The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 was supposed to eliminate spam email. This federal spam law that became effective January 1, 2004, was passed by Congress to get rid of junk email.
So why didn't the law eliminate spam and why is it so difficult to stop it? Still today, more than 40% of all e-mail is still unsolicited sent to you by spammers even though that law passed.
The truth is email spammers make so much money they can afford to outsmart The Federal Trade Commission with sophisticated technology.
It is almost impossible to enforce this law although a few do get caught and pay the huge price.
Spam is not likely to go away anytime soon, and it's difficult to eliminate spam email altogether. But there are some simple ways to significantly reduce spam from getting into your inbox.
Here are Four Fighting Spam Tips:
Protect Your Email Address
Don't display your email address in newsgroup postings, chat rooms or in an online service's membership directory. Sometimes email spammers use these sources to harvest email addresses.
Create Two Email Addresses
Another good tip is create two email addresses. Create one for personal messages and the other for public use, such as in newsgroups or chat rooms.
You can create an account with a disposable email address service. Have those emails forwarded to your permanent email address. If the disposable address begins to get spam, just shut if off and get another one.
Create A Unique Email Address
Create a unique email address because email spammers often use dictionary attacks to sort through possible name combinations at some Internet Service Providers. A common name, like johnsmith or thewilliams may get more spam than a unique name like 37xi6OWt8.
Use Email Tools
Most email accounts provide tools to filter out potential spam or ways to channel spam into a bulk email folder. When you're choosing which Internet Service Provider to use consider their email options.
Although these simple methods might seem obvious, most people do not utilize them. You may be surprised how much junk email you can get rid of just by using these simple tips.
If you decide to eliminate spam altogether all it takes is installing an anti spam filter. Most are reasonably priced between $25 and $40 depending on where you get it. A good anti spam filter will block 100% of unwanted spam and will eliminate spam forever.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
I have softened my stance a little, and now use a combination of techniques: E-mail is "scored" as -1% 'bogus', then is gradually given weighted points if it shows up on 1. RBLs (remote or local), 2. DCC, 3. local header blacklists. If it passes these inexpensive tests it is put through antivirus, then bayesian filtering. If it looks sufficiently spammy it is rejected. If it looks very hammy it is optimisticly delivered, with the option for users to report it. If the spam score is moderate and it is not a mailing list or system mail, it is put into the user's webmail quarantine and challenged. 550 responses are cleaned out of quarantine after a day. After two days, Vipul's Razor and DCC are used to test the quarantined mail again. Remaining quarantine is deleted according to it's spam score, with highest scoring mail deleted first. Bayesian filter is used as a repository of memory, so that the system gradually 'learns'. This strategy has proven to be extrodinarily effective for very low expense. It looks a bit similar to SpamAssassin, but does not use the massive regular expression matching heuristics that spamassassin does, so is much faster with fewer false positives.
Anti spam software analysis:
What is the best way to stop spam email? All methods have some merits ... and demerits, as I have learned after hundreds of hours of blood, sweat and code. No matter what technical method is used, spam is not a technical problem but a social problem, which requires a human-driven solution ...
This is not an objective research paper, but a sharing of my experiences and thoughts while "in the trenches" fighting the anti spam war. Read it and then drop a message into my web-mailer
I have written three pieces of server-side anti spam software: 1. a heuristic spam filter (using Spam Assassin), 2. a spam IP blocker (using SpamCop, ORDB, Vipul's Razor, etc), and 3. a challenge / response whitelist blocker (spameater.com - spam blocker). The first two methods proved to be only about 70%-90% effective even when finely tuned and were losing 1%-12% good email, but the user wants 100% of the spam removed and 0% good mail removed, so I rejected those methods and focused on the third method, using my own independant research. To my happy surprise, the third design worked!
The problem lies in the original design of the email system, which was originally used only by University researchers, military, and computer programmers. In the 1970's, nobody was thinking about spam, and the creators of SMTP believed that it would be replaced soon, so there was no authentication built in. Authentication was inherantly provided by limited access. Now, 30 years later, any teenage hacker, con artist, drug dealer, or wannabe porno king can send you an email, thousands of emails! We have authentication systems for everything in our lives: You need a key for your car, a key for your house, password for your bank card, a secretary for your office, but there is no authentication for your email! A solution to this problem is desperately needed if email is to survive, but the mail protocols are 'grandfathered' into the network, and a major overhaul of the Internet mail system is too costly, so it has been left to the private sector to come up with a 'fix'. A number of software companies have produced software for use by individuals and ISP's (Internet Service Providers) that try to fix the problem by analyzing each spam email, but the email itself is not the problem. What is really needed is an authentication system for email users so that nobody can abuse the trust relationships of the Internet.
Anti spam software - How to best stop spam?
Here are some of the most popular methods:
1. Filter spam email by key words and 'spammy' text (Heuristics, Bayesian).
2. Block spam by comparing to a collaborated list of known spammers (Realtime Blackhole Lists - RBL's).
3. Challenge-response. For each user account, quarantine all unknown senders, allow known senders, and provide tools for the user to control who can/can't contact him.
