Dictionary of Information Security

demonstration of the fulfillment of all baseline func-

tional performance, operational, and interface

requirements

spam (1) (v) to indiscriminately send unsolicited,

unwanted, irrelevant, or inappropriate messages,

especially commercial advertising, in mass quantities.

In sufficient volume, spam can cause denial of service.

(2) (n) electronic “junk mail”

Yes, the term “spam,” used in reference to masses of

unwanted email or newsgroup postings, does derive

from SPAM the canned meat.There is an opinion

that says the term was used because spam pretends

to be information in the same way SPAM pretends

to be ... well, Hormel is a good sport about the

neologistic appropriation of its trade name, so we

won’t belabor the point, beyond noting that the

same speculation ...