Editing Spamming (section)

==In different media==

===Email===
{{Main |Email spam}}
Email spam, also known as unsolicited bulk email (UBE), or junk mail, is the practice of sending unwanted email messages, frequently with commercial content, in large quantities.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ahmad|first1=Adnan|last2=Azhar|first2=Anique|last3=Naqvi|first3=Sajid|last4=Nawaz|first4=Asif|last5=Arshad|first5=Samia|last6=Zeshan|first6=Furkh|last7=Yousif|first7=Mohammed|last8=Salih|first8=Ali O. M.|date=2020-03-04|editor-last=Farouk|editor-first=Ahmed|title=A methodology for sender-oriented anti-spamming|url=https://www.medra.org/servlet/aliasResolver?alias=iospress&doi=10.3233/JIFS-179562|journal=Journal of Intelligent & Fuzzy Systems|volume=38|issue=3|pages=2765–2776|doi=10.3233/JIFS-179562|s2cid=213636917|issn=1064-1246 }}</ref> Spam in email started to become a problem when the Internet was opened for commercial use in the mid-1990s. It grew exponentially over the following years, and by 2007 it constituted about 80% to 85% of all e-mail, by a conservative estimate.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.maawg.org/about/MAAWG20072Q_Metrics_Report.pdf |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071203010401/http://www.maawg.org/about/MAAWG20072Q_Metrics_Report.pdf |url-status= dead |archive-date= 2007-12-03 |title= Email Metrics Report |publisher= MAAWG }}</ref> Pressure to make email spam illegal has resulted in legislation in some jurisdictions, but less so in others. The efforts taken by governing bodies, security systems and email service providers seem to be helping to reduce the volume of email spam. According to "2014 Internet Security Threat Report, Volume 19" published by [[NortonLifeLock|Symantec Corporation]], spam volume dropped to 66% of all email traffic.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.symantec.com/content/en/us/enterprise/other_resources/b-istr_main_report_v19_21291018.en-us.pdf |title=2014 Internet Security Threat Report, Volume 19 |publisher=Symantec Corporation |access-date=7 May 2014 |archive-date=13 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140513084632/http://www.symantec.com/content/en/us/enterprise/other_resources/b-istr_main_report_v19_21291018.en-us.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

An industry of [[email address harvesting]] is dedicated to collecting email addresses and selling compiled databases.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.listdna.com/ |title = FileOn List Builder-Extract URL, MetaTags, Email, Phone, Fax from www-Optimized Webcrawler |publisher = List DNA |access-date = 2013-09-03 |archive-date = 2013-09-27 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130927044357/http://www.listdna.com/ |url-status = live }}</ref> Some of these address-harvesting approaches rely on users not reading the fine print of agreements, resulting in their agreeing to send messages indiscriminately to their contacts. This is a common approach in [[social networking spam]] such as that generated by the social networking site [[Quechup]].<ref>{{Citation | first = Saul | last = Hansell | url = http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/13/your-former-boyfriends-mother-wants-to-be-your-friend/ | title = Social network launches worldwide spam campaign | newspaper = The New York Times | date = September 13, 2007 | access-date = December 9, 2008 | archive-date = October 23, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111023035339/http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/13/your-former-boyfriends-mother-wants-to-be-your-friend/ | url-status = live }}.</ref>

===Instant messaging===
{{Main|Messaging spam}}

Instant messaging spam makes use of [[instant messaging]] systems. Although less prevalent than its e-mail counterpart, according to a report from Ferris Research, 500 million spam IMs were sent in 2003, twice the level of 2002.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.informationweek.com/spim-like-spam-is-on-the-rise/d/d-id/1024163 | title=Spim, Like Spam, Is On The Rise | date=30 March 2004 | access-date=17 December 2018 | author=Thomas Claburn | archive-date=17 December 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181217110627/https://www.informationweek.com/spim-like-spam-is-on-the-rise/d/d-id/1024163 | url-status=live }}</ref>

===Newsgroup and forum===
{{Main|Newsgroup spam|Forum spam}}

Newsgroup spam is a type of spam where the targets are Usenet newsgroups. Spamming of Usenet newsgroups actually pre-dates e-mail spam. Usenet convention defines spamming as excessive multiple posting, that is, the repeated posting of a message (or substantially similar messages). The prevalence of Usenet spam led to the development of the [[Breidbart Index]] as an objective measure of a message's "spamminess".

Forum spam is the creation of advertising messages on Internet forums. It is generally done by automated spambots. Most forum spam consists of links to external sites, with the dual goals of increasing search engine visibility in highly competitive areas such as weight loss, pharmaceuticals, gambling, pornography, real estate or loans, and generating more traffic for these commercial websites. Some of these links contain code to track the spambot's identity; if a sale goes through, the spammer behind the spambot earns a commission.

