Ask an everyday Internet user what he hates most about surfing the Internet and you’ll probably get one, two, or all three of these answers: spam, scams, and viruses.

Now more than ever, our e-mail boxes are being flooded with unsolicited e-mail advertisements, hoaxes, and e-mails loaded with destructive viruses.

The number and frequency of occurrences of spam, scams, and viruses is also alarming. The volume of unsolicited e-mails is increasing at a rate of 50% every month, a trend indicating that junk e-mail will soon outnumber legitimate e-mails.

The sheer volume of spammed e-mail continues to clog up networks and deprive companies of precious resources such as hard disk space, all the while stuffing servers with unwanted mail. Aside from getting the ire of Internet users, spam costs companies around the world billions of dollars in maintenance expenses.

Although a significantly lower number of unwanted e-mails may contain viruses, these deadly payload destroy data and corrupt files in a matter of seconds. Quick to infect and hard to detect, a computer virus is a network administrator’s worst nightmare.

E-mail scams in every imaginable form have now merited the attention of governments and security agencies apparently because these seemingly harmless e-mail messages are put into more sinister uses and an alarming number of people are falling prey to scam “artists.”

Even more alarming are the spam, scams, and viruses coming our way that are becoming more and more sophisticated, and in the case of computer viruses, becoming harder and harder to detect.

Spam Problem
Spam refers to any e-mail that is unsolicited. Thus, scams and viruses sent via e-mail generally fall under this category.

However, since most unwanted e-mail carry some sort of selling and marketing blitz, spam has been popularly associated with e-mail advertisements and e-mail marketing covering practically any industry and any product or service imaginable. By design, spam is more prevalent in web-based e-mails such as Hotmail, Yahoo! and Lycos, among others.
While the intention of companies that send out flyers, brochures, and product profiles in our e-mail boxes may not necessarily be bad, some customer groups have raised questions of privacy.

Technology further made it easy for spammers to zero in on our e-mail addresses. Through the use of “spider” software, e-mail addresses are virtually harvested to be used by spammers. Imagine a couple of thousand of these sinister applications crawling all around the Web looking for addresses. Chances are, your e-mail address has already become another spam statistic.

There are two schools of thought on spam. Currently, proponents of both sides are involved in a tug-of-war, where one side invokes the right of expression while the other raises the issue of privacy.

And while the legal battle continues, spammers seem to be undeterred. They continue to e-mail away consumer products, financial service offerings, and adult-related materials, the top three items on the spam most-popular list.

Sham Scams
E-mail scams – from simple hoaxes to seemingly convincing financial schemes – on the other hand, have gotten serious attention from major technology companies and from the U.S. federal government.
While scams seem to be nothing more than spam aimed for the gullible, there have been reports of users falling prey to intricately woven and seemingly convincing scams.

Some of the earlier scams involved chain letters and solicitations for supposedly charitable institutions. It has been said that for every scam that is uncovered and exposed, two more emerge to take its place.

A good example of a persistent and effective e-mail scam is the infamous “Nigerian scam,” the modern version of the old “Nigerian letter” trick. Although there are variations of this kind of scam, the e-mail fraud usually goes like this: a supposedly wealthy foreigner (usually from Africa) is seeking assistance in getting his money—in millions of dollars—stashed away in a bank. This wealthy foreigner could be a member of the monarchy, a philantrophist, or an exiled heir. To complete the scam and to make it more convincing, an element of human tragedy is added—usually somebody dying or an ongoing civil war—which is supposedly preventing the withdrawal of the money.

The purported catch is—should you decide to help—you’ll get a certain percentage of the foreigner’s money. To facilitate the supposed “fund transfer,” you have to give up details such as your bank account number, to get your share.

Such an e-mail would have easily turned on the alarm bells of most users. However, since this e-mail scam is circulated to thousands, or even millions of users, scam “artists” play the law of averages, hoping to snare a gullible few to fall into the scam. The “Nigerian scam” was particularly effective as it was able to con numerous unsuspecting users to shell out money for the fraudulent cause.

Thankfully, the “Nigerian scam” was exposed last year and its perpetrators are now behind bars.

Destructive Viruses
Perhaps the most destructive of the terrible trio is the computer virus. While a user can easily dust off annoying spam, viruses are more complicated and in most cases, are discovered only after the damage has been done.

Here’s a little trivia: Did you know that two Indian brothers created the first virus? It is widely believed that the two, who were also into selling software applications, designed a simple software program that is activated whenever a customer entertains the idea of copying the program. The two brothers apparently only wanted to remind their customers not to mess around with their software.

From this humble beginning, a new generation of viruses continually hounds our computers, becoming so popular that a subculture of virus writing soon emerged, much to the chagrin of anti-virus experts who wage their unending war against the proliferation of viruses.

Unlike their predecessors, today’s virus creators are seen to be more prolific probably because the tools to create viruses are easier to obtain. The play on basic human impulses (like e-mails with the subject ILOVEYOU) and the relative ease to send the virus to as many users as possible (through address books) makes it easier for viruses to infect PCs today.

Computer viruses have again hogged industry headlines when two prolific and particularly destructive viruses—SoBig (and its variants) and the MSBlaster mass mailing worm—recently came out of the woodwork.
While efforts to contain these viruses have been successful, experts admitted that they cannot afford to lower their guards down, since somewhere in the vastness of the worldwide web, another virus could at any moment wriggle free to infect PCs.

Defense Mechanism
Protecting your PC against these cyber threats is not rocket science, according to experts. Anti-virus experts have been hollering good “housekeeping” practices such as updating anti-virus software, while home users are advised to keep a wary eye for suspicious e-mails with executable file extensions.

As protection from scams and spam, consumer groups also harp about vigilance and scrutinizing every detail, such as the fine prints on a seemingly convincing e-mail advertisement, or scams that promise money in return for personal details.

Even experts concede that a 100% security solution against spam, scams and viruses, is yet to be invented or devised. Rather than trust technology too much, consumers are advised to exercise caution and to employ lots of common sense. The rule most people are finding most useful nowadays is simply “when in doubt, delete.”