Term |
Definition/Explanation |
---|---|
ADSL |
See DSL |
AWL (Auto White List) |
A list of senders of ham emails, generated automatically |
Bayesian filter |
A spam filter based on Bayesian mathematics |
Blacklist |
A list of email addresses or machines that are known to send spam |
Blocklist |
A list of machines that are known to send spam |
Bouncing (an email) |
The act of refusing an email by a server |
CAN-SPAM |
US anti-spam law passed in 2003 |
Cable modem |
A method of connecting to the Internet via a cable television system |
Content hiding |
Hiding the true content of a spam email |
Corpus (plural: corpora) |
A collection of emails, normally used to train or test a spam filter |
Dial-up |
A method of connecting to the Internet via the telephone system; dial-up is considerably slower than DSL |
Domain Name System (DNS) |
A method of translating a human-readable name into the numeric form used by computers |
DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) |
A method of connecting to the Internet via the telephone system |
ADSL |
Asymmetric DSL |
SDSL |
Symmetric DSL |
Deprecated |
A obsolete feature that should no longer be used |
Term |
Definition/Explanation |
Email content database |
A database of emails that have been sent or received |
Email filter |
A software program that can separate emails based on characteristics |
FTC |
US Federal Trade Commission |
Ham |
The opposite of spam; an email that is wanted |
Header |
Lines at the top of an email that describe the email, its content, and details about its delivery |
Header analysis (email header analysis) |
Examining the headers on an email, to determine its source, the program that created it, or the path it took to each its destination |
HTML (HyperText Markup Language) |
A protocol for presenting information on the World Wide Web |
Hop |
One part of the path an email takes from source to destination; emails may take many hops before they are delivered, or there may be a single hop |
IMAP |
Internet Message Access Protocol, a method of retrieving emails from a server |
ISP (Internet Service Provider) |
A company that provides connection to the Internet and often other services such as email addresses |
Internet |
A global network of interlinked computers |
Local Delivery Agent (LDA) |
Software responsible for processing a user’s email; procmail is an example |
Lint |
In computing terms, to test that something is clean |
Mail Delivery Agent (MDA) |
Another term for MTA |
Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) |
The software that accepts emails and delivers or forwards them |
Mail Exchange (MX) |
A DNS record that describes where the emails for a domain should be delivered |
Maildir |
A file format for storing emails in—each email is a separate file in a directory |
mailto: |
A method of providing a clickable link in a web page that directly invokes the mail client to send email to the intended recipient |
Term |
Definition/Explanation |
Malware |
Software that performs bad actions, such as allowing a remote user to send spam or examine files on the computer |
Mbox |
A file format for storing emails in—all emails are held together in a single file |
Munge |
To deliberately hide an email address, usually for display on the WWW or Usenet |
NAS (Network Attached Storage) |
Hard disks that can be accessed via a network connection |
NFS (Network File System) |
A method of sharing storage between several computers |
Negative rules |
Rules to detect non-spam email |
Network News Transport Protocol (NNTP) |
The method of transferring data for Usenet |
Open Relay Blacklist (ORB/ORBL) |
A list of sites that may be considered to be open relays |
Open relay |
A computer that allows unauthenticated users to send emails |
Phishing |
The act of tricking users into visiting a fake site and collecting their account details |
Post Office Protocol (POP3) |
A method of retrieving email from a server |
Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) |
A way of storing the same data redundantly on multiple hard disks to optimize I/O usage and improve performance |
System Activity Reporter (SAR) |
A tool for monitoring system usage and performance |
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) |
The standard used to transmit email—due to limitations it imposes on the receiving end, SMTP is used in conjunction with other protocols such as POP3 or IMAP |
Sender Permitted From (SPF) |
An emerging standard that validates which machines a user is permitted to send email from |
Secure Socket Layer (SSL) |
A method of encrypting data across a network connection |
Sender Permitted Form (SPF) |
A method of authenticating an email by linking the sender’s address and a list of machines that they might legitimately use. |
Term |
Definition/Explanation |
Sender validation |
Validating the sender of an email |
Spam |
An unwanted, uninvited email that sells something |
Spammer |
A person who sends spam emails |
Statistical Filter |
A method of detecting spam email using mathematical techniques |
Swap space |
Disk space used by a computer to improve performance by swapping contents of memory into it when the associated process is idle |
Thrashing |
The act of a computer using the disk excessively due to high system load |
Trojan |
Software that appears to be benign, but actually contains harmful functions; an example of malware |
UBE (Unsolicited Bulk Email) |
Spam |
UCE (Unsolicited Commercial Email) |
Spam |
Whitelist |
A list of users or machines that can be trusted to send non-spam emails; see also AWL |
Web bug |
A hidden image in an email that allows the spammer to track information about individual recipients of emails |
Web server |
A software that creates and sends web pages, or a computer that the web server software runs on |
Usenet |
A network of computers that store and display messages subdivided into newsgroups |
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