4. Legislate, police and punish.
5. Email postage stamps.
6. Rotate email address.
7. Manual blocking. User just blocks spam using his home mail program.
I'm just a humble programmer, so for the purposes of this article I'll discard any discussion of methods 4 and 5 as merely political. I'll break the remaining methods into pros and cons with nice bold headlines for easy consumption.
1. Filter spam email by key words and 'spammy' text.
Pros: User doesn't have to interact, spam simply 'disappears without a trace'. Can be effective when two or more filters are combined. Can be installed at the "front gate" of the mail server, like a security guard, thus stopping spam at the earliest source, the MTA level. Can be setup once for all users on the mail server. There is a large online community of professional programmers who collaborate on the development of the filtering software. If you are a responsible for supporting an email filtering system, you can milk your company/customers for years with service contracts (sarcasm).
Cons: False positives! Users can (and do!) lose desired emails, friends and clients get blocked, generally resulting in a lot of yelling, upset phone calls, and the occasional law suit. Reducing the sensitivity setting of the text filters results in fewer false positives but Poor results, up to 30% of spam gets through. Expensive, takes a lot of processing power to run. Spammers can just download heuristic software and analyze it for weaknesses. Even Bayesian filters must be 'trained' every week or two, requiring a substantial amount of man and machine resources, and the only way to train them worth a damn is by using your users' actual email, so there are privacy issues as well. Bayesian spam filters hold a lot of promise and a very low false positives rate, but are CPU intensive so burden the mail server, so are better suited for the desktop, but most users don't have the technical saavy to operate one.
2. Block spam by comparing to a collaborated list of known spammers (Realtime Blackhole Lists - RBL's).
Pros: What could be simpler for a sysadmin? Just identify the originating IP addess in incoming email headers and compare to your blacklist, then delete the bad guys without the users' knowledge. Sharing of blacklists is a democratic process, whereby IP addresses are hourly 'voted' onto or off of the blacklist. Fairly easy on the processor/network. User doesn't have to be involved.
Cons: The blacklist changes constantly, so there must be a central managed blacklist server (like SpamCop) that answers requests one at a time... who pays them, and what happens when they are sued into receivership, like ORBZ? Distributed blacklists (like SpamNet) suffer from intentional "blacklist pollution" by spammers. If a spammer sends junk email from an otherwise innocent IP address (like my home town dialup provider for instance), many other ISP's will block all mail from innocent users that just happen to have accounts on the same server. Spammers do report millions of innocent IP addresses to blacklist servers just for the fun of it, or for revenge. Spammers have written custom email engines and networking software that obscure or falsify the originating IP address, thus making it difficult or impossible to determine which server they came from.
3. Challenge-response. For each user account, quarantine all unknown senders, allow known senders, and provide tools for the user to control who can/can't contact him.
Pros: It works, with no false positives. The user has access to ALL of his email in quarantine, and can control who contacts him. Stops all spam mail immediately. It doesn't become obsolete. It relies on human interaction to control machines, instead of the other way around. Very effective 'hands free' operation. Spammers cannot use trickery to get around it. Easy on the server resources. Very little technical maintenance.
Cons: New senders might be offended by having to 'jump through a hoop' to reach their intended receiver. The user has to manage his inbox, requiring a little training. Increased network traffic with verification emails. Badly written auto-reply robots can create a mail-loop. Special care must be taken with mailing lists and newsgroups. It is possible to challenge a challenge email, which requires cooperation between c/r servers.
6. Rotate your email address.
Pros: Spammers can't find you.
Cons: Neither can anyone else. Why not just hide your email address and give it to no-one (except your mother of course).
7. Manual blocking.
Pros: User is in control of his Inbox. Already implemented in most modern desktop email clients.
Cons: Only works for one or two days at best, until the spammer changes his Originating addresses.
Conclusion:
A careful reading of the above material shows that the two most popular methods of spam fighting (server filtering and server blocking) are inadequate to the task, because they try to battle the spam on it's own turf, the computer. However, computers are not (yet) smart enough to decipher human trickery, and the best automatic filters can be easily defeated by a moderately intelligent human. The spam problem is a distributed human problem, and as such deserves a distributed human solution. Until now, the accepted strategy has been to put the onus on the recipient's computer to prove that an email is spam, costing a lot of processing power and lost mail. I have found that it is much more effective to turn the problem on it's head and put the onus on the sender to prove that his email isn't spam. This comes at the cost of more network traffic, and a different social protocol: you must knock at the door before entering.
Specifically I favor the method of automatically quarantining every unrecognized sender until he/she proves they are not a spam robot. It's called "Challenge / response whitelisting", and in my opinion it is the answer to the rapidly escalating spam plague. The #1 insight driving this decision is that Spam is delivered by unattended machinery (over 99% is), and the originating addresses are falsified, so if you quarantine and challenge them, they almost never answer. Further, if they do answer, spam computers are stymied when asked to do something human (like read a word hidden in artwork or identify a photograph of a baby). If a spammer white-lists himself, the user will simply respond by blacklisting him permanently. This takes only a little training. Challenge-response whitelisting is a bit extreme, but 70% of all email is spam (as of March, 2004) and more coming every month, so people are more receptive to changing the way they do email if they can do it without spam. Also, C/R is a very 'light' use of computer resources which will scale well to the enormous demands of increased spam email.
