business /
Send to a friend Feedback

How spammers get your e-mail address

Related linksToday's breaking news
Send to a friendFeedback

By Suzanne Gaspar
Network World, 05/13/02

Spammers harvest e-mail addresses from:

  • Chat rooms, discussion forums, Web sites, portals.

  • AOL user profile lists.

  • Corporate Web site e-mail directories.

  • Internet white/yellow pages.

  • CD-ROM list purchases.

  • Trading and selling.

  • Pinging mail list servers to request mailing lists.

  • Extracting addresses from Web browsers via anonymous FTP or Java script.

  • Using an Ident daemon or Internet Relay Chat client.

  • Chain letters hoaxes that require a reply to get a free gift.

  • Headers that browsers send to the Web server visited.

  • Finger daemons that query for logon names of specific users on that host.

  • Guessing addresses, then monitoring for returned mail and errors.

  • Using software that auto-generates e-mail addresses (john@xyz.com, johna@xyz.com, johnb@xyz.com).

  • Modifying mail headers to request a delivery confirmation from the mail system or client.

  • Removing protective phrases added to e-mail addresses to avert harvesting.

    • Related Links

    Apply for your free subscription to Network World. Click here. Or get Network World delivered in PDF each week.

    Get Copyright Clearance
    Request a reprint or permission to use this article.

    To top

    NWFusion offers more than 40 FREE technology-specific email newsletters in key network technology areas such as NSM, VPNs, Convergence, Security and more.
    Click here to sign up!
    New Event - WANs: Optimizing Your Network Now.
    Hear from the experts about the innovations that are already starting to shake up the WAN world. Free Network World Technology Tour and Expo in Dallas, San Francisco, Washington DC, and New York.
    Attend FREE
    Your FREE Network World subscription will also include breaking news and information on wireless, storage, infrastructure, carriers and SPs, enterprise applications, videoconferencing, plus product reviews, technology insiders, management surveys and technology updates - GET IT NOW.
    * HOME    * RESEARCH CENTERS     * NEWS     * EVENTS

    Contact us | Terms of Service/Privacy | How to Advertise
    Reprints and links | Partnerships | Subscribe to NW
    About Network World, Inc.

    Copyright, 1994-2006 Network World, Inc. All rights reserved.