It’s 2013, what can you really do with two dollars? Maybe buy a pack of gum, snag two cheeseburgers off the dollar menu, create and host a phishing scam…wait, what?

Yes, it’s true. Two single dollar bills is all it costs for a hacker to create an email pretending to be from your trusted retailer or bank, asking for your login details, and instantaneously obtaining your confidential information. With over 260 million phishing emails sent every single day, there is a pretty good chance that one of...

Many companies often come to Return Path with the unfortunate problem of having IP addresses or domains listed on one of the most important spam blocklists around -- Spamhaus. Spamhaus’ mission is to track the Internet’s spam operations and sources and to provide real-time anti-spam protection for Internet networks. If Spamhaus listed your IP addresses or domains, it is because they see activity on their network that creates the perception that your IP or domain may be a source of spam or...

There are two things an email list should never have in it: spam traps and spam traps. Spam traps come in two flavors: pristine and recycled; one is more hazardous than the other, but both will negatively impact a Sender’s reputation.

A pristine spam trap is an email address that has been fabricated by either an ISP or blacklist. It’s placed in impossible location and can only be obtained by a bot that is crawling for address. If a Sender sends to a pristine trap, their IP reputation will drop...

Tax season is upon us again.  We all dutifully and honestly file our taxes and hope that we don’t get audited.  Right?

A “friend” of mine got audited a few years ago, which got me to thinking: how do they choose which individual gets audited?  Why him and not me? Did he raise any red flags that brought him to the government’s attention?  You could probably go to a tax professional to get answers to these questions, right?

Similarly, for email marketers, we often ask the question: How does one get...

The run-up to Easter is a time when email marketing activity shows a distinct seasonal spike. This is fully expected from the chocolate companies, but actually brands from every sector imaginable jump on the bandwagon. Over the past few days, I have seen Easter-themed promotions from voucher code aggregators, restaurants, hardware stores, jewellers, retailers, financial comparison websites, and travel companies.

The challenge for these senders during these periods is they have all had the same...