CompTIA Security+ All-in-One Exam Guide (Exam SY0-301), 3rd Edition, 3rd Edition

Unsolicited Commercial E-Mail (Spam)

Every Internet user has received spam, and usually on a daily basis. Spam refers to unsolicited commercial e-mail whose purpose is the same as the junk mail you get in your physical mailbox—it tries to persuade you to buy something. The term spam comes from a skit on Monty Python’s Flying Circus, where two people are in a restaurant that only serves the infamous potted meat product. This concept of the repetition of unwanted things is the key to e-mail spam.

The first spam e-mail was sent in 1978 by a DEC employee. However, the first spam that really captured everyone’s attention was in 1994, when two lawyers posted a commercial message to every Usenet newsgroup. This was the origin of using the Internet to ...