Spam and blocklists
Terms about spam, blocklists and being listed.
- Backscatter
Bounce messages sent to an innocent address because spam used it as a forged sender.
- Blacklist
A list of IP addresses or domains that mail receivers use to reject or flag mail; now more often called a blocklist.
- Blacklisting
Being added to a blocklist, or the act of adding a sender to one.
- Blocklist
A list of senders, usually IP addresses or domains, that receivers refuse or treat with suspicion.
- Email harvesting
Collecting addresses in bulk from websites and other public sources with automated programs.
- Email worm
Malware that spreads by emailing copies of itself to the contacts it finds on an infected machine.
- Honeypot
A trap used against abuse: either a hidden form field that bots fill in, or an address that exists only to catch spam senders.
- Mail bomb
A flood of messages aimed at one inbox to bury it or knock it out.
- Phishing email
A fraudulent message designed to trick a person into giving away credentials or money.
- Ransomware
Malware that encrypts a victim’s files and demands payment to unlock them.
- Spam
Unwanted bulk email: mail sent to people who did not ask for it, as judged by recipients and mailbox providers.
- Spam trap
An address set up to catch senders who collect or keep addresses without care.
- SpamAssassin
Apache SpamAssassin, an open-source filter that scores a message against many rules.
- Threadjacking
Inserting a message into an existing email conversation so it looks like a legitimate reply.
- Whitelist
A list of senders a recipient or system has approved so their mail is not filtered; now often called an allowlist.