| Spam Email Filtering
The Spam Email Filter automatically eliminates "junk" e-mail
or "Spam" from each users mailbox, protecting workers from unwanted
distractions and interruptions. With the ever-increasing amount
of unsolicited e-mail arriving daily, protection is an important
means of saving time and staying focused on important work at
hand.
As e-mail passes through the mail routers, our Spam Email Filter
automatically scans inbound e-mail and separates out any Spam
found.
The Spam Email Filter is a system that we has developed in
house. Spam is filtered in a multi-step process. The first step
is a collection of millions of “bait" e-mail addresses. These
e-mail addresses are used to actively look for Spam. Spam is
captured and run through a process in which a fingerprint is
created and added to a master database for each message.
Next, as each new customer e-mail message enters the
our network, it is fingerprinted and cross-reference
in the database to see if there is a match. If there
is a match, the message is marked as Spam. If there
is no match, the message proceeds to the next step in
which it is run through a series of tests where different
aspects of the message including the header, subject,
and content of the message are analyzed. These tests
give the message a score that in turn determines if
the message is Spam. Spam messages are fingerprinted
and added to the database. Clean messages are queued
for delivery to the client. This process, on average,
takes less than a second to perform.
Administrators have many options in regards to the filtered
Spam Email:
- SpamTank: With the most popular
option being the SpamTank, Spam is held in a user
level quarantine on the Global Gateway or the Local
Messaging Router. As Spam is identified, temporary
junk e-mail boxes are created for each user. Users
are notified that they have junk e-mail on the server
and are given a link to a web-based control panel
where they can check it. The administrator sets the
notification interval. Spam is held in this user level
quarantine for 30 days before it is deleted.
- Redirection: This option allows
administrators to redirect all Spam to a single e-mail
address. For example, Spam@yourcompany.com
- X-Header: This option allows administrators
to insert an x-header. Rules can be written on the
destination mail server to reroute mail via the x-header
variable.
- Subject Line Modification: This
option allows administrators to modify the subject
line of Spam messages. For example, the word JUNK
or SPAM could be inserted before the subject so that
the individual users could easily identify Spam messages.
Spam Email Filtering Benefits:
- Proprietary filtering process catches 98% of Spam
- .00001% false positive rate
- Automatic filtering with no maintenance headaches
- Reduces the time-distraction of clearing out unwanted
e-mail
- Far less expensive than maintaining own onsite spam
filtering system
- Implementation in minutes with a simple change in
DNS configuration
- Reduced load on IT staff and mail servers
Q): How do you know which messages are spam?
A): Our junk email filtering is a system that
we have developed in house. We filter spam in a three-step process.
First we use what we call "bait" e-mail addresses.
We have hundreds of e-mail addresses that we use to
actively look for spam. We take those spam messages
and run them through a process that we've created where
we create a fingerprint for each message. Those fingerprints
are added to our database.
Secondly, when new e-mail enters our network, we fingerprint
each message and cross reference our database to see
if there is a match. If there is a match, the message
is marked as spam.
If there is no match, we then run the message through
a series of test in which we look at different aspects
of the message including the header, subject, and content
of the message. These tests give the message a score
and if that score hits a certain threshold, we mark
that message as spam.
This whole process takes less than a second to perform.
|