And it works! After writing two anti spam programs and ripping my hair out due to their ineffectiveness, I was forced by logic and evidence to write a third anti spam program that uses this method. It is now the only method that I use to filter spam out of my own email, and it is more effective than text-filtering and RBL blocking combined, with no false positives. The downside is that I have to check my quarantine area every few days, but that's a small price to pay for re-owning my email.
I hope you too use my program (spameater.com - spam blocker) to once again make your inbox your own, and thwart those low-life spammers. Email is a public resource, and we have to act intelligently and diligently (and soon) if we want to avoid the unfortunate future of having our government and police controlling it for us. By the way, never buy anything offered in a spam email.
Have a beautiful day on your free, publicly owned Internet,
Anti spam software analysis:
What is the best way to stop spam email? All methods have some merits ... and demerits, as I have learned after hundreds of hours of blood, sweat and code. No matter what technical method is used, spam is not a technical problem but a social problem, which requires a human-driven solution ...
This is not an objective research paper, but a sharing of my experiences and thoughts while "in the trenches" fighting the anti spam war. Read it and then drop a message into my web-mailer
I have written three pieces of server-side anti spam software: 1. a heuristic spam filter (using Spam Assassin), 2. a spam IP blocker (using SpamCop, ORDB, Vipul's Razor, etc), and 3. a challenge / response whitelist blocker (spameater.com - spam blocker). The first two methods proved to be only about 70%-90% effective even when finely tuned and were losing 1%-12% good email, but the user wants 100% of the spam removed and 0% good mail removed, so I rejected those methods and focused on the third method, using my own independant research. To my happy surprise, the third design worked!
The problem lies in the original design of the email system, which was originally used only by University researchers, military, and computer programmers. In the 1970's, nobody was thinking about spam, and the creators of SMTP believed that it would be replaced soon, so there was no authentication built in. Authentication was inherantly provided by limited access. Now, 30 years later, any teenage hacker, con artist, drug dealer, or wannabe porno king can send you an email, thousands of emails! We have authentication systems for everything in our lives: You need a key for your car, a key for your house, password for your bank card, a secretary for your office, but there is no authentication for your email! A solution to this problem is desperately needed if email is to survive, but the mail protocols are 'grandfathered' into the network, and a major overhaul of the Internet mail system is too costly, so it has been left to the private sector to come up with a 'fix'. A number of software companies have produced software for use by individuals and ISP's (Internet Service Providers) that try to fix the problem by analyzing each spam email, but the email itself is not the problem. What is really needed is an authentication system for email users so that nobody can abuse the trust relationships of the Internet.
Anti spam software - How to best stop spam?
Here are some of the most popular methods:
1. Filter spam email by key words and 'spammy' text (Heuristics, Bayesian).
2. Block spam by comparing to a collaborated list of known spammers (Realtime Blackhole Lists - RBL's).
3. Challenge-response. For each user account, quarantine all unknown senders, allow known senders, and provide tools for the user to control who can/can't contact him.
4. Legislate, police and punish.
5. Email postage stamps.
6. Rotate email address.
7. Manual blocking. User just blocks spam using his home mail program.
I'm just a humble programmer, so for the purposes of this article I'll discard any discussion of methods 4 and 5 as merely political. I'll break the remaining methods into pros and cons with nice bold headlines for easy consumption.
1. Filter spam email by key words and 'spammy' text.
Pros: User doesn't have to interact, spam simply 'disappears without a trace'. Can be effective when two or more filters are combined. Can be installed at the "front gate" of the mail server, like a security guard, thus stopping spam at the earliest source, the MTA level. Can be setup once for all users on the mail server. There is a large online community of professional programmers who collaborate on the development of the filtering software. If you are a responsible for supporting an email filtering system, you can milk your company/customers for years with service contracts (sarcasm).
Cons: False positives! Users can (and do!) lose desired emails, friends and clients get blocked, generally resulting in a lot of yelling, upset phone calls, and the occasional law suit. Reducing the sensitivity setting of the text filters results in fewer false positives but Poor results, up to 30% of spam gets through. Expensive, takes a lot of processing power to run. Spammers can just download heuristic software and analyze it for weaknesses. Even Bayesian filters must be 'trained' every week or two, requiring a substantial amount of man and machine resources, and the only way to train them worth a damn is by using your users' actual email, so there are privacy issues as well. Bayesian spam filters hold a lot of promise and a very low false positives rate, but are CPU intensive so burden the mail server, so are better suited for the desktop, but most users don't have the technical saavy to operate one.
