There is always something about us Indians that makes the world take notice. Often, in the wrong sense. While you have some people appreciating the work we do, others are just plainly pissed off at hearing an Indian talking on the phone when they call customer support. There is some latest development that puts India in a bad light globally.
While the internet penetration in India is low and total number of Indians using the internet is quite less, there is one area where India gets a dubious distinction on the internet. India contributes a staggering 7.7 % to the internet spam of the world! It comes second behind USA, which tops this black list. These numbers were released by the security analysis firm Sophos. USA heads the list followed by India, Brazil and UK.
Just two days ago, we had reported that RBI is seeking the help of the CBI to fight phishing in India. Spyware and other malicious software also form a part of the internet spam. The reason why internet spam continues to grow is because of the monetary benefits associated with it. For every millions of users who ignore spam messages, there are a few who fall victim and this is good enough for spammers to continue spamming.
You would probably have been bored of all the junk and spam mails you were getting and wondering how they got your email address. This is the extension of how you get calls from various companies asking you to try their new product. They buy email addresses from various websites you would have registered. Spammers have a large database of email addresses and they continuously send out offers and schemes, enticing you to click and register.
From how I look at it, spamming will continue for three main reasons: First, users will leave their email addresses in all sorts of places to access a service. Second, spamming is the cheapest marketing tool. Third, people respond to such emails and make the work of the spammers worthwhile.
The way to avoid this is to not give out your email addresses to websites which you don’t trust. Also, when you receive such spamming emails, don’t respond to them. Even when you are reading this, there would be some internet user who would have clicked on a spamming email. Basically, the way out of this is to spread awareness and make the casual internet user aware of the danger he is in.
In India, where there are a lot of new internet users, it is easier to trick and fool them by spam emails. It doesn’t seem as though internet spam will decrease. It is the grim reality and a lot has to be done to change this. What are your thoughts on this?
