Camouflages and Token Manipulations-The Changing Faces of the Nigerian Fraudulent 419 Spammers
Article Sidebar
Published:
Jan 14, 2009
Keywords:
Bayesian, 419-Spammers, Outbound-filtering, SPAMAng, Filters
Main Article Content
Abstract
The inefficiencies of current spam filters against fraudulent (419) mails is not unrelated to the use by spammers of good-word
attacks, topic drifts, parasitic spamming, wrong categorization and recategorization of electronic mails by e-mail clients and of
course the fuzzy factors of greed and gullibility on the part of the recipients who responds to fraudulent spam mail offers. In this
paper, we establish that mail token manipulations remain, above any other tactics, the most potent tool used by Nigerian
scammers to fool statistical spam filters. While hoping that the uncovering of these manipulative evidences will prove useful in
future antispam research, our findings also sensitize spam filter developers on the need to inculcate within their antispam
architecture robust modules that can deal with the identified camouflages.
attacks, topic drifts, parasitic spamming, wrong categorization and recategorization of electronic mails by e-mail clients and of
course the fuzzy factors of greed and gullibility on the part of the recipients who responds to fraudulent spam mail offers. In this
paper, we establish that mail token manipulations remain, above any other tactics, the most potent tool used by Nigerian
scammers to fool statistical spam filters. While hoping that the uncovering of these manipulative evidences will prove useful in
future antispam research, our findings also sensitize spam filter developers on the need to inculcate within their antispam
architecture robust modules that can deal with the identified camouflages.
Article Details
Issue
Section
BioInformatics and e-Technologies
Copyright for articles published in this journal is retained by the authors, with first publication rights granted to the journal. By virtue of their appearance in this open access journal, articles are free to use, with proper attribution, in educational and other non-commercial settings. A Copyright Form should be downloaded by authors and must be faxed to the AJICT before the publication of their manuscripts will be scheduled.