2. Block spam by comparing to a collaborated list of known spammers (Realtime Blackhole Lists - RBL's).
Pros: What could be simpler for a sysadmin? Just identify the originating IP addess in incoming email headers and compare to your blacklist, then delete the bad guys without the users' knowledge. Sharing of blacklists is a democratic process, whereby IP addresses are hourly 'voted' onto or off of the blacklist. Fairly easy on the processor/network. User doesn't have to be involved.
Cons: The blacklist changes constantly, so there must be a central managed blacklist server (like SpamCop) that answers requests one at a time... who pays them, and what happens when they are sued into receivership, like ORBZ? Distributed blacklists (like SpamNet) suffer from intentional "blacklist pollution" by spammers. If a spammer sends junk email from an otherwise innocent IP address (like my home town dialup provider for instance), many other ISP's will block all mail from innocent users that just happen to have accounts on the same server. Spammers do report millions of innocent IP addresses to blacklist servers just for the fun of it, or for revenge. Spammers have written custom email engines and networking software that obscure or falsify the originating IP address, thus making it difficult or impossible to determine which server they came from.
3. Challenge-response. For each user account, quarantine all unknown senders, allow known senders, and provide tools for the user to control who can/can't contact him.
Pros: It works, with no false positives. The user has access to ALL of his email in quarantine, and can control who contacts him. Stops all spam mail immediately. It doesn't become obsolete. It relies on human interaction to control machines, instead of the other way around. Very effective 'hands free' operation. Spammers cannot use trickery to get around it. Easy on the server resources. Very little technical maintenance.
Cons: New senders might be offended by having to 'jump through a hoop' to reach their intended receiver. The user has to manage his inbox, requiring a little training. Increased network traffic with verification emails. Badly written auto-reply robots can create a mail-loop. Special care must be taken with mailing lists and newsgroups. It is possible to challenge a challenge email, which requires cooperation between c/r servers.
6. Rotate your email address.
Pros: Spammers can't find you.
Cons: Neither can anyone else. Why not just hide your email address and give it to no-one (except your mother of course).
7. Manual blocking.
Pros: User is in control of his Inbox. Already implemented in most modern desktop email clients.
Cons: Only works for one or two days at best, until the spammer changes his Originating addresses.
Conclusion:
A careful reading of the above material shows that the two most popular methods of spam fighting (server filtering and server blocking) are inadequate to the task, because they try to battle the spam on it's own turf, the computer. However, computers are not (yet) smart enough to decipher human trickery, and the best automatic filters can be easily defeated by a moderately intelligent human. The spam problem is a distributed human problem, and as such deserves a distributed human solution. Until now, the accepted strategy has been to put the onus on the recipient's computer to prove that an email is spam, costing a lot of processing power and lost mail. I have found that it is much more effective to turn the problem on it's head and put the onus on the sender to prove that his email isn't spam. This comes at the cost of more network traffic, and a different social protocol: you must knock at the door before entering.
Specifically I favor the method of automatically quarantining every unrecognized sender until he/she proves they are not a spam robot. It's called "Challenge / response whitelisting", and in my opinion it is the answer to the rapidly escalating spam plague. The #1 insight driving this decision is that Spam is delivered by unattended machinery (over 99% is), and the originating addresses are falsified, so if you quarantine and challenge them, they almost never answer. Further, if they do answer, spam computers are stymied when asked to do something human (like read a word hidden in artwork or identify a photograph of a baby). If a spammer white-lists himself, the user will simply respond by blacklisting him permanently. This takes only a little training. Challenge-response whitelisting is a bit extreme, but 70% of all email is spam (as of March, 2004) and more coming every month, so people are more receptive to changing the way they do email if they can do it without spam. Also, C/R is a very 'light' use of computer resources which will scale well to the enormous demands of increased spam email.
And it works! After writing two anti spam programs and ripping my hair out due to their ineffectiveness, I was forced by logic and evidence to write a third anti spam program that uses this method. It is now the only method that I use to filter spam out of my own email, and it is more effective than text-filtering and RBL blocking combined, with no false positives. The downside is that I have to check my quarantine area every few days, but that's a small price to pay for re-owning my email.
I hope you too use my program (spameater.com - spam blocker) to once again make your inbox your own, and thwart those low-life spammers. Email is a public resource, and we have to act intelligently and diligently (and soon) if we want to avoid the unfortunate future of having our government and police controlling it for us. By the way, never buy anything offered in a spam email.
Have a beautiful day on your free, publicly owned Internet,
How Does the Spam Blocker work?
The no-brainer answer:
You don't need to know how it works! It will work straight "out of the box", without any configuration. Approx. 90% of the spam will just disappear and you will be done with it. It can be a truly "set and forget" system. If you want better protection, you can train it to kill 99% of spam & viruses. So if you came here looking for is a spam reduction system with low maintenance, then you have found it! Take the 30 day free spam blocker trial! ... NOW!
Still curious? Here is The long answer:
It logs into your mail server email account every ten minutes and inspects it for spam emails. It destroys computer viruses and obvious spam (like porno and drug emails) immediately. It leaves innocent email untouched for you to download as normal. It moves "unsure" category email to a quarantine on this website (Mostly, this mail is constituted of bulk "newsletters"). This mail stays in quarantine until either you make a judgement or 30 days pass. Your judgements are 'remembered', to create new adaptive filtering rules. You have Internet access to your quarantined email all times, and have full control over what happens to it.
