Stop Exchange Server From Relaying Spam

Spam has become an ever-increasing problem in recent years, costing legitimate businesses a great deal in both time and money.

The legislation (CAN-SPAM) covers "transactional or relationship messages," meaning those emails which help a web site to deal with any transaction, even those which are agreed on, or make updates to any customer whether new or exisiting. None of these may contain false or spoofed routing information.

A major provision of the law - It bans any attempt to falsify the information in the header or subject line. These must correctly identify what the message is about, and accurately display routing information as well as  "To" and "from" information. The email must accurately indicate the identity of the sender and recipient. It must accurately portray the domain from which the email originates as well as the senders real email address.

Protect yourself from inbox spam

Do not Fall for the Phisher's Hook. Many spam emails are cleverly designed hoaxes, which are intended to get you to unwittingly divulge private information. They claim to be from your credit card company, bank or other financial institution, and attempt to fool you into divulging personal information such as your social security number, bank account number, password or other private, identifiable information.

Never Respond. Do not click on any banner advertising or send a reply to a spam message. Doing this lets the spammer that yours is a "real, live" address, which will only result in a deluge of even more spam. Unless you have specifically subscribed, do not click on any unsubscribe messages contained in junk mail. Most of these are only intended to fool you into confirming your address as valid. Also, do not forward any junk chain letters you may receive.

How to Report Spam Abuse

Spam is as prolific as the leaves on the trees and because there are so many kinds of it, it is a challenge to find the right site or organization to report spam to.

As the email passes through each computer, information is added to the header indicating who the mail came from, as well as where they are sending it. While this header information will seem complicated, you just need to make note of the originating ISP, which will be easy to recognize. For example, if you receive your mail through AOL and you note "yahoo" in the string of information, then you will know to report the spam to yahoo.

Report to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/spam/ - This site offers you information about the law enforcement actions that have been taken against deceptive mailers and companies and those who do not honor opt-out requests from email recipients.