Email has revolutionised communications in speed and utility, but we haven't yet come to terms with the speed with which we can fall into the many pitfalls. We seem to be a society that skim-reads everything, that wants news delivered in sound-bites, and that has developed a short attention span. So, if you're still reading this, please let me explain the consequences so far as email is concerned. Skim-reading an email can mean that you completely miss the point, or that you perhaps take offence where none was intended. Replying in haste will mean you have not given enough thought to your reply or not expressed yourself carefully enough or clearly enough. Combine the two, skim-reading with hasty replies, and you have the potential to end a fruitful business relationship, or even your employment.

A new approach to standard email phishing scams has been reported targeting senior executives in California, coining a new term in the process - whaling. Whaling, then, is for phishing scams that target big fish. This particular email appears to come from a court in California and includes the target's name, company, and phone number to give it an air of authenticity. There are some useful lessons we can all pick up from this.

Mark founded Cyberpoint back in March 1995 when he realised how important the Internet was to become, and he has been fully vindicated in that confidence.

The other great hazard on the Internet are the scams. They are many and varied, and all intended to separate you from your money.

Everyone needs an anti-spam strategy. Here are some measures you can take to minimise the disruption to your business that spam can cause.

Measure 1

Netiquette is an informal set of "Rules of the Road" for the Internet. Follow the rules and avoid incidents that may harm your business. Here are some of the more important ones.

History could record e-mail as the greatest invention of the modern era for all the difference it might make to our lives.

Have a look at the emails in your in-box. What do you notice? If they're anything like mine, you'll see a hopeless mixture of senders' names and subject headings. It's very hard sometimes to sort the wheat from the chaff, even after the spam filter has done its bit. Now think how your emails will look in someone else's in-box. Is it clear to them who they are from? It is clear to them what they are about? How many emails do you see that just have someone's first name as the sender? Not very useful, is it? Or the sender's name isn't a name at all, just some cryptic words that mean lot to the sender but nothing at all to the recipient.