1. Never purchase products from unsolicited emails

Spammers rely on email sales to stay profitable. Engaging with suspicious offers can expose you to scams, identity theft, or malware—and guarantees your address is added to more spam lists.

2. Delete emails from unknown senders

Even if the message looks harmless, spam may contain malicious attachments or links designed to install malware or steal personal information. When in doubt, delete it.

3. Never reply to spam or click “unsubscribe” on suspicious messages

Responding confirms to spammers that your email address is active, resulting in even more spam. Use your email provider’s built-in “Report Spam” feature instead.

4. Avoid using the preview pane in your email client

Some spam messages include tracking pixels that activate as soon as the email is previewed, automatically notifying the sender that the message was opened.

5. Use BCC when emailing large groups

When all recipient addresses are visible in the “To” field, they can be harvested and added to spam lists. Using BCC protects user email privacy.

6. Be cautious when sharing your email address online

Spammers use automated bots to scan websites, forums, and social platforms for posted email addresses. Avoid sharing your primary address publicly.

7. Never give your primary email address to untrusted websites

Use a dedicated secondary email address for online forms, newsletters, or web registrations to keep your business inbox clean.

8. Maintain one or two secondary email addresses for non-critical use

Secondary addresses help protect your primary account by isolating marketing subscriptions, downloads, and other non-business sources of email.

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The Importance of a Gateway Email Filtering Solution

While good user practices significantly reduce spam, organizations should also implement a consolidated email filtering solution at the email gateway. Gateway filtering helps block:

• Spam and junk email
• Email-borne viruses
• Phishing attempts
• Mass-mailing worms
• Malicious links and attachments

This added layer of security protects your entire organization by filtering dangerous messages before they reach end users.

Combined with responsible email behavior, automated filtering greatly reduces the amount of spam and malicious email entering your environment.