Email (Cambridge International IGCSE ICT)

Spec point — 10.1.1

Email

What is email?

• Email is a method of exchanging messages and files over the internet

• The main uses of email are:

  • Personal communication
  • Professional correspondence
  • Marketing

• Companies provide guidelines about acceptable use of emails

• Guidelines about emails from a company include:

  • Purpose of the email
  • Using acceptable language
  • Email security, including anti-virus software

Email Guidelines & Constraints

Acceptable Language Guidelines

• Acceptable and appropriate language must be used depending on the recipient and purpose of the email

• An example of this includes using a professional tone when sending a work-related email

• No offensive or obscene language or images should be used

• No racism or violent content should be in email messages

• No illegal material should be sent

• The laws within a country can see that emails are monitored and people can be punished for what they write

• Some additional rules to follow regarding email language include:

  • Include a clear subject line
  • Use a professional email address
  • Use professional salutations
  • Do not use all capitals as it implies shouting

Need for Security

• Email security is crucial to protect sensitive information from being accessed or altered
• Email inboxes should be protected by strong passwords which are frequently changed
• Spam filters and antivirus software should be in place at all times to protect users' inboxes from both passive attacks and active attacks

Netiquette

• Netiquette (Internet etiquette) is the need to respect others online

• It is an agreement to respect the opinion of others in online forums, internet messages and emails

• Some common examples to remember are:

  • Most posts are public and can potentially be read by anyone
  • A clear, inoffensive and succinct language will be used
  • Give a good impression of yourself, considering, the tone of writing, spelling, punctuation and grammar

Sending Emails

Email Groups

• Email groups allow for mass communication with a defined set of recipients
• It is easier to send out multiple emails if the addresses are grouped together
• The benefit of doing this is that it ensures no one misses out on an email containing key information
• A drawback of email groups is that spammers can utilise them to target a large group of people with ease

Email Operations

• There are three key email operations to be aware of:

  • Carbon Copy (CC) - this is used when you want to include additional recipients to view the email
  • Blind Carbon Copy (BCC) - this is used when you want additional recipients to view the email without other recipients knowing
  • Forward - This allows you to send an existing email to a new recipient
  • Attachments - These allow files to be sent along with the email message

Spam

What is spam?

• Spam is unwanted/unsolicited junk mail which is sent in large numbers to inboxes
• Spam fills the users' inboxes, often with advertising content or for phishing/spreading malware
• Phishing emails will be used to act as a reputable company or organisation in the aim of getting your personal details such as usernames and passwords

How can spam emails be detected?

• Spam emails often has multiple spelling or grammatical errors

• They often use broken English, though this is now improving with the use of AI

• Spam emails will not address you by name

• Often spam emails will ask you to enter your details by clicking a link

  • Reputable companies have now stopped doing this to make identifying spam a lot easier

How can spam emails be prevented?

• Preventing spam emails is becoming easier as email providers' anti-spam filters become stronger and more efficient

• Users can ensure they do not agree to marketing emails from companies they register with

• Users can also ensure they do not reply to emails with sensitive data or complete online forms for websites by clicking links in an email

  • Instead, they should visit the website of their own accord and then log in as usual

Worked Example Describe the ways that a user can recognise spam and methods to help prevent it. [6]

How to answer this question:

Give a maximum of 4 bullet points on how users can recognise spam content and then a maximum of 4 points on how they can prevent spam content.

Final answer: Answers:

Final answer: Recognising spam (max 4):

• Multiple spelling/grammatical errors
• Asked to carry out tasks immediately such as click on a link
• Does not ask for you by name
• Stored in a SPAM folder
• Email asks for personal information
• Large amount of repeated emails from the same user
• Lots of other similar email addresses in the send-to-box

Final answer: Prevention methods (max 4):

• Use a spam filter
• Not filling in your details on the online form
• Not replying to spam emails
• Not having an auto-reply set
• Not consenting to marketing when providing details to a company