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What is spam? How do we define spam? If you sign up for a free account at a store's website with the hopes of winning a couple of tickets to the Super Bowl and receive a newsletter from them, does it still constitute as spam? When it comes to newsletters, their legitimacy is a tossup depending upon the end-user's preferences. Certain users want their newsletters to pass through and others do not. Fortunately, the Interceptor caters to both parties thereby clearing up the IT administrator's proverbial plate. An end-user's involvement in this matter is strictly limited to a few drag-and-drop moves which take no longer than five seconds. And then there is email which can be undeniably categorized as spam.

Messages that offer (read: poorly advertise) "growth" pills, real estate deals, a ton of cash and other gimmicks can be safely categorized as spam. According to Princeton University's WordNet, spam is "unwanted e-mail (usually of a commercial nature sent out in bulk)" with special emphasis on the word commercial. (Unsolicited) bulk email is annoying. It's even more annoying than bulk snail mail. Most bulk email can be classified as spam. Bulk spam feeds off of people's technical competence (or the lack thereof) by tricking them into clicking on unsafe links to buy various unmentionables. The first step towards stopping the spread of spam is to inform end-users to never click on any spam email links. If spammers notice low hit rates from their target(s), they will look elsewhere.