Spam help just one click away

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This was published 16 years ago

Spam help just one click away

COMPUTER users frustrated by spam cluttering email inboxes are being urged to report the messages to a national database.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority has launched a plug-in called SpamMATTERS for Microsoft's Outlook and Outlook Express email programs that will, at the click of a button, forward unsolicited email to the database and delete it from the user's computer.

Email security company MX Logic last year estimated spam accounted for 67 per cent of all email sent worldwide. While most spam is unsolicited advertising, ACMA estimates 10 per cent of spam has malicious intent, such as phishing spam that attempts to steal users' banking details.

ACMA anti-spam team manager Bruce Matthews expects SpamMATTERS to "significantly increase" the amount of information it collects about spam creators. "Spam that is reported using that button is forensically intact," he said. "It contains all the original information within the spam email, which greatly assists ACMA in its forensic analysis of that spam."

Under the Spam Act 2003, individuals and businesses can be prosecuted for sending spam, with a maximum penalty for businesses of $10 million.

ACMA will pass information about spam to authorities such as the Australian High Tech Crime Centre and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. SpamMATTERS has also been integrated into Telstra BigPond's web-based email client.

Jesse Hogan

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