Brief Yet Useful Information About How Spammers Harvest Email

Email harvesting is today a buzzword in the internet marketing industry. In simple terms, it is a process of assembling lists of e-mail addresses, by employing various methods, which are usually grouped as spam, whereas email harvesting software is a tool which aids in gathering necessary information regarding email addresses of targeted person or thing. By using appropriate keywords pertaining to the subject of interest, this software assist in gathering URL’s of those websites which are related to the keyword.

For example, if anybody wants to extract information about ancient Indian coins. By using keywords like “ancient Indian coins” and “coin collecting”, this software helps in collecting relevant contacts in the form of email address, URL’s , website titles, etc.

Methods of harvesting email addresses by Spammers

Through several methods, email harvesting can be carried out. Some of the methods, followed by spammers worldwide, are assorted below:

• From Mailing lists- Spammers on the regular basis try to get the lists of subscribers to the mailing lists as they know that only few of the addresses are invalid and remaining ones are apt. Sometimes, it does happen, spammers try different techniques by requesting mailing lists server to enrich them with entire mailing lists it carries and them sending the spam mail to those addresses, by leaving the arduous task of forwarding a copy to every subscribed address on server.
• By using software known as Harvesting Bots- Spammers employ the special software refer as “harvesters” or harvesting bots”. Through these proficient software; web pages, mailing lists achieves, Usenet postings and other online sources are crawled in such a manner which results in obtaining email addresses from the public data.
• Dictionary attack method- “Dictionary attack” is another method used to harvest bulk e-mail addresses. In this method, spammers guess the e-mail addresses by using common e-mail domains such as ‘hotmail.com’, ‘yahoo.com’, etc.

Besides these methods, offering a product or services free of cost till the time users ready to provide a valid email-address is another popular method of email address harvesting. Generally, products and services offered are news or stocks alerts, jokes of the day, free merchandise etc. The addresses which are collected by offering these services are used as potential spam targets.

It is a fact which cannot be denied that spammers have their own erudite ways of getting information regarding host of topics, but by following watchful attitude you can get shielded from various e-mail harvesting attacks. Form a unique e-mail address; do not show keen interest in those unusual offers are some of the methods which can save you from the menace of harvesting attacks.

Summary- Email harvesting is an effective tool which assists in getting email addresses of various person. Spammers, usually, use software like “harvesting bots and many other methods for harvesting mail. However, by following various strategies one can safeguard himself from email harvesting menace.