===Mobile phone===
{{Main|Mobile phone spam}}

Mobile phone spam is directed at the [[text messaging]] service of a [[mobile phone]]. This can be especially irritating to customers not only for the inconvenience, but also because of the fee they may be charged per text message received in some markets.
To comply with CAN-SPAM regulations in the US, SMS messages now must provide options of HELP and STOP, the latter to end communication with the advertiser via SMS altogether.

Despite the high number of phone users, there has not been so much phone spam, because there is a charge for sending SMS. Recently, there are also observations of mobile phone spam delivered via browser push notifications. These can be a result of allowing websites which are malicious or delivering malicious ads to send a user notifications.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.lotsofways.de/en/is-this-website-allowed-to-send-you-notificationsno-caution-is-advised/ |title=Is this website allowed to send you notifications? NO! - caution is advised. |publisher=lotsofways.de |date=2018-10-18 |access-date=2018-10-29 |archive-date=2019-03-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190323132346/https://www.lotsofways.de/en/is-this-website-allowed-to-send-you-notificationsno-caution-is-advised/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Social networking spam===
{{Main|Social spam}}
Facebook and Twitter are not immune to messages containing spam links. Spammers hack into accounts and send false links under the guise of a user's trusted contacts such as friends and family.<ref>[http://www.dmnews.com/marketers-need-to-build-trust-as-spam-hits-social-networks/article/242633/ "Marketers need to build trust as spam hits social networks"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120705101626/http://www.dmnews.com/marketers-need-to-build-trust-as-spam-hits-social-networks/article/242633/ |date=2012-07-05 }}, Grace Bello, Direct Marketing News, June 1, 2012</ref> As for Twitter, spammers gain credibility by following verified accounts such as that of Lady Gaga; when that account owner follows the spammer back, it legitimizes the spammer.<ref>[http://twitter.mpi-sws.org/spam/pubs/twitterSpam_WWW2012.pdf Understanding and Combating Link Farming in the Twitter Social Network] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120920042632/http://twitter.mpi-sws.org/spam/pubs/twitterSpam_WWW2012.pdf |date=2012-09-20 }}, Max Planck Centre for Computer Science</ref>
Twitter has studied what interest structures allow their users to receive interesting tweets and avoid spam, despite the site using the broadcast model, in which all tweets from a user are broadcast to all followers of the user.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://stanford.edu/~rezab/papers/precision.pdf| title = On the Precision of Social and Information Networks| access-date = 2020-08-12| archive-date = 2021-03-08| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210308075346/http://stanford.edu/~rezab/papers/precision.pdf| url-status = live}}</ref> Spammers, out of malicious intent, post either unwanted (or irrelevant) information or spread misinformation on social media platforms.<ref>{{cite conference|last1=Gupta|first1=Arushi|last2=Kaushal|first2=Rishabh|year=2015|title=2015 International Conference on Cognitive Computing and Information Processing(CCIP)|pages=1–6|chapter=Improving spam detection in Online Social Networks|conference=International Conference on Cognitive Computing and Information Processing|conference-url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/servlet/opac?punumber=7088526|publisher=IEEE|doi=10.1109/CCIP.2015.7100738|isbn=978-1-4799-7171-8|s2cid=18207001}}</ref>

===Social spam===
Spreading beyond the centrally managed social networking platforms, user-generated content increasingly appears on business, government, and nonprofit websites worldwide. Fake accounts and comments planted by computers programmed to issue social spam can infiltrate these websites.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.itworld.com/it-managementstrategy/264648/social-spam-taking-over-internet|title=Social spam is taking over the Internet|author=Dan Tynan|date=3 April 2012|work=ITworld|access-date=1 June 2013|archive-date=1 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130301002916/http://www.itworld.com/it-managementstrategy/264648/social-spam-taking-over-internet|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Blog, wiki, and guestbook===
{{Main|Spam in blogs}}
[[Blog spam]] is spamming on [[Blog|weblogs]]. In 2003, this type of spam took advantage of the open nature of comments in the blogging software [[Movable Type]] by repeatedly placing comments to various blog posts that provided nothing more than a link to the spammer's commercial web site.<ref>[https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.03/google.html?pg=7 The (Evil) Genius of Comment Spammers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021102253/http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.03/google.html?pg=7 |date=2012-10-21 }} - ''Wired Magazine'', March 2004</ref>
Similar [[attack (computing)|attacks]] are often performed against [[wiki]]s and [[guestbook]]s, both of which accept user contributions.
Another possible form of spam in blogs is the spamming of a certain tag on websites such as Tumblr.

