Malware is any unwanted thing on your computer that either you or your system has to deal with, whether in the form of software, emails, or pop-ups.
Malware is Malicious Software it’s a very specific thing, Cisco defines it as :
Malware, short for malicious software, refers to any intrusive software developed by cybercriminals (often called hackers) to steal data and damage or destroy computers and computer systems. Examples of common malware include viruses, worms, Trojan viruses, spyware, adware, and ransomware. Recent malware attacks have exfiltrated data in mass amounts.
Spam email is unsolicited and unwanted junk email sent out in bulk to an indiscriminate recipient list. Typically, spam is sent for commercial purposes. It can be sent in massive volume by botnets, networks of infected computers.
Sally from Accounting hitting reply all? spam. Kyle sending out embarrassing photos of Steve to everyone? Spam. your fifth cousin’s baby photos? well, I assume that’s spam. maybe you like baby photos.
those chain letters? spam. but not malware. They might contain malware, but the email itself is not malware. For example, a malicious image, won’t load- it has to go fetch the image first. Until you load the remote content, it’s not malware. It’s just a way of pointing you at the malware.
That said, it’s important to note that Raw Story is a legitimate company that wants your business. They’re not going to intentionally send you malware. mostly they’re going to be using the remote content to load pretty images and set up some basic telemetry (essentially read receipts. Maybe a cookie if you’re using a web client for your email, or perhaps clicked a link.) This is true of most legitimate companies. They want your business, so they’re not going to so brazenly piss you off with ransomware or a trojan.
As long as you’re not loading remote content and clicking links, there’s basically nothing that email can do to you. you can train your email client to recognize it as spam and send it straight to the bin; reducing potential accidental openings.