Sampsa Rauti
ABSTRACT
Although email spam has been decreasing in recent years, it is still a significant problem. Unsolicited messages are not only an annoying waste of time, but may also lead users to dubious websites where their personal information is collected or malicious code is executed. In this paper, we study a relatively new trend in the world of spamming, localization of spam email. It seems spammers are now targeting people in smaller countries, such as Finland, by sending junk mail in their native languages. As a case study, we analyze a set of over 300 spam email messages written in Finnish and study how localization of messages is used to convince the victims to fall into spammers' traps. Our results indicate that localized and targeted spam is a significant threat which needs to be better addressed when planning security measures and educating the public.
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Index Terms
- An Inquiry into Localized Email Spam
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