Opinion: Why spam is so hard to beat

In our blog, we write a lot about creating emails and working with e-mail. We have already discussed what future awaits email , how to protect our correspondence , and how the managers of large IT companies work with mail. Today we will talk about another important topic - how to beat spam. This is the question that Quora users asked. It was answered by Illari Davies, founder and director of anti-spam service Vanquish Labs (received the Editors' Choice award from PC Magazine). We present to you the main thoughts of his notes.

How does spam come about

Mail services like Gmail take action on spammers, the activity of which they learn in various ways:
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• There are complaints from spam recipients and service providers.
• Heuristic tools scan outgoing messages (including mass mailings) for unwanted content, and also take into account the absence of previous communications between the sender and the recipient of the letter.

Services for creating mailing lists also do not cooperate with spammers and do not want to put up with the fact that they use their power. Otherwise, these services would be blacklisted.

First, a significant portion of spam is sent without the knowledge and consent of the owner of the mail server. That is, it is sent from “zombie computers” infected with malware. Zombies are not limited to server stacks in data storage and processing centers. Not only computers are used to send spam, but also mobile devices - attackers send spam to addresses from users' address books, so the likelihood that a letter will be opened and read becomes higher.

Secondly, spamming is often stimulated unintentionally. Let's say Lenovo offers partners a commission of 1% of sales of Thinkpad laptops, if they lead buyers. The company issues referral codes (for use in references) to organizations that previously contributed to Lenovo's sales growth.

Referrals of the first level give out a new code to referrals of the second level, who in turn pass it on to the next level program participants. Form a kind of pyramid. The manufacturer cannot track the entire course of this activity, since at each level of the sales pyramid, participants issue a new referral code.

As the commission becomes smaller with each new level, the referral is looking for a more profitable and effective way of influencing a wider audience. And, of course, each new level of participants is increasingly moving away from the ethical standards of the manufacturer.

Why it is impossible to block spam based on previous communications

There are several good methods for identifying a mail service that sends spam, but again, the owner of the service often does not know that his equipment is being used by attackers for their own purposes, and the source of the mailing is constantly moving.

Internet providers or email gateways could detect previous communications with the sender of each incoming letter, but this is not the most effective way to combat spam. Indeed, in this case, the message from each new client would be regarded as spam. Relatively speaking, anyone who reads an article by an author online and wants to discuss it with him will write to him from a previously unknown address.

Economic reasons for spamming

Ultimately, the low cost of Internet services contributes to the spread of spam. When using e-mail, attackers do not have to worry about per-minute payment and postage, as when sending regular letters and making phone calls. And since access to the Internet is paid only on a monthly basis, spammers can spread millions of emails at no additional cost.

Consequently, the problem of spamming should be solved at the economic level, Davis is sure. Electronic mailing should be unprofitable for spammers. Laws and punishments in this case are powerless, because, firstly, spam is often sent unintentionally, secondly, sometimes its source is difficult to detect and, thirdly, law enforcement agencies do not always treat this problem with due attention.

There is an excellent anti-spam solution called Sender Bond or Attention Bond. Its essence lies in the fact that the sender of the mailing depositing a sum of money as confirmation that his message is not spam. If the recipient marks this message as spam, then the deposited amount is transferred to a conditional deposit account.

Great hopes were pinned on this system; in the early 2000s, it was tested by IronPort, Vanquish and Microsoft. But the mechanism was difficult to understand, moreover, an internal struggle broke out between its participants. As a result, investor interest waned, and the tests were terminated.

In his opening speech at the World Economic Forum, Bill Gates predicted that this technology would end spamming. Unfortunately, his vision was somewhat ahead of time and caused only ridicule.