Spam filtering; how it works, why it’s important

Spam filtering is a specific program that you use to detect and prevent spam emails reaching your inbox. Spam emails may be unsolicited, contain viruses, or they may be phishing emails that look genuine but are harmful to your security in many ways.

The filtering works by assigning a bank of “watch words” that once detected are flagged as spam. These watch words can either be detected in the subject line or in the main body of the email and will prevent the email being delivered to your inbox. Instead, the filter will redirect the email to your junk box and it’s from here where you can decide what happens to it.

You can usually tell by the “from” and “subject” field whether the email is spam or not and if so you simply delete the message without reading it. If you filter has been a little too good and marked a genuine email as spam, you simply drag and drop it to your inbox to ensure the filter recognises the sender as legit in the future.

Scammers are becoming increasingly better at disguising themselves and you may find yourself opening a spam email that you thought was genuine. If you do do this, or click on any links that you thought were legit, then close your device immediately and contact your IT support provider for assistance. They can run a sweep of your device and network to ensure all is ok and no harmful activity has taken place.

Microsoft Office 365 comes pre-loaded with a spam filter that operates by default but it’s also possible in some instances to modify the filter to a bespoke set of instructions to suit your organisation. Separate filters are also available that are dedicated to the monitoring, detection and prevention of spam; please remain vigilant as spam emails are the main opening for cyber criminals.

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