Spam - the sending of unsolicited emails, and Phishing, the sending of spoof messages intended to persuade you to give up senistive, personal details are clearly on the increase. For some people, Spam is threatening the internet revolution. But what are the facts?

From the analysis of Trend Micro, a company that specializes in computer security, you can clearly see that the year 2004 was a record year for the distribution of computerized viruses: 30 attacks, 28 of which were medium risk and two high risk. Three worms held the first position: Bagle, Mydoom and Netsky, which, together with their variants, were the cause of 25 of the registered attacks.

Email was the preferred channel of diffusion used by the hackers, but some choose other channels to illegally to create more serious damage. The indiscriminate sending of email messages and/or newsletters (Spam), without the consent of the receiver, is illegal. In some countries the authorities established that: to send email published without the consent of the receiver is illegal. If this activity is done systematically for profit, you also violate a criminal norm and could be reported to the judicial authorities.

There are several sanctions, and in the worst cases, even imprisonment. The considerable damage that these activities have done to companies and people has been enormous. Moreover, another tragedy called Phishing (the name given to the system that captures information like passwords or other personal information) is used by many hackers that pretend to be reliable people seeking information. These hackers send false emails containing eBay, Pay Pal graphics and official logos and also offer Banking and Credit Card services. They ask for personal data, often your passwords or Credit Card numbers, which ends up in the data bank of the hacker who had sent the false email. The experts define this illegal practice as a form of “Social Engineering”.

Europe and the United States have promoted two very distinct initiatives that will start at the same time. The intention is to defeat that virtual monster that has caused damage amounting to millions of dollars.

“Safer Internet Plus” is the project carried forward in Europe. The main target of the project is to beat Spam. The American project on the other hand is called “Digital PhishNet” and is based on the collaboration of several institutions, such as the FBI and private companies. The target is to identify and to bring to justice those people responsible for online fraud.

Hopefully, as we gain a better understanding of the overall threat posed by internet hackers and other illegal user of the internet, we will be better able to counter the attack. Only time will tell!