Scams and Spams
Avoiding Spammer Shutdowns
 Spammers corrupt thousands of websites
each day. Frequently these Websites are shut down by their ISP (Internet Service
Provider) for improper or excessive use.
Minor damage can be done by spammers, such as placing adverts or spam comments on
your blog. These are irritating but unlikely to get you shut down.
The following are more malicious spamming problems, which could get you shut down:
Contact Us Forms
Scripts that automatically send information in a form via email are easily attacked
by hackers. Thousands of spam email messages can be sent using your own Web server.
The high volume of email could result in your Website being blacklisted or shut
down.
The email address must not be available for a bot (also called a Spider or Crawler)
to read. And don't put the email address in an invisible field – the contents of
the field are easily extracted.
Heavy Server Loads
Google will blacklist you if you use automated scripts to access their site. Microsoft
will also block repeated email attempts.
If you need to send email messages to a number of people, make sure that there is
a pause (at least 30 to 60 seconds) between each email sent.
Excessive Spam Received
Keep your email address as private as possible. Spambots (automated computer programs
designed to send spam) can easily extract this information from your Website. Put
your email address in an image file. Some Websites even have an image display a
fuzzy code (a Captcha test), to prevent spamming. Make sure that humans can read
it though!
SQL Injection
Hackers can use an input field to bypass authentication, manipulate or view the
database contents. Many Websites are susceptible to an SQL injection attack. Using
ASP.Net and ADO.Net will eliminate the problem.
To prevent these attacks:
- Validify all input fields
- Use parameterised queries
- Use ADO.Net instead of SQL
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