Research Paper Discuss Spam and Spyware

Information technology deals with the employment of electronic computers and computer software and hardware to be able for the required information to be converted, stored, protected, processed, transmitted and retrieved safely and securely.In the 1970s, information technology came into being. However, the fundamental concepts of information technology had been alive before it was termed as information technology. The military and many industries had been able to help each other by developing electronics, computers and information theory. This was evident throughout the 20th century. With the efforts of the military and the funds it had provided, the discovery and innovation in the field of mechanization and computing has been able to provide motivation for newer developments.

According to the history of the information technology, the first computer to be able to used commercially was the UNIVAC I. It was officially released for the use in the United States Census Bureau. This was designed by John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert. During the years when information technology was coiled, the use of microcomputers had been very rampant. This was closely followed by the discovery of the personal computers by the IBM. As the years had progressed, there were four generations of information technology. This four generations had been able to be characterized by decreasing in the size of computers but increasing in the capabilities it can offer. The first generation had used the vacuum tubes whilr the second generation was called the transistors. The third generation used the integrated circuits. And the fourth generation used the very-large-scale-integration which is also widely used until these times.

Today, the term information technology had catered many uses in terms of computing and technology. It is widely used for installing computers as well as for the design of different complex structures of the computers and the storage of information databases.

Importance of Information Technology

Many rapid changes in information technology had occurred. These changes had included the changes in the technology of semiconductor, the storage of information and the various concepts of networking. This changes when combined with the developments in software had been able to allow new opportunities in applications. It had also help in the reduction of costs and the extensive dissemination of information technology. It had also greatly contributed in making information technology more functional and it had further pushed the unending expansion of information technology (National Science Indicators, 2000).

Significance of information technology in the semiconductor technology had been evident in terms of the new advances that information technology had created. Improvements in the presentation of integrated circuits the huge reduction of costs that had been massive had given much emphasis for the advances in information technology to happen. The rampant change of these integrated circuits from large to miniatures had been a great drive for the development of the different advances in the field of information technology. The discovery of the semiconductor chips had offered its users a less expensive cost but a more powerful tool to be used in computing for important devices and equipments. Moreover, semiconductor chips had been omnipresent nowadays. Together with the advancement in the field of semiconductors technology, new capabilities were being added up to the semiconductor chips that had made it a more powerful one. This includes the microelectromechanical systems more commonly known as the MEMs. Microelectromechanical systems are made up of sensors and actuators and processors of digital signal. Processors of digital signal will be able to facilitate the decrease in costs and most importantly it will be able to widen information technology into kinds of devices that are newer.

Spam and Spyware

Spam is defined in electronics as the bulk electronic messages. This bulk of messages are all unwanted and undesired (Aguilar, 1998). The act of using spam is called spamming wherein it is the abuse of electronic messaging systems. E-mail spam is known to be the most widely known kind of spam. Other abusive spam is very common in other media such as the instant messaging system, Usenet newsgroup spam and Web search spam. Others include spasm in blogs, mobile phone messaging, internet forum and some junk fax transmission.

History had noted that the term spam came from the Monty Phyton Spam Sketch. This was set in a nearby café wherein everything that they serve includes the widely known luncheon meat SPAM. The spam-filled menu when recited by the servers some of the costumers (Viking patrons) of the café gets the attention of all the other costumers by singing in chorus a song which goes “ Spam, spam, spam, spam….. lovely spam, wonderful spam”.
The term “spam” had not been widely used in 1970 although the first emergence of unsolicited commercial email had taken place during this year. In 1980, “spam” was used to explain the act that the abusive users who have repeatedly used the word “spam” in the Bulletin Board Systems and Multi User Dimensions. The result of the repeatedly used word (“spam”) will let the user’s text to disappear in their screen (Templeton, 2007).

As the years had passed, the term spam was used on USENET. The term means that there is an excessive multiple posting. The excessive multiple posting also means repeated posting of the same messages. This was done by Mr. Joel Furr in response to the result of the Automated Retroactive Minimal Moderation incident. A small piece of experimental software which caused thousands of recursive messages sent on the newsgroup called the news.admin.policy as the response of Mr. Furr to the ARMM incident.

In 1994, Laurence Canter and Martha Siegel started the commercial spamming. Because of the development of the “Green Card Spam”, several postings in the email as a means of advertisement had begun (Templeton, 2007).
Spyware is defined as the secretly installed computer software on a personal computer interrupt the user’s interaction with the computer. This can take place without the consent of the computer user. The threats of spyware by the computer user do not only end in the secret monitoring and interference of the user but it can also extend in terms of collecting various personal information. It can also get in the way of the user’s control over the computer by the attempt of installation of programs or software by a third party. Other activities such as redirecting the browser of the web or switching the revenue of advertising to a third party from the original user of the computer.
Spyware was first used when someone poked fun at the Microsoft’s business model that was posted using the USENET. Spyware makes sense in terms of spying activities (Vossen, 1997). A study that was done by America On Line, Inc. and the National Cyber-Security Alliance presented that among the computer users they surveyed, there is a sixty one percent spam was present in the computers of the surveyed computer users. Moreover, results have shown a ninety-two percent of the computer users were unaware of the spam present in their computers. There is also a ninety one percent among these computer users that have not given
any permission that a spyware be installed in their computers (AOL/NCSA Online Safety Study, 2005).

The Microsoft Windows operating systems had been a home for many spyware. As of 2006, spyware had become the most excellent security threats present in many operating systems. There was an estimate that has been released by Webroot Software that nine out of ten computer users that uses the internet were infected by various spyware ( Spyware Education Center, 2007).

Solutions to SPAM and SPYWARE

Troublesome problems of spams are still widely used today but the development of state of the art software like antispams can eliminate threats that spams have created. An analyst in the person of Miss Richi Jennings added that the omnipresent use of the antispam software can justify the threats that spam had created. Moreover, the strategy of eliminating spams will start by means of making the spams invisible by the people using computers. Those people who will not be able to see the computer generated spams will not be able to buy the advertised products in the spam ads. And when the advertised products are no longer paid by the consumers, spammers won’t be able to develop more spams since they will not get any more payments for their work. This strategy will little by little stop the problems created by spams (Parizo, 2006).

There were some proposed solutions to solve the problems of undesired junk emails. Recipient revolt is one of the solutions wherein this was used by legitimate companies to scare those people sending them unwanted junk e-mails. Another solution is the use of black list system. This is a great help since it is able to use a database of the recognized abusers. Unknown addresses by the computer users can also be filtered by the use of the blacklist system. By also hiding or refusing to reveal the user’s email address, you are able to prevent yourself from getting unwanted junk messages (Templeton, 2003)

References:

• Aguilar, Rose. (1998). Oxford Dictionary adds Net terms. CNET Networks.
• AOL/NCSA Online Safety Study. (2005). America Online & The National Cyber Security Alliance.
• Spyware Education Center. (2007). Spyware Info and Facts that All Internet Users must Know. Webroot Software.com.
• Templeton, Brad. (2007). The origin of the term “spam” to mean net business.
• Templeton, Brad (2003). The Spam Solutions, An overview of Solutions to the junk email problems.
• Vossen, Roland. (1995) Win 95 Source code in c!!