Are you a techno-geek? Then here is The really long answer:
Technically, it is a "Third party delete from pop3 auto blacklister / whitelister, with bayesian filtering, collaborative filtering, user subject line filtering, and optional challenge-response".
1. Every ten minutes, our program logs into your ISP's email server and checks for new messages addressed to you, before you download them.
2. If it is from someone on your 'white-list', the email is approved.
3. If your special keyword is in the subject line, the sender is 'white-listed' and the email is approved.
4. If it is from someone on your personal 'black-list', the email is silently quarantined on our website (or optionally deleted).
5. If it is from an infamous spam company (listed on 3 or more carefully selected collaborative blacklists), the email is deleted from your inbox.
6. The email is analyzed using Bayesian classification (Robinson/Fischer method) and deleted if 100% similar to our collection of verified spam emails, or the email is approved if it is 100% similar to our collection of good email.
7. If the sender is unrecognized and the email has only a few spam signs, then it is put into quarantine. You can control your email and spam filter configuration using your Control Panel on this website (This is done to prevent "false positives", or false classification of desired email as "Spam").
8. (Optional) If the mail is still not categorized correctly, then a short challenge-response verification email is returned to the sender, asking him/her to verify he/she is human by reading a word embedded in a picture and typing it into a text box* or sending a second email with your special keyword in the subject line. This only has to be done once. [Example]. If the word is typed correctly, then the email is released from quarantine, and the sender 'white-listed'. From now on, this person's emails will come to you smoothly.
9. When an email is approved, two links are added to the top of the page: Block and Approve. You should click on one of these links to signify that you want to block the sender of this mail, or approve all future mail from this sender. The Spam Eater will learn your judgements and adapt its behaviour to your wishes.
10. After 30 days, quarantined email is deleted.
Congratulations! You have just taken control of your inbox, your email is once again yours.
* If the sender doesn't type the word correctly, he is given another one. You can also add him to your white-list of approved senders, and his emails will always come to you smoothly without being blocked. Try the 30 days of absolutely free spam blocking! ...
** Senders can bypass the email verification process, using your keyword in the incoming subject line. You can put it on your business card or in your website, for example. The easiest way to use it is to put it in your subject line when you send email out, then the recipient will reply with the same subject. Once they are on your white-list, they never have to do it again!
You can easily manage your quarantined mail, your white-list and black-list, and also take a quick peek at your current email, here on this website.
Does it get all the spam?
Yes, >95% of it, today! It is made to block spam "out of the box", without configuration and without any further action by you. If you spend a little time training it, then you can increase the accuracy to nearly 100%. Try the 30 days of absolutely free spam blocking! ...
I want it! How much does it cost?
You can have a spam-free life for one month at no cost. Have a look at our pricing page for packages and prices. There are discounts available for multiple addresses.
So go ahead and try out our spam blocker. It won't cost you anything and you will live a life without spam for 30 days... Unlike our competitors, we won't ask you for your credit card information, we'll just send you a subscription offer at the end of 30 days. If you choose not to subscribe, then the period of service is yours to keep, a gift of gratuitous despamination, from us to you.
What are the benefits?
It does what you want; it gets rid of spam... Today! It lets you keep your existing email address, and it does it at an affordable price. Currently, over 70% of all email is spam! They are annoying and time consuming and you are fed up with it, which is probably why you are reading this page right now. Unlike our competitors' services, if our service ever experiences a temporary breakdown, you can still access your email. There's no software to download or install, it's very easy to set up and it takes just a minute. Also, we do not ask for your credit card information! Try the 30 days of absolutely free spam blocker service!
You don't need to know how it works! It will work straight "out of the box", without any configuration. Approx. 90% of the spam will just disappear and you will be done with it. It can be a truly "set and forget" system. If you want better protection, you can train it to kill 99% of spam & viruses. So if you came here looking for is a spam reduction system with low maintenance, then you have found it! Take the 30 day free spam blocker trial! ... NOW!
Still curious? Here is The long answer:
It logs into your mail server email account every ten minutes and inspects it for spam emails. It destroys computer viruses and obvious spam (like porno and drug emails) immediately. It leaves innocent email untouched for you to download as normal. It moves "unsure" category email to a quarantine on this website (Mostly, this mail is constituted of bulk "newsletters"). This mail stays in quarantine until either you make a judgement or 30 days pass. Your judgements are 'remembered', to create new adaptive filtering rules. You have Internet access to your quarantined email all times, and have full control over what happens to it.
Are you a techno-geek? Then here is The really long answer:
Technically, it is a "Third party delete from pop3 auto blacklister / whitelister, with bayesian filtering, collaborative filtering, user subject line filtering, and optional challenge-response".
1. Every ten minutes, our program logs into your ISP's email server and checks for new messages addressed to you, before you download them.
