So I just started working on a project, sponsored by Microsoft, to better understand the architecture of spam. I’m investigating spam at all levels, from the elements of the actual message, the tactics to distribute, and to the financial/criminal incentives to be a spammer.
This blog, found at http://anatomyofspam.spaces.live.com/, is my open research forum where I’ve begun posting all my findings through existing research, interviews with people in the trenches analyzing and stopping spam, and some spammers/reformed spammers themselves.
The reason I proposed this project to Microsoft came from a BBC article I saw last year entitled “Anatomy of a Spam E-mail.” Targeted to a lay audience, it was an interesting piece that outlined a few documentation tactics used in a spam message. A spam message has three goals:
1. It needs to get past your spam filter.
2. It needs you to be interested in it and open it.
3. It needs you to act on the message.
Each goal increases in difficulty exponentially. But spam continues because enough people are acting on the messages to make the spam business still a viable industry.
What I found intriguing about the article was the process of breaking down a message to each core element. The article went only so far and I hope to go further. I’m looking forward to the hunt.
Current posts have to do with image spam. They include:
