Yahoo! Mail Combatting Spam in 2008
- Posted February 6th, 2008 at 10:46 am by AndrewM
- Categories: Yahoo! Mail UK
For this week’s post, I’m enlisting a guest host. I’ve asked Mark, who leads our anti-spam team, to share some news about what he and his team are up to, to help combat the spammers of the world. So without further ado, here’s our resident “Spam Czar”…
Happy Emailing
Andrew – Yahoo! Mail Team
We know you hate receiving spam in your mailbox, and we’re working hard to help. While there may always be bad guys trying to get their messages through to you, at Yahoo! we’re tightening up on our spam controls in ‘08, and in fact we’ve already begun rolling out a significant new defense system (and it’s only the start of February).
One reprehensible tactic spammers use is hijacking thousands of innocent home computers and forcing them to send out spam messages in the background, often without the owners even knowing! Collectively, these “zombie” computers spew out millions of spam messages a day, and that’s something that has to stop.
Starting today, we will be taking the bold move of rejecting mail from these zombie computers, using information from a number of third-party companies and ISPs to help in the identification. When these unauthorized computers attempt a connection to our back-end mail servers, they’ll be politely informed that their unsolicited mail is not welcome at Yahoo!. (This change is on the back-end only; users connecting through the Classic or All-New Yahoo! Mail web interfaces will not be blocked by this change.)
For example, consumers with a dynamic IP address will no longer be able to send mail directly to Yahoo! servers (machines with geeky, technical names like “a.mx.mail.yahoo.com”), and must instead use their ISP’s designated mail gateway. Again, users interacting through the web interface or the Yahoo! Mail POP/SMTP/IMAP services will *not* be affected by this change; aside from the spammers, this change will only impact people running a secret, unauthorized mail server in their basement.
It’s just one of the many steps we’re planning in the upcoming weeks and months to continue to improve your Yahoo! Mail experience, and we’ll be checking in here periodically on the YMail Blog to keep you up-to-date with further developments.
One reminder: If you do receive a spam message in your inbox — or an important message ends up in your spam folder — please help us out by clicking the “This is Spam” or “This is Not Spam” button on it. Clicking these buttons immediately sends a series of notifications to our SpamGuard systems and personnel so that we can correct the problem, and is the best indicator of how well we’re doing in our mission to ensure you receive all of the mail you want and none that you don’t.
Wishing you a Happy New Year from Yahoo! and SpamGuard,
Mark R.
“Spam Czar”
Yahoo! Mail
P.S. Note for geeks and system administrators: In the rare case that you do feel we’ve made an incorrect classification of your mail, please pay close attention to any SMTP reply code our servers send back to you, as these will contain essential troubleshooting information and instructions on how to report a problem. Information for legitimate bulk mailers can always be found at http://postmaster.yahoo.com.
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February 7th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Is this why i can’t access my mail at all? I complained about something being wrong with my bulk mail – names not being blocked – got a reply that the problem had been fixed and since then have not been able to get back into my mail box at all.
I know I have never sent anyone any spam and am an honest internet user!
Louise
February 21st, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Well to be honest with you Mark you can’t of been doing your job that good becayse i’m constantly being batterd by spam and never seems to let up. All very well donning a fancy hat, but I hardly think that it will be the solution to the problem. Oh,, and yes, I am a serious user of the internet.
February 26th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
I think Yahoo spam blocking is great, of four email addresses from four different providers, Yahoo is the only one which is consistently accurate, saving me loads of time & hassle moving emails to spam folders. Thanks Yahoo
February 26th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Since you’ve announced your combat against spam, I’ve had a huge increase (for me) of junk mail coming to my address.
Admittedly, it is going into the spam folder, but I do wonder why I’m seeing more than usual. And I haven’t been careless with my email address.
February 27th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
I am receiving an average of ten spam emails per day, so I don’t really understand where your efforts are going to???
This is absolutely ridiculous!!!
February 29th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
I am getting far more spam too. Lots of offers of medicines etc. I really hate these. Could we have a block this address button on our email page
March 1st, 2008 at 10:36 pm
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE HELP ME ! ! !
I am getting 20+ DAILY e mails from all over the WORLD saying I have won MILLIONS. All asking for my private details and almost all saying they had got my e mail address from the YAHOO DIRECTORY. Please help me to get these stopped.
Thanks
March 2nd, 2008 at 8:28 am
Getting better, but we still need a block this address button, and block senders domain address button… as in Hotmail…
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:11 am
I too notice an upsurge in Spam mail. However, so long as they land in my Spam box (and 99% do so), I have no complaints.
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:50 pm
mark!!! grrrrrrrrrrrrr i have never had these junk mails on this address till recently and am gettin about 40 a day. i am takin to having to log in and delete every flippin night just to keep the offers of enhancing male parts medicines out of my spam inbox!! dosent matter if it hits ur inbox or ur spam box still a nuisance!! also i dont have a button ‘this is spam’ so that it can bounce back to ye!! where is it!!! please work faster or i will have to close down yahoo on my pc this is driving me nuts
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:45 pm
I have started getting spam that is apparently coming from MY OWN email address. Have I got a serious problem and is this something to worry about?
—-
Hi Michael,
Sorry to hear that your having problems with spam. Sometimes, spammers are able to spoof your email address so that it looks like it’s coming from you. You can check to see if that’s the case by looking at the full headers of the spam message. However, if you find that the mail IS actually being sent from your inbox, then that is alarming. You should be able to tell if the spam is being sent from your Inbox by looking in the “sent” folder. If that’s the case, then I would suggest that you change your password immediately.
Thanks,
Andrew – Yahoo! Mail Team
March 3rd, 2008 at 6:36 pm
I still get a lot of spam – but its good that you are taking measures to battle against this evil menace. it would be good if you could block email addresses, or if you mark 1 email as spam then it should auto block from receiving more emails from that address.
—
Hi Christian,
You CAN block specific email addresses. You can find this feature in the options. If you click into the mail options page, you will find a link called “Block Addresses”. You can enter specific email addresses to block. You can add up to 500 addresses to your block list and messages received from those addresses will be automatically deleted.
Thanks,
Andrew – Yahoo! Mail Team
March 5th, 2008 at 8:21 am
mark I have never had these junk mails on this address until recently and am gettin about 10 a day. I am having to log in and delete every day just to keep the offers of ‘Enhancing male parts medicines’ out of my inbox it does not matterif it hits your inbox or your spam box still a nuisance several filters and Spamguard have not helped also i dont have a button ‘this is spam’ so that it can bounce back to Yahoo I have been trying to close down yahoo on my pc as this is very annoying.
March 5th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Seem to be getting more spam than I used to, can’t see that you are doing anything to stop this. Sick of getting offers of medicines, sexual devices etc. etc. It is a pain getting these as I am constantly having to delete. Get a block address button please.
March 6th, 2008 at 10:06 am
Mark, there has been an increase in the number of spam messages. I use to get 14 messages per week after you previous improvements, now I 14 per day. Since I have to check before empting my spam box it is just as bad as coming into my inbox, theses “Enlargement” emails are offensive. Please add a block key words option since none of my friends email with regard to male anatomy. Also please check that your new features did not inadvertently disable the old features in which I had numerous addresses and domains blocked. You can take of the hat and unfold the arms, it appears you celebrated too soon.
March 7th, 2008 at 7:33 am
I would love a ‘block sender’ button on my e-mail page. I do get the odd one now and again even those that are to i.e. sadsam@yahoo.co.uk . I don’t know how these get by, but in comparison to Orange, where my inbox had thousands and I jest not honestly, of junk and spam mail, yahoo is a breath of fresh air. Thank you and keep up the good fight.
Denise
March 7th, 2008 at 10:21 am
never mind the odd “snide” comment you’r doing a great job and putting every effort in to combat the spam pests and we in this household will do our utmost to assist you all keep up the good work andrew and the spam getters
March 18th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
are those people not just the lucky ones,with just a few spam,I am encountering up to 170/180 daily..and i am a senior citizen ,,it is just not on..i have to clear them every day.been keeping a list of how many i get so i am not making this up.
March 21st, 2008 at 1:14 pm
I too am getting about 150 – 200 unwanted emails – the majority in my bulk folder, but lately six or so each day are finding their way to my in- box. It is no use blocking the address – or even the server because every one sent has a different address and a different name of the sender. As these nuisance emails use different details each time, I know of no way to stop these pest emails filling my boxes – except perhaps changing my email address.
March 21st, 2008 at 7:30 pm
One thing that frequently puzzles me is that when I use Yahoo! webmail (Classic) to send e-mails, if I Bcc to myself, the Bcc’d copy nearly always ends up in the Spam/Bulk folder instead of in my Inbox. I use the “This is not spam” button, but generally it continues to happen. How can this be prevented?
March 27th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Remove that stupid hat and grin and get back to work because despite trying to block spam your efforts are not making much difference.Sorry to be so rude but this is such a frustrating business.
March 27th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Neverthless spam guard has been of great help to me.Thanks.
March 28th, 2008 at 6:22 am
well I wonder if you read these – perhaps not. I have 1600 emails in my spam folder and cant delete them also spam is now arriving more frequently in my ‘in folder’
March 28th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
i have just read all the comments above and its kind of in a weird way, good to know that its not just myself thats getting bombarded with spam.
i am on my computer loads and although my emails are all genuine and get sent only to family and friends, i daily have to get rid of anywhere between 90-125 spam. it drives me up the wall.
any ideas anyone????
90% are all from some weird sounding far away place
help
March 29th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
glad to know im not the only one who’s recieving more spam than usual. Used to get the odd one or two but now getting about ten a day.Last month actaully recieved thirty on the same say from the same person how did these all manage to get through
March 30th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
I dont understand what you did but it is working. I was getting over 100 spam emails a day and now it is down to about 2. Thank you!
April 1st, 2008 at 10:50 am
I am getting more spam e-mails than ever what can be done about please,John
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:41 am
I’ve been experiencing increased spam too, and 3-5 a day creeping into the inbox (REALLY obvious spam too). On live-chat with yahoo now who are trying to tell me there are no problems with their spam filters, so good to see the comments here that prove that is not the case!
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:34 am
Hi, I get 70 plus spam e-mails every day and always click on ‘this is spam’ my spam seems to have gone up daily.
Is there no a bulk way of bloking these rather than putting in a single e-mail address every time?
Thanks
April 24th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
I am very unimpressed if not in disbelief. I have been actively “training” SpamGuard for several weeks yet throughout my recent vacation in Belize I had to endure approximately 2,000 spams in my Inbox. Most of the spam is obvious and much of it is hardcore felonious (e.g., the spoofing/phishing bank defrauders). The impression I get is either that Yahoo needs a conservator, its shareholders need conservators, and combatting spam is viewed as no more than an inconvenience in profiteering on the internet.
May 8th, 2008 at 9:44 am
My issues with the spam folder are:
- Many emails that are not spam end up in the spam folder. Even some where I have added the email address to my contact list. Each time I click on ‘not spam’ but this does not work for next time. Frustratingly, it is not consistent – I can get an email from someone and it arrives in my inbox, then the next time they email me it’s in the spam folder, then back in the inbox WHY IS THIS?
- In order to save documents online, I often email myself from my yahoo account. (Eg FROM 1234@yahoo.com TO 1234@yahoo.com”). Often these emails end up in my spam folder. I even have myself added as a contact in my own email account. WHY IS THIS?
- The search function does not look in the spam folder (I’ve had this confirmed by yahoo). So when non spam emails get incorrectly (and unexpectedly) put into my spam folder – I can’t even look for them using the search. WHY IS THIS?
I’ve emailed yahoo about these but all they do is inform me about how the search function works ( I know this already) and inform me “We’re continually working to improve our services and input like yours
helps us do just that.”
I have a pay yahoo account and am finding it increasingly harder to justify paying for a service that does not meet my needs.
July 10th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
why am I getting spam messages which are not addressed to my email address. Some of them are not even remotely similar to my email address. I also get two or three copies of the same spam email, why is this?
It has only just started happening in the last couple of weeks. Never used to get a problem with spam, now it is coming in at over 30 a day, used to be only 2 or 3. I am not the only one who has reported this so surely it must be something at your end, particularly as they are not addressed to me? Help, it is a pain in the proverbial.
August 27th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
I have noticed in the last month or two spam has been getting into my inbox, before I never NEVER had spam in my main inbox it would always go into the spam folder. It is as if they made their checks weaker and stuff that was getting caught and put in the spam folder before is managing to get into my inbox. :(
October 28th, 2008 at 9:48 am
I have also decided one day to sit for a WHOLE day and spam every single spam message, also adding their address to my blocked addresses option.
I am still however getting LOADS of spam messages daily, and it is really frustrating having to go through 30 – 50 messages every night trying to get to my real messages.
YAhoo, PLEASE help!!!!!