Workplace Challenges
Small business finds ways to control spamThe tech quandary for many small businesses isn't about building a better website or when to buy Microsoft's new Vista operating system. It's an old problem managers thought they'd already licked: spam. |
|
 [ 2007-03-05 ] |
© 2007 Jupiterimages Corporation.
Unwanted commercial e-mail has surged in recent months as online fraudsters, bogus pharmaceutical suppliers and others send billions of pieces of spam engineered to pierce defences at companies of all sizes. The share of e-mail deemed junk rose as high as 80 per cent last month from as low as 47 per cent in September, software security firm Symantec said.
Small businesses are especially vulnerable because they don't have full-time tech managers or big budgets to fight back.
"They put up fewer defense shields," said Mike Song, co-author of The Hamster Revolution: How to Manage Your E-mail Before It Manages You, published in January.
Most of the nation's six million small employers have access to anti-spam shields on their computers; they just need to use them, Song and other e-mail authorities said. Need something stronger? Consider adding low-cost or free spam blockers such as MailWasher. Plus, don't forget that small companies need employee e-mail-use policies, too.
In Minneapolis, self-employed publicist Alexis Walsko said her share of e-mail that is spam doubled in the past year to 350 a day. Even so, as little as five per cent of the mail that gets to her in-box is spam because she makes sure to use the filter built into her Outlook e-mail program. "I have just learned to deal with it," she said. "Seems like spam is here to stay."
It's common for professionals to spend 40 per cent of their time reading and sending e-mail, Song said. "They feel like hamsters on a wheel. The more people send messages, the more they get back."
Spam is more than a nuisance. It may carry malicious programs that allow hackers to penetrate a PC's security and view personal information such as credit card numbers or social insurance numbers. Plus, a torrent of spam can bury legitimate e-mail such as customer complaints, said Stephen Whetstone, vice-president at legal software maker Stratify.
Tips for dealing with spam:
- Don't just delete.
That does nothing to slow the arrival of more junk mail from the same sender.
Instead, use filtering tools built into widely used programs. In Outlook, right-click on offending mail, choose junk e-mail, then add the sender to your blocked list. Users of Yahoo's free e-mail program can check a box next to an e-mail, then click on "spam." Google's Gmail has a similar feature.
- Write an e-mail policy.
At most, 10 per cent of small companies have formal policies, Song estimated, and among companies that do, most are "just gathering dust.". Small businesses don't think they're big enough to justify something so formal.
Good policies remind employees that computers are for business and not personal use. They outline when to use company e-mail addresses to buy products or register for services online. They tell how to use anti-spam software. And they remind employees to report surges in spam to supervisors.
- Try "disposable" addresses.
Create an account in an e-mail program that lets you automatically forward mail to your permanent address. Use the new address when signing up for online offers. If spam overwhelms the disposable address, delete it and create a new one.
Here's an example. A Massachusetts book dealer creates the address bostonrarebooks@gmail. com. He programs the account settings so all mail is forwarded to his permanent address, bob@bostonrarebooks.com.
Bob uses the Gmail address to subscribe to trade magazines and to buy office supplies. Months later, if spam becomes a problem in the Gmail account, Bob can delete it without jeopardizing his permanent address.
- Boost defences.
Free programs such as SpamBayes and MailWasher work with Outlook and other e-mail programs for additional anti-spam protection.
In Los Angeles, consumer goods wholesaler Via Trading installed SpamBayes on its 20 employee computers. Chief executive Jacques Stambouli said employees adjust the program to their own needs. "It really works -- really, really well," he said.
Self-employed website designer HollyAnn Carbino in Schuylerville, N.Y., uses MailWasher, which likes MailWasher because it offers more options for deciding what's spam.
Do you have you a bad boss?