Avoid Spam - Don't Use Simple Email Addresses

Max Dunn — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 07:08:00 -0800

When choosing an email address, it is often tempting to use just your first name or last name like lisa@mycompany.com or smith@mycompany.com. Don’t do it!

The problem with these simple email addresses is that spammers often use directory harvest attacks to find new email addresses to send spam to. In these attacks, they try using all sorts of different email names to see if any go through. Here is an edited portion of my mail log file that records these attacks:

...
Oct 28 01:51:26 <barker@testcompany.com>... User unknown
Oct 28 01:51:27 <barnes@testcompany.com>... User unknown
Oct 28 01:51:28 <barnett@testcompany.com>... User unknown
Oct 28 01:51:29 <barrett@testcompany.com>... User unknown
Oct 28 01:51:30 <bates@testcompany.com>... User unknown
...

Eschew Obfuscation: Avoid Spam - Don't Use Simple Email Addresses

Avoid Spam - Don't Use Simple Email Addresses