E-Mail

An abbreviation of 'Electronic Mail', email allows you to send and receive messages anywhere in the world, easily and inexpensively. As a result, it's one of the most popular applications on the Internet.

To access e-mail, you need a 'mail client' which can either be Internet based (such as Hotmail) or a program loaded onto your computer (such as Outlook). This gives you a platform through which you can send and receive messages.

The main system used for e-mailing is the Internet's 'Simple Mail Transfer Protocol' (SMTP), which stores and forwards any message to your mail program. Messages are sent to a virtual mailbox, and are held until you open or delete them.

Problems

As useful as e-mail is, its convenience is being threatened by three problems: spam, phishing and e-mail worms.

1. Spam

Spam is simply any unsolicited commercial e-mail. Spammers can send millions of e-mail messages every day, for very little cost. Although very annoying, there are many programs now available designed to trap junk mail.

2. Phishing

Phishing involves fraudsters sending e-mails under the guise of banks or other official institutions, in an attempt to get hold of sensitive information such as account details, credit card numbers and pin numbers. It is estimated that approximately 1.8 million computer users in the US have suffered losses due to phishing in the last 12 months. There are several anti-phishing software programs available.

3. E-mail Worms

E-mail worms use e-mail as a way of replicating themselves into vulnerable computers. They can delete files on your system or even send spam to other computers via your email. These attacks are almost entirely confined to the Microsoft Windows operating system.