I actually don't check my spam folder (Gmail) very often, I sometimes forget about it. I looked inside tonight and I cannot believe the amount of websites that know my name and my email address. Where and how are these spam sites obtaining my personal details. Maybe I need monitor and take this folder more seriously?
Hi Kol12
It comes from everywhere. You leave your email on a site, the site is compromised, details are stolen. Basically it happens every day. LinkedIn, Target, Home Depot, Yahoo they've all been broken into. Email address are then sold. Yahoo had 500 million accounts compromise and they stole address books from every account. Almost guarantee you have a friend with a Yahoo account.
Next every site you use should have a privacy policy. Most of us don't read but should. These policies state how your personal data will be used, if it can be sold, if it is supplied to business partners etc.
Finally email traverses the Web in clear text. That is why you never put personal information within eg., driver licenses, governement id numbers in mail.
I tell my students check spam / junk every day, nice short list, and use the empty folder function to clear. I say check every day as every once in a while a real email gets sorted there.
Ken
I use a different email address for every site I register with. It's easy to do in Yahoo mail with its 'disposable addresses' feature, less so (but possible) to do something similar in Gmail...
https://business.tutsplus.com/articl...ses--cms-21001Gmail doesn't offer anonymous disposable email addresses, but you can add a period anywhere in your email address, or append a plus sign to the end of your email and add any text you want after it to make a new email alias.
If a particular address then gets on a spam list you could set a filter in Gmail to reject it or send it to Trash.
Oh, and it's not just websites that get compromised. Anyone you've sent an email to could have had their contacts list harvested should they have picked up some malware.
Yes everywhere, my Spam folder appears more like a Scam folder, a lot of money related scam stuff... I tend to think I visit mostly legitimate websites, my guess is our details are obtained more from the big cheesy websites like the ones you mention...
Yes will check privacy policy's more frequently.
Gmail is Https so data should be encrypted...
I heard that Gmail scans all incoming mail for viruses too...
Oh the legitimate companies linked to random email addresses also...
So does Yahoo (they use Norton) but don't rely on it for full protection!
The virus writers keep modifying the code to stay one day ahead of the latest virus definitions. I have seen viruses appear in my Spam folder that I could download on the day they arrived, but were detected and blocked by Yahoo the following day. Same goes for your own AV, it's always a day behind the latest threats.
I thought the spammers used software and dictionary lists to generate random email addresses with every possible combination of words and numbers eg
billywhizz1@gmail >>>> billywhizz999999@gmail
then just send out millions, scattergun style.
At least they gave us the word pr0n . . .
On Gmail being https, all mail sites should be secured but that is the connection between you and gmail or whoever. Once you click send and it has to traverse the net it is clear text.
You can encrypt through other processes but most people don't.
There is a site @Mailinator.com. You can put anything you want in front of it to to create a disposable address. The "Security and Privacy" are achieved by the randomness. You can then respond to those verification emails.
The scanners in Gmail and Outlook do an excellent job these days. I use one account for all non financial / personal reasons. The junk goes to junk and it is quickly dealt with.
Ken
Spam is not really an issue these days, unless you use some odd email provider.
I make my emails public and all spam ends up in a spam folder as expected.
You can always filter it more thoroughly forwarding it via several emails.
As for the question, if you register somewhere, you give a consent to share your email for any purposes.
Quote