Concise paper A Taste of Honey – UCE (Spam) Reduction Through Deception

“Honeypots " are being used as one effort to reduce Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE, also known as spam). Email users, as well as organised groups of users, set up 'trap ' email accounts to attract UCE to identify sources and nature of the mail received. All email users are affected by UCE, through · cluttered inboxes, · network congestion, and · cost of transport involved in delivery. Using honeypots reveals some of the methods that spammers obtain email addresses, as well as identifying some of the steps that can be taken to avoid having one’s address become the target of UCE. An understanding of "How did they get my email address? " is of interest and value to all users, as well as being part of the process of UCE reduction. This paper describes efforts being made by individuals and organised projects to utilise honeypots to better identify the means by which spammers obtain email addresses