Avoiding malware by unsubscribing from junk mail

[Rhobes]

Hello All-

I have been allowing political campaign mail (and other spam) to get out of control because it is relatively unstoppable I figure, at least till the election is over. After the election I plan to unsubscribe to all the junk mail which normally takes about a week of steady unsubscribing until it dwindles away. I use Yahoo mail plus and recently received this from them: Yahoo ad

Not until I read it did I realize I could get into trouble by unsubscribing in a number of ways. I'm looking for comments on what Yahoo is selling here (Malwarebytes).

I'm thinking, wouldn't it be best to just trash my Yahoo account and start over with a new account and email address? Certainly a hassle changing my email but I'm retired now and maybe it's better to do, ridding years of using my address and starting over- especially since I only have half a dozen (if that, friends anymore). It would be far more a hassle changing the 100+ forum membership updates.

Thanks for any insight you may provide-

 

[||\||]

I wonder how much Malwarebytes paid for that ad? 🤣

It sounds like you need a new email provider. My Gmail spam folder is full politcal mail I never knew I was getting.

 

[jazz1]

Hello All-

I have been allowing political campaign mail (and other spam) to get out of control because it is relatively unstoppable I figure, at least till the election is over. After the election I plan to unsubscribe to all the junk mail which normally takes about a week of steady unsubscribing until it dwindles away. I use Yahoo mail plus and recently received this from them: Yahoo ad

Not until I read it did I realize I could get into trouble by unsubscribing in a number of ways. I'm looking for comments on what Yahoo is selling here (Malwarebytes).

I'm thinking, wouldn't it be best to just trash my Yahoo account and start over with a new account and email address? Certainly a hassle changing my email but I'm retired now and maybe it's better to do, ridding years of using my address and starting over- especially since I only have half a dozen (if that, friends anymore). It would be far more a hassle changing the 100+ forum membership updates.

Thanks for any insight you may provide-

I just throw them into my junk folder. I do not try to unsubscribe using the email’s link. My guess it is like accepting a SPAM call on your phone. It used to be fun screwing around with real people SPAM callers, but now it is all automation. I hope SPAMMERS burn in Hell

 

[HDFan]

campaign mail (and other spam) to get out of control because it is relatively unstoppable

Spamsieve works well in removing unwanted mail. Takes a bit to time to setup, as you have to initially tag messages which have slipped by your email provider that you consider spam, but one you have trained it works like a charm.

 

[webbga]

I have been fighting this problem for quite a while. Lately I have been getting 10-20 junk mails a day purporting to be from Norton informing me that my system is either compromised, about to be, or my non existent protection is expiring. The way the incoming addresses and headers are configured it is almost impossible to flag these and prevent them from coming in. The mail junk filter does a pretty decent job of sorting them out, but I have given up any attempts to unsubscribe to junk. At best it is an effort in futility because the junk comes from a multitude of addresses, at worst it is an invitation to malware. I let them go into my junk folder , delete them, and then run malwarebytes at the end of the day.

 

[loby]

Issues like this have been increasing as the years go bye. Even adding rules to emails (like in Microsoft mail) "sometimes" works and sometimes it does not. Also, they are getting more clever in providing false email address the goes undetected through the various guards.

I don't think there is much we can do, of course we can try various apps etc., but all I seem is able to do is just continue to block the email addresses and hopefully one of them will be the main email address that is used with the false and will eventually block the spam.

 

[theSeb]

Clicking unsubscribe makes your email that much more valuable and more likely to get signed up for even more junk

 

[960design]

Hello All-

I have been allowing political campaign mail (and other spam) to get out of control because it is relatively unstoppable I figure, at least till the election is over. After the election I plan to unsubscribe to all the junk mail which normally takes about a week of steady unsubscribing until it dwindles away. I use Yahoo mail plus and recently received this from them: Yahoo ad

Not until I read it did I realize I could get into trouble by unsubscribing in a number of ways. I'm looking for comments on what Yahoo is selling here (Malwarebytes).

I'm thinking, wouldn't it be best to just trash my Yahoo account and start over with a new account and email address? Certainly a hassle changing my email but I'm retired now and maybe it's better to do, ridding years of using my address and starting over- especially since I only have half a dozen (if that, friends anymore). It would be far more a hassle changing the 100+ forum membership updates.

Thanks for any insight you may provide-

Unsubscribing to junk mail = account validation = sold to 1000s of other junk mail distributors for $0.25/each.
Spammers get your email from stolen account data online ( Yahoo had something like 3 billion emails/passwords stolen ).
Check your email and password on: https://haveibeenpwned.com/
If you prefer, you may create your own rainbow tables via the API.

 

[GumaRodak]

You can use icloud aliases for unimportant stuff and from time to time just delete alias and create new

 

[Erehy Dobon]

Best to trash the account and set up a new burner garbage mail account.

Unsubscribing from junk mail only confirms that it is a valid address. That makes that address more valuable since it can be sold to other junk mailers.

I have a few junk mail accounts that I log into once or twice a year for contest signups, etc. I deliberate choose NOT to configure them in my standalone mail clients.

I have not received any election campaign e-mail spam even though I am subscribed to the mailing list of my district's congressional representative. Apparently she doesn't sell her list.

I get plenty of snail mail election ads in my regular US mailbox addressed to me so they certainly know where I live.

 

[Rhobes]

Best to trash the account and set up a new burner garbage mail account.

Unsubscribing from junk mail only confirms that it is a valid address. That makes that address more valuable since it can be sold to other junk mailers.

I have a few junk mail accounts that I log into once or twice a year for contest signups, etc. I deliberate choose NOT to configure them in my standalone mail clients.