2. If it is from someone on your 'white-list', the email is approved.
3. If your special keyword is in the subject line, the sender is 'white-listed' and the email is approved.
4. If it is from someone on your personal 'black-list', the email is silently quarantined on our website (or optionally deleted).
5. If it is from an infamous spam company (listed on 3 or more carefully selected collaborative blacklists), the email is deleted from your inbox.
6. The email is analyzed using Bayesian classification (Robinson/Fischer method) and deleted if 100% similar to our collection of verified spam emails, or the email is approved if it is 100% similar to our collection of good email.
7. If the sender is unrecognized and the email has only a few spam signs, then it is put into quarantine. You can control your email and spam filter configuration using your Control Panel on this website (This is done to prevent "false positives", or false classification of desired email as "Spam").
8. (Optional) If the mail is still not categorized correctly, then a short challenge-response verification email is returned to the sender, asking him/her to verify he/she is human by reading a word embedded in a picture and typing it into a text box* or sending a second email with your special keyword in the subject line. This only has to be done once. [Example]. If the word is typed correctly, then the email is released from quarantine, and the sender 'white-listed'. From now on, this person's emails will come to you smoothly.
9. When an email is approved, two links are added to the top of the page: Block and Approve. You should click on one of these links to signify that you want to block the sender of this mail, or approve all future mail from this sender. The Spam Eater will learn your judgements and adapt its behaviour to your wishes.
10. After 30 days, quarantined email is deleted.
Congratulations! You have just taken control of your inbox, your email is once again yours.
* If the sender doesn't type the word correctly, he is given another one. You can also add him to your white-list of approved senders, and his emails will always come to you smoothly without being blocked. Try the 30 days of absolutely free spam blocking! ...
** Senders can bypass the email verification process, using your keyword in the incoming subject line. You can put it on your business card or in your website, for example. The easiest way to use it is to put it in your subject line when you send email out, then the recipient will reply with the same subject. Once they are on your white-list, they never have to do it again!
You can easily manage your quarantined mail, your white-list and black-list, and also take a quick peek at your current email, here on this website.
Does it get all the spam?
Yes, >95% of it, today! It is made to block spam "out of the box", without configuration and without any further action by you. If you spend a little time training it, then you can increase the accuracy to nearly 100%. Try the 30 days of absolutely free spam blocking! ...
I want it! How much does it cost?
You can have a spam-free life for one month at no cost. Have a look at our pricing page for packages and prices. There are discounts available for multiple addresses.
So go ahead and try out our spam blocker. It won't cost you anything and you will live a life without spam for 30 days... Unlike our competitors, we won't ask you for your credit card information, we'll just send you a subscription offer at the end of 30 days. If you choose not to subscribe, then the period of service is yours to keep, a gift of gratuitous despamination, from us to you.
What are the benefits?
It does what you want; it gets rid of spam... Today! It lets you keep your existing email address, and it does it at an affordable price. Currently, over 70% of all email is spam! They are annoying and time consuming and you are fed up with it, which is probably why you are reading this page right now. Unlike our competitors' services, if our service ever experiences a temporary breakdown, you can still access your email. There's no software to download or install, it's very easy to set up and it takes just a minute. Also, we do not ask for your credit card information! Try the 30 days of absolutely free spam blocker service!
Stop Spam
What is it?
SpamEater is an Anti-spam robot that checks your email every ten minutes. It it finds an email is a spam or virus, it 'eats' it! No software to install!, it runs completely from this website. You control it from a fully configurable web control panel.
What does it do?
It gets rid of spam and viruses "out there" on the Internet, before you can download them to your home PC.
Spam Killer! Block spam and viruses before they can reach you! This is strong medicine for the spam disease. We have discovered the cure! This ingenious anti spam software behaves like an immune system for your e-mail, literally eating the spam and viruses out of your mail account, so they cannot reach your home computer
Anti-phishing technology - every URL in your incoming email is checked against our database of known phishers, spammers and scammers. Protects you from identity thieves!
Reliable. This proven spam blocker service has been running 24/7 since March 2003.
Standard It is built with international Internet protocols, all you need is an e-mail account and a web browser! Works with any POP3 mail account, and now works with Hotmail too! It is compatible with any mail program (eg, Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, Thunderbird, etc.), and works with any type of computer (Windows, Mac, Linux, hand-helds, etc.).
Easy to use! Sign up takes two minutes from your web browser - and unlike other free spam blockers you can download, our spam blocker never becomes obsolete! It will kill 90% of spam right away, today and next year! With a little tweaking you can achieve >99% accuracy.
Great for roaming users. Set up antispam filters for all of your personal e-mail addresses, from this website! Manage your mail from any computer. Preview your email on the web, filter, compose, reply, forward.
Parents. Protect your children from porno, you can filter their mail from any location, before they arrive home from school.
Low price. Payments are easy and secure; you may buy through PayPal or purchase from 2checkout.
30 days free trial. It's one month of absolutely free spam blocking, no catches, no credit cards. Setup takes two minutes.
