Category «E-Mail»

New FTC Study Shows Progress in Combating Spam

FTC press release: “According to a new study released today by the Federal Trade Commission, spammers continue to harvest email addresses from public areas of the Internet, but Internet Service Providers’ anti-spam technologies can block the vast majority of spam sent to these email addresses. The FTC staff report also found that consumers who must …

Subjects: E-Mail, Government Documents, Privacy

Pew Data Shows Surge In Search Engine Use

Press release: “Search engine use shoots up in the past year and edges towards email as the primary internet application…from September 2004 to September 2005 the average daily use of search engines jumped from 49.3 million users to 60.7 million users – an increase of 23%. This means that the use of search engines is …

Subjects: E-Mail, Search Engines

Feds and Industry Join Forces to Fight Spam

A new, joint federal law enforcement and industry initiative to fight Internet fraud, called LooksTooGoodToBeTrue, was launched today (press release, 5 pages, PDF). “This website was developed to arm you with information so you don’t fall victim to these Internet scam artists.” The site provides consumers with documentation on: Types of Fraud; Victim Stories; FAQs …

Subjects: Cybercrime, E-Commerce, E-Government, E-Mail, ID Theft, Privacy

Access to Commercial Email Services Abroad Blocked By Armed Forces

As reported by Stars and Stripes today, “On Tuesday, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps blocked all access to commercial e-mail services, such as Yahoo!, Hotmail, America Online and Google, from overseas government computers…The block includes access to e-mail services from computers at base libraries and liberty centers that are connected to an official government …

Subjects: E-Government, E-Mail, Libraries

Google Continues to Capture Headlines With Free Services and Upgraded Features

Google has been the topic of several articles in the New York Times this week. Yesterday the focus was on corporate expansion, and today there is news about Google Desktop 2, an IM application called Google Talk, and Gmail for everyone (all of these services are free). See also: Google’s Grand Ambitions – Its lips …

Subjects: E-Commerce, E-Mail, Knowledge Management, Privacy, Search Engines

Risk Assessment Survey Indicates Data Breaches Involving Personal Info Are Routine

From the Reconnex August Insider Threat Index: “Ninety-one percent of companies who completed a Reconnex 48-Hour e-Risk Assessment in the month of July had credit card numbers entering or leaving their network and eight-two percent exposed social security numbers. Most concerning was the amount of personal data including name and SSNs exposed directly in the …

Subjects: E-Mail, ID Theft, Privacy

Organizations Seek Ways to Empower Employees To Fight Web Scams

This free feature today from the Wall Street Journal introduced me to a phrase that describes a new and virulent wave of web email scams, referred to as “spear phishing.” Recipients are government and corporate employees targeted by hackers, posing as institution members, seeking personal data. Efforts are described which try to train employees to …

Subjects: Cybercrime, E-Mail, Privacy