Stop the spam The best tips against annoying advertising emails

Technological progress or not: unwanted emails are still loyal companions in 2017. Not only are they annoying, they can also be dangerous. Stop the flood of spam with these tips.

According to experts, around 60 to 90 percent of all emails sent worldwide are spam. And the number of unsolicited advertising emails is even increasing. In Germany, for example, the amount of spam increased by around 73% in the first half of 2016 compared to the previous year.

Spam emails also increasingly contain malware designed to spy on or blackmail recipients. The following tips will show you how you can defend yourself. You can also find more tips on the following Swisscom page: "Beware of spam".

1. use two e-mail addresses and a disposable service

It is helpful to use at least two different e-mail addresses. One address that you really only pass on to friends and acquaintances, and a second address for competitions, forums and online shopping.

The senders of spam search the Internet specifically for e-mail addresses. But even if you guard your private address carefully, you can still expect to receive spam: Real e-mail addresses can be generated from common first and last names with a high hit rate.

For example, if you need an email for a registration but only want to use the service for a short time, you can create a disposable address with services such as wegwerfemail.de. Depending on the provider, you can then only read the emails or also reply to them.

2. train the spam filter

The fact that your digital mailbox doesn't overflow every day is thanks to spam filters: major providers such as Bluewin pre-sort emails.

The emails then end up either in "Friends & acquaintances", "Unknown" or in the spam folder, where they are automatically deleted." Users should train these filters and therefore always mark spam emails as such.

3. spam is becoming increasingly sophisticated

Recognizing spam is no longer so easy, as it is generally getting better and better. It used to be said that you could recognize a spam mail by its bad language. This is no longer the case in most cases.

Instead, senders often use the names of well-known companies, banks, online retailers or telecommunications companies. This increases the likelihood that recipients will think the mail is genuine and open it.

4 Not all spam is the same

Generally speaking, there are different types of spam: Firstly, there is advertising. This is annoying and is often not permitted, but it does not cause any damage to the user's computer. There is also malware spam, i.e. emails containing malware. Ransomware has also become widespread in recent years. These are emails that install ransomware on the computer.

The perfidious malware blocks access to your data and demands a ransom. Private individuals often do not back up their data and make themselves vulnerable to blackmail. Instead, it is better to keep the computer's virus protection and operating system up to date and regularly make a backup copy of all files that are important to you. It is important to disconnect the external data carrier from the computer afterwards.

5. do not interact with spam mails

To protect yourself from malware, you should run a brief security check on every email before opening it:

- Is the sender known?

- Does the subject make sense?

- Is an attachment expected from this sender?

If these three points do not add up, the recipient should delete the email immediately. This is the only way to be on the safe side, as malware can be hidden in the source code of HTML emails. However, if you deactivate the HTML display in your mail program, you are also protected against such attacks.

You should never open the attachment of a dubious e-mail or click on a link - not even those that purport to unsubscribe you from a mailing list. In the most harmless case, you are only confirming your identity to the sender. The sender will then be pleased to be able to sell you.

6. be careful with out-of-office messages

For the same reason, caution is advised with automatic replies (e.g. out-of-office mail during the vacations). You should think carefully about whether it is absolutely necessary to give your telephone number or address. This is because this data could also be sold and misused.

However, spam is not only a problem with emails, but also in social networks. You need to be just as careful with Facebook, WhatsApp and the like as you are with links and emails. In the end, there is only one thing that really helps against spam of any kind: mistrust, mistrust, mistrust.