What is phishing?
AnswerA fake message that tries to trick you into revealing information
Phishing messages pose as trusted senders to steal passwords, data or access.
Tech · Facts & stats
Spam facts & stats
7 fact-checked facts about spam and junk messages, each with the reason behind it. 5 more are in today's round and join this page after it closes.
The basics
In email, what is "spoofing"?
AnswerForging the sender address to look like someone else
Spoofing fakes the 'from' address so a message seems to come from a trusted source.
Going deeper
The term "spam" for junk messages was inspired by what?
AnswerA Monty Python comedy sketch
In a 1970 Monty Python sketch the word Spam is repeated endlessly, like junk messages flooding in.
What is a botnet?
AnswerA network of hijacked computers controlled remotely
Botnets are infected devices controlled by an attacker and are often used to send spam.
Which protocol is used to send email between servers?
AnswerSMTP
SMTP, the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, is the standard for sending and relaying email.
Expert level
The first widely cited spam email was sent in 1978 over which network?
AnswerARPANET
A 1978 mass advertising message on ARPANET, a forerunner of the internet, is often called the first spam.
In the acronym CAPTCHA, the letter "T" refers to what?
AnswerThe Turing test
CAPTCHA stands for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.
Know these cold?Today's round is five questions like these, 20 seconds each. Your streak and level follow you to every arena.Play today's round