4 Tips on Talking to Non-techies about Spam and Phishing

Last month my predecessor wrote about some things we as email admins could do to help others fight spam and phishing. In that article Ed mentioned four actions regular folks could take. Of course, sometimes figuring out where to start is more difficult than the rest of the process, so in this post I want to provide you with seed material for your article, the conversation you need to have with the teacher, the reply you need to send to that chain letter, or some things you can say to your family about signing up for things.

1. The newsletter

I leave it to you to pen your intro, closing, and to frame your topic, but here are some bullet points to include in the body.

• Create a free email account on one of the web based services just for special offers. Check it regularly for those weekly coupons, and cancel it when the spam to good mail volume gets out of hand.
• Don’t forward chain letters and jokes, but if you really must share, bcc everyone, and take a minute to delete all but the actual message, removing all the dozens or hundreds of email addresses embedded in the body of the email.
• Only subscribe to newsletters and special offers from companies you trust, and pay close attention to any checkboxes in forms that you fill out. Reputable companies should require that you opt in to receiving email from them, but some try to help you by ticking that checkbox for you.
• Don’t use your company email address for personal use. Most corporate systems are more aggressive with detecting spam than personal accounts, which may prevent you from receiving email that you actually want.
• Don’t post your email address on web pages, in forums, or discussions. Use a contact page or mask your address to make it harder for automated spiders to capture.

2. Distribution groups

Help that teacher, coach, parishioner, or block captain to communicate with the masses safely by showing them how to set up a free distribution group. Google Groups, Yahoo Groups, Live Groups, and others all have free services that allow for moderated group mailings that protect subscribers’ email addresses from abuse. It costs nothing, and takes only minutes to sign up. Explain to them that by moderating a group, they are able to ensure no one abuses the group by posting off-topic or inappropriate comments that get to the members, and they are also not sharing out everyone’s email address to everyone else in the group.

3. Responding to a friend about chain mail

This one can be touchy, since you don’t want to offend your friend, but you also don’t want to keep blasting your email address to a hundred complete strangers. Reply to your friend with a link to this post over at RetroHack . It’s humorous, gets the point across, and puts any offending action on him instead of you.

4. Talking to your friends and family

Having the talk with a friend or family member is really a combination of the first three, adding in the necessary precautions about sharing too much personal information online. You know your family and your friends, and they look to you as an authority about online matters (even if the kids seem to flout that authority.) An excellent example may be searching online for their name, telephone number, or email address to see how much is already out there. Tailor your conversation to the technical level that is appropriate, but have that conversation. Don’t assume that they have picked up on your example…explain just how dark and dismal the underbelly of the Internet can be, and remind them that anything that goes online is forever.

By taking these actions, having these conversations, and actually helping people, we can all make the Internet a better place for the people we care about. Hopefully, this will make the process easier for you to begin.