For those who want total control over their inbox, this easy-to-use spam blocking tool puts you in the driver's seat today. Buy now and receive 50% off.
Or, take a test drive Log in with username: guest, password: guest (Everything is disabled, but you can play with the controls).
Unsolicited Commercial Email is annoying and time consuming and you are fed up with it (which is probably why you are reading all the way to the bottom of the page :). Currently, nearly 70% of all email is spam (grown from only 8% in 2001), and it continues to increase monthly. If you do nothing, then your inbox will no longer be your own. But, imagine the way your e-mail used to be, just the messages you want from real people ... it can be that way again.
What are the benefits?
It does what you want; it gets rid of spam... Today! It lets you keep your existing email address, and it does it at an affordable price. Unlike our competitors' services, if our service ever experiences a temporary breakdown, you can still access your email. There's no software to download or install, it's very easy to set up and it takes just a minute. Also, we do not ask for your credit card information! Buy now and receive 50% off our regular price, or try the 30 days of absolutely free service!
SpamEater is an Anti-spam robot that checks your email every ten minutes. It it finds an email is a spam or virus, it 'eats' it! No software to install!, it runs completely from this website. You control it from a fully configurable web control panel.
What does it do?
It gets rid of spam and viruses "out there" on the Internet, before you can download them to your home PC.
Spam Killer! Block spam and viruses before they can reach you! This is strong medicine for the spam disease. We have discovered the cure! This ingenious anti spam software behaves like an immune system for your e-mail, literally eating the spam and viruses out of your mail account, so they cannot reach your home computer
Anti-phishing technology - every URL in your incoming email is checked against our database of known phishers, spammers and scammers. Protects you from identity thieves!
Reliable. This proven spam blocker service has been running 24/7 since March 2003.
Standard It is built with international Internet protocols, all you need is an e-mail account and a web browser! Works with any POP3 mail account, and now works with Hotmail too! It is compatible with any mail program (eg, Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, Thunderbird, etc.), and works with any type of computer (Windows, Mac, Linux, hand-helds, etc.).
Easy to use! Sign up takes two minutes from your web browser - and unlike other free spam blockers you can download, our spam blocker never becomes obsolete! It will kill 90% of spam right away, today and next year! With a little tweaking you can achieve >99% accuracy.
Great for roaming users. Set up antispam filters for all of your personal e-mail addresses, from this website! Manage your mail from any computer. Preview your email on the web, filter, compose, reply, forward.
Parents. Protect your children from porno, you can filter their mail from any location, before they arrive home from school.
Low price. Payments are easy and secure; you may buy through PayPal or purchase from 2checkout.
30 days free trial. It's one month of absolutely free spam blocking, no catches, no credit cards. Setup takes two minutes.
For those who want total control over their inbox, this easy-to-use spam blocking tool puts you in the driver's seat today. Buy now and receive 50% off.
Or, take a test drive Log in with username: guest, password: guest (Everything is disabled, but you can play with the controls).
Unsolicited Commercial Email is annoying and time consuming and you are fed up with it (which is probably why you are reading all the way to the bottom of the page :). Currently, nearly 70% of all email is spam (grown from only 8% in 2001), and it continues to increase monthly. If you do nothing, then your inbox will no longer be your own. But, imagine the way your e-mail used to be, just the messages you want from real people ... it can be that way again.
What are the benefits?
It does what you want; it gets rid of spam... Today! It lets you keep your existing email address, and it does it at an affordable price. Unlike our competitors' services, if our service ever experiences a temporary breakdown, you can still access your email. There's no software to download or install, it's very easy to set up and it takes just a minute. Also, we do not ask for your credit card information! Buy now and receive 50% off our regular price, or try the 30 days of absolutely free service!
8 Ways To Stop Spam
1. Keep three email addresses,
1. one for signing up (throw-away address),
2. one for customers,
3. and one for family.
2. Make the family email only for close friends and family. Guard it with your life.
3. Use disposable addresses for risky activities, like signups for newsgroups and newsletters. Throw away your throw-away address every month or two. Don't be tempted to use it for communicating with any real person.
4. Put the customer email address on your business cards, give it to acquaintances but never publish it on the web in plain text.
5. Never publish your email address in plain text on the web!
6. Never on the web in plain text publish your email address! Instead, obsfucate the address using this handy tool: anti-spam tool
7. Use a CGI form-mailer on your website. Your address is hidden inside the CGI script on your web server. This makes it Impossible for spammers to harvest.
8. Choose a user-name that is not likely to be in a spammer dictionary. For example, _don't_ use "jsmith@mydomain.com"! Use something more creative: "j.smith.parachuting@mydomain.com".
That's only seven ways, but that's how you stop spam, using the "public hygiene" approach. Of course, it is nearly impossible to follow these rules, so that's why we wrote this anti spam software to stop spam on existing addresses.
1. one for signing up (throw-away address),
2. one for customers,
3. and one for family.
2. Make the family email only for close friends and family. Guard it with your life.
3. Use disposable addresses for risky activities, like signups for newsgroups and newsletters. Throw away your throw-away address every month or two. Don't be tempted to use it for communicating with any real person.