Thanks for your reply Erehy-
Are you saying, for example, after trashing my current Yahoo account,set up 2-3 new Yahoo accounts? One account being my working account then the other 1 or 2 being as you say junk mail accounts, but wouldn't they all have to have the same email address to work? Sorry, not quite following-

 

[bdj33ranch]

Go further. Set up email accounts with totally separate providers.

For example:

1. A “Friends and Family” account that is used ONLY for that purpose. Since it appears you are with Yahoo right now I would suggest a different provider for this new account. Maybe GMail or Mail.com.

2. An “Online Ordering” account. Use this only for ordering items off the internet. Use a totally different provider. For example maybe AOL or the email provided by your service provider.

3. An “I know I will get Spammed” account. Use this one for responding when you know the odds are high you will be spammed. Things dealing with politics, donations, magazine subscriptions, etc. Maybe use your current Yahoo account here since it’s already “known” and getting spammed.

4. Maybe even a fourth one that is “held in reserve” for when needed. Possibly an iCloud account.

 

[AppleSmack]

Move to gmail - their spam filter is extremely effective. I very very rarely get false positives/negatives.

 

[theSeb]

Leave yahoo completely. They basically let all the hackers in for a good look around every few months.

 

[HDFan]

Leave yahoo completely. They basically let all the hackers in for a good look around every few months.

Sources?

 

[chrfr]

Sources?

Obviously that poster is using a bit of hyperbole but Yahoo has had 3 major breaches. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo!_data_breaches

 

[theSeb]

I do enjoy hyperboles. Also the majority of nasty spam that I get is from yahoo accounts that were once owned by people I knew. Clearly zombie accounts now.

 

[Rhobes]

Go further. Set up email accounts with totally separate providers.

For example:

1. A “Friends and Family”

2. An “Online Ordering”

3. An “I know I will get Spammed”

4. Maybe even a fourth one that is “held in reserve”

Sounds like a great idea for me, Thanks bdj33ranch-

 

[drsox]

Sounds like a great idea for me, Thanks bdj33ranch-

IMO best thing you can do is follow reply #9.

 

[Rhobes]

IMO best thing you can do is follow reply #9.

If you are referring to the post by GumaRodak I'll have to look more into that. I don't use icloud basically because I've gotten along without it fine and figure I have less control and more chance to loose data and money by jumping on that wagon. But I guess I should spend a little time now to see what it offers. Thanks for your opinion drsox-

 

[GumaRodak]

You can use icloud just for mailclient @icloud.com

 

[HDFan]

Obviously that poster is using a bit of hyperbole but Yahoo has had 3 major breaches.

I am not defending Yahoo, but those breeches were over 6 years ago. It is a different world now. 1Password tells me that I have over 20 websites that have had username/password breaches. My security software report tells me that at least 6 of my usernames/passwords are available on the web.

If you didn't use sites that had past data breeches then there are a lot of important ones that would not be available. Adobe, eBay, Equifax, Linkedln, Marriott, just to name a few.

 

[theSeb]

I am not defending Yahoo, but those breeches were over 6 years ago. It is a different world now. 1Password tells me that I have over 20 websites that have had username/password breaches. My security software report tells me that at least 6 of my usernames/passwords are available on the web.

If you didn't use sites that had past data breeches then there are a lot of important ones that would not be available. Adobe, eBay, Equifax, Linkedln, Marriott, just to name a few.

The everybody else is doing it too defence? Different world? Sure, yahoo is mostly a zombie site and I have no idea why people are still even using it. Each to their own I suppose. In my view it's one thing when a website gets hacked. You change your credentials and you can move on quite easily. But it's a much bigger issue when your email provider gets hacked. This is why there is much malware / spam being sent from zombie yahoo email accounts.

"

The Internet service company Yahoo! was subject to the largest data breach on record.[1] Two major data breaches of user account data to hackers were revealed during the second half of 2016. The first announced breach, reported in September 2016, had occurred sometime in late 2014, and affected over 500 million Yahoo! user accounts.[2] A separate data breach, occurring earlier around August 2013, was reported in December 2016. Initially believed to have affected over 1 billion user accounts,[3] Yahoo! later affirmed in October 2017 that all 3 billion of its user accounts were impacted.[4] Both breaches are considered the largest discovered in the history of the Internet. Specific details of material taken include names, email addresses, telephone numbers, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers, dates of birth, and hashed passwords.[5] Further, Yahoo! reported that the late 2014 breach likely used manufactured web cookies to falsify login credentials, allowing hackers to gain access to any account without a password.[6][7][8][9]

Yahoo! has been criticized for their late disclosure of the breaches and their security measures, and is currently facing several lawsuits as well as investigation by members of the United States Congress. The breaches have impacted Verizon Communications's July 2016 plans to acquire Yahoo! for about $4.8 billion, which resulted in a decrease of $350 million in the final price on the deal closed in June 2017.

"

 

[nostresshere]

I would NOT trash the old account for a long time. Have all that email go to one box. Why? Easy, some person or company you forgot about sends you an email. You will never get it. You will not be able to search for it. Keep the old one and start a move towards the new one.

 

[FelineTech]

Sign up for a paid email provider. I’d choose FastMail. You get what you pay for.

In FastMail, you can create multiple email addresses. Some can be ones you use for banks or friends/family, others can be for stores/newsletters you sign up for. Then you can use rules to move this mail to other folders. And the SPAM protection will also learn what is junk, so you’ll never see it. You can also “bounce” email back to the original senders so they think the email address no longer exists. You could also forward your old Yahoo email to FastMail, then it can filter that mail too.