===Spam targeting video sharing sites===
[[File:Youtube Free Movie spam.svg|thumb|right|Screenshot from a spam video on [[YouTube]] falsely claiming that the film in question has been deleted and can only be accessed through the link in the description. (If the video were actually removed by YouTube, neither the content nor description would be accessible.)]]

In actual video spam, the uploaded video is given a name and description with a popular figure or event that is likely to draw attention, or within the video a certain image is timed to come up as the video's [[thumbnail]] image to mislead the viewer, such as a still image from a feature film, purporting to be a part-by-part piece of a movie being pirated, e.g. ''Big Buck Bunny Full Movie Online - Part 1/10 HD'', a link to a supposed [[keygen]], trainer, ISO file for a [[video game]], or something similar. The actual content of the video ends up being totally unrelated, a [[Rickroll]], offensive, or simply on-screen text of a link to the site being promoted.<ref>{{cite conference| url = http://www.dcc.ufmg.br/~fabricio/download/sigirfp437-benevenuto.pdf| author = Fabrício Benevenuto, Tiago Rodrigues, Virgílio Almeida, [[Jussara M. Almeida|Jussara Almeida]] and Marcos Gonçalves|contribution= Detecting Spammers and Content Promoters in Online Video Social Networks|title=ACM SIGIR Conference|date= July 2009}}</ref> In some cases, the link in question may lead to an online survey site, a password-protected archive file with instructions leading to the aforementioned survey (though the survey, and the archive file itself, is worthless and does not contain the file in question at all), or in extreme cases, [[malware]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.webuser.co.uk/news/top-stories/492134/toy-story-3-movie-scam-warning|title=Toy Story 3 movie scam warning|work=Web User magazine|access-date=23 January 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120511114246/http://www.webuser.co.uk/news/top-stories/492134/toy-story-3-movie-scam-warning|archive-date=11 May 2012}}</ref> Others may upload videos presented in an [[infomercial]]-like format selling their product which feature actors and paid [[testimonial]]s, though the promoted product or service is of dubious quality and would likely not pass the scrutiny of a [[standards and practices]] department at a [[television station]] or [[cable network]].

===VoIP Spam===
{{Main|VoIP spam}}
[[VoIP spam]] is [[VoIP|VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)]] spam, usually using [[Session Initiation Protocol|SIP (Session Initiation Protocol)]]. This is nearly identical to telemarketing calls over traditional phone lines. When the user chooses to receive the spam call, a pre-recorded spam message or advertisement is usually played back. This is generally easier for the spammer as VoIP services are cheap and easy to anonymize over the Internet, and there are many options for sending mass number of calls from a single location. Accounts or IP addresses being used for VoIP spam can usually be identified by a large number of outgoing calls, low call completion and short call length.

===Academic search===
[[List of academic databases and search engines|Academic search engines]] enable researchers to find [[academic literature]] and are used to obtain citation data for calculating [[author-level metrics]]. Researchers from the [[University of California, Berkeley]] and [[Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg|OvGU]] demonstrated that most (web-based) academic search engines, especially [[Google Scholar]] are not capable of identifying spam attacks.<ref name=acspam>Joeran Beel and Bela Gipp. Academic search engine spam and google scholar's resilience against it. Journal of Electronic Publishing, 13(3), December 2010. [http://www.sciplore.org/publications/2010-Academic_search_engine_spam_and_Google_Scholars_resilience_against_it_-_preprint.pdf PDF] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728005934/http://www.sciplore.org/publications/2010-Academic_search_engine_spam_and_Google_Scholars_resilience_against_it_-_preprint.pdf |date=2011-07-28 }}</ref> The researchers manipulated the citation counts of articles, and managed to make Google Scholar index complete fake articles, some containing advertising.<ref name=acspam />

===Mobile apps===
Spamming in mobile app stores include (i) apps that were automatically generated and as a result do not have any specific functionality or a meaningful description; (ii) multiple instances of the same app being published to obtain increased visibility in the app market; and (iii) apps that make excessive use of unrelated keywords to attract users through unintended searches.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Seneviratne|first1=Suranga|title=Spam Mobile Apps: Characteristics, Detection, and in the Wild Analysis|journal=ACM Transactions on the Web |date=Apr 2017|volume=11|issue=1|doi=10.1145/3007901|s2cid=1944093|url=https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/bb679106-e204-4cfa-992b-101472b6e493/download }}</ref>

=== Bluetooth ===
Bluespam, or the action of sending spam to [[Bluetooth]]-enabled devices, is another form of spam that has developed in recent years.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kosta |first=Eleni |date=2009 |title='Spam, spam, spam, spam … Lovely spam!' Why is Bluespam different? |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13600860902742513 |journal=International Review of Law, Computers & Technology |volume=23 |issue=1–2 |pages=89–97|doi=10.1080/13600860902742513 |s2cid=62693275 }}</ref>