in this issue Embattled Email - Part 1 Embattled Email - Part 2 Embattled Email - Part 3 Embattled Email - Part 4

Bruce Arnold has an unmatched reputation for designing websites that look good, rank high and get results, and web marketing is the normal focus of this newsletter. This month, however, we are going to digress a bit for a special look at an element of Internet technology that has become an integral, and embattled, part of our socioeconomic infrastructure:

Embattled Email - Part 1

Regardless of whether you are trying to sell potted plants, promote a political agenda, or pass a joke on to your pals, Internet-based email is rapidly becoming your most likely and preferred channel of communication. In one short decade, it has become a key if not critical component of contemporary commerce and culture.

You probably already know that. So does a growing army of malicious computer hackers, political hacktivists and global cyberterrorists bent on wreaking havoc both to and through our email systems. Here, for example, is a broken computer image promoting cyberterrorism taken from an al Qaeda website:

http://www.usip.org/pubs/specialreports /images/sr119_ computer.jpg

	Embattled Email - Part 2
As Gabriel Weimann stated in a study published December 2004 by the U.S. Institute for Peace (USIP.org), "... although the fear of cyberterrorism may be manipulated and exaggerated, we can neither deny nor ignore it. Paradoxically, success in the 'war on terror' is likely to make terrorists turn increasingly to unconventional weapons, such as cyberterrorism. And as a new, more computer-savvy generation of terrorists comes of age, the danger seems set to increase." You may never know whether the disgruntled geek that spoofed your buddy's email address and crashed your PC with a computer virus disguised as a benign-looking file attachment was fighting for a cause or fishing for some kicks. Either way, the damage was done. And sadly, it was damage that could have been avoided.

	Embattled Email - Part 3
One sure way to avoid malicious attacks to and through your email is to stop using it. But if you do so, as Dubya will tell you, "... the terrorists have won." Globally thwarting our email communications would cost our economy untold billions of dollars by setting our technology back twenty years. Osama would love to see that happen, but I don't think we should give him the satisfaction. A better way is to use s|pa|m filters and anti-virus software. A good s|pa|m filter is one that lets YOU control the filter settings and gives you the option of reviewing the emails it captures. You don't want a filter so dumb that Aunt Edna's canned meat recipes (i.e. S|pa|m casserole) get clobbered, or so crude (like those of one major Internet Service Provider) that some web host's entire client portfolio gets barred because of a s|pa|m complaint on one account. As for virus protection, I recommend you invest in your own anti-virus software regardless of what your ISP may provide. A better way still is to use s|pa|m filters, anti-virus software and a little healthy skepticism when opening the emails that make it through to your inbox. If you get an email with an attachment and you don't know the sender, don't open the attachment! And even if you do recognize the sender's email address, keep in mind that the email may have come from someone spoofing that address, and if so any attachment should likewise be suspect.

	Embattled Email - Part 4
Don't be paranoid, just be alert for anomalies: If the email purports to be from your bank, but the domain name doesn't match or there's a misspelled word in every other sentence, you probably shouldn't click the link to confirm your account information. And if somebody who's never composed a message with more than two lines sends you a well-scripted offer that sounds too good to be true, don't open the attachment to get the details! Don't let the terrorists win, folks. Use email with confidence and conviction, but use it with care. For more information on cyberterrorism, go here: http://www.usip.org/pubs/specialreports/sr119.html

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