Spam and Viruses

I have never really paid much attention to the spam mail I have received. I always would delete any e-mails that don’t concern me. I now understand how spam can become a big problem. The good thing is that there is a lot of information out on the web to educate someone who doesn’t know about spam e-mail and viruses.
I came across two websites that I think are useful. Trend Micro (http://www.trendmicro.com) has a large amount of virus protection products. They are in the Top 40 vender value in 2006. They also have all kinds of free products to use, of course all come with some stipulation. They have to make money somehow. They have a free virus scanner which scans your computer for viruses if you don’t already have the protection. If viruses are identified it lets you know that viruses were found, but to clean them you have to sign up for their software.
The Symantec website (Symantec, 2007) delivers security information. It is targeted mostly to commercial businesses, but I found a page that was interesting. It was called Threat Explorer and on this page it named current spam or bogus e-mail messages. It goes all the way back to 1999.
It was interest but long to read all the reading assignments. I know that I now have a great knowledge of virus hoaxes and spam e-mail to look out for. There is so much out there and it is very easy to believe what you read. It makes me think about what else is out there that isn’t true.

References
Symantec (2007). Threat explorer. Retrieved February 8, 2007, from http://www.symantec.com/enterprise/security_response/threatexplorer/risks/hoaxes.jsp
Trend Micro Incorporated (2007). Retrieved February 8, 2007, from http://www.trendmicro.com