Botnets - A strong force to be reckoned with in 2007 and steps to counter it

Security experts and companies are warning that the botnets still are strong force and may yet become the "top threat" in 2007. Microsoft has gone on record to say that botnets are the "top threat" to networks in 2007. Taking this in context of what Bill Gates said a few ago about SPAM problem getting resolved by end of 2006, it seems to be a paradigm shift in stance. Anyway that's not the point.

Botnet expert Gadi Evron has offered a nice perspective on the Botnet threat and the way ahead on the Securiteam blog. I had a bout with botnets here on this website who were spewing SPAM on my website and sadly I think that I could not win. Best I can think of is that it was an uncomfortable stalemate, but still the SPAM is coming though in lesser volumes.

People and companies are spending a lot of money in combating SPAM and botnets. But in my opinion this is a war that we cannot win. No matter how hard we try or how much resources we throw at it, it simply isn't going away. However there are ways to effectively combat these things. The tips that follow might seem like common sense. But believe me, it is common sense. Companies can try to make policies out of these but they will be effective only when individuals like you and me follow those policies.

1. Do not use your company's email account on all websites.
2. Create a dummy email address from the bunch of free email service providers like yahoo, msn and use that to enter those websites
3. Use your company's email address only where you require like your partner websites
4. Use the SPAM protection tools provided to you as much as you can. For example the SPAM emails folder in MS Outlook.

I don't claim that this is a 100% fool proof solution because there isn't any. What I am saying is that following these simple steps you can make your life in office using emails much easier.