4. Put the customer email address on your business cards, give it to acquaintances but never publish it on the web in plain text.
5. Never publish your email address in plain text on the web!
6. Never on the web in plain text publish your email address! Instead, obsfucate the address using this handy tool: anti-spam tool
7. Use a CGI form-mailer on your website. Your address is hidden inside the CGI script on your web server. This makes it Impossible for spammers to harvest.
8. Choose a user-name that is not likely to be in a spammer dictionary. For example, _don't_ use "jsmith@mydomain.com"! Use something more creative: "j.smith.parachuting@mydomain.com".
That's only seven ways, but that's how you stop spam, using the "public hygiene" approach. Of course, it is nearly impossible to follow these rules, so that's why we wrote this anti spam software to stop spam on existing addresses.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Spam, malware spread by Google Groups
Spammers are using thousands of Google Groups to spread unwanted email and malware.
In a blog post, the anti-spam company MailChannels reported that the spammers sign up for Gmail accounts, then create new groups, usually with random-looking names. The spammers use the Gmail accounts to send keyword-rich posts to the fake group. These posts include a link to a URL that either directs the user to a to phishing scam or to a malware executable.
“We were able to find thousands of Google Groups that were created for the purpose of forming posts that people would stumble upon when looking for common keywords,” Ken Simpson, CEO of MailChannels, told SCMagazineUS.com on Monday.
Simpson stressed that users don't have to join the Google Group to be hit by the infected posts. The posts come up during a search within Google Groups -- not during a typical Google search.
One such search string is “Verizon bill pay online,” Simpson said.
“Users think they are getting a post that explains how to pay their bill online, and they click on the link," he said.
In his example, the URL took the user to a drug store website. Other links directed users to malware.
“What the spammers are doing is exploiting temporary weaknesses in the algorithm Google Groups uses to find results,” Simpson said. “Google's search engine is great for weeding out spam. Google Groups is a closed environment and there isn't enough information from internet users to know which groups are significant and which are spam.”
Google said it knows about the problem.
“Google takes the security of our users very seriously,” a Google spokesperson told SCMagazineUS.com, “and we actively work to detect and remove sites that link to malware. We are aware of this particular issue and are working now to resolve it.”
Spammer syndicate stopped by FTC complaint
A U.S. District Court in Illinois, at the urging of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), has ordered the world's largest spamming network to end its operations, the agency announced this week.
The HerbalKing spam gang has been the worst purveyor of unwanted emails over the past two years, according to Spamhaus, a volunteer group that tracks spammers.
The FTC said in a statement that it filed a complaint against the ring, and the court last week issued a temporary restraining order that froze the spammers' assets and prohibited them from sending any more unsolicited email and making false product claims.
Criminal charges are likely.
The spam group, accused of delivering solicitations to purchase fake or unsafe weight-loss drugs and male enhancement products, is run by Lance Atkinson of New Zealand and Jody Smith of Texas, according to an FTC statement. The pair is accused of overseeing an operation that stretched from China, India and Russia to Canada and the United States and delivered billions of illegal spam messages.
At one point, the group, thanks to a huge network of compromised computers, was believed to be behind one-third of the world's spam, the FTC said. The defendants also lied about providing security for credit card transactions, falsely claiming to customers that their "online pharmacy" used SSL encryption.
While spam experts applauded the court order as a positive step, they said there likely would be no change in the amount of spam being delivered. Spamhaus, in a statement, said it still is witnessing a barrage of HerbalKing spam, thanks to a massive botnet, estimated at its peak to be 35,000 nodes strong.
"Botnet spam systems are very automated and will continue to spam even if the operators do not login and control them," the organization said. "These spammers set up tens of thousands of domains and the spam systems route in new ones every day."
David Poellhuber, principal of ZeroSpam, a Canadian vendor, told SCMagazineUS.com that spam currently accounts for 96 percent of all emails.
"This case is a drop in the ocean of spam," he said. "It won't make much of a difference. We haven't seen our radar screen going down very much because of this."
John Teakell, a Dallas attorney for Smith, could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.
In 2005, the FTC won a $2.2 million spam judgment against Atkinson and a business partner.
The HerbalKing spam gang has been the worst purveyor of unwanted emails over the past two years, according to Spamhaus, a volunteer group that tracks spammers.
The FTC said in a statement that it filed a complaint against the ring, and the court last week issued a temporary restraining order that froze the spammers' assets and prohibited them from sending any more unsolicited email and making false product claims.
Criminal charges are likely.
The spam group, accused of delivering solicitations to purchase fake or unsafe weight-loss drugs and male enhancement products, is run by Lance Atkinson of New Zealand and Jody Smith of Texas, according to an FTC statement. The pair is accused of overseeing an operation that stretched from China, India and Russia to Canada and the United States and delivered billions of illegal spam messages.
At one point, the group, thanks to a huge network of compromised computers, was believed to be behind one-third of the world's spam, the FTC said. The defendants also lied about providing security for credit card transactions, falsely claiming to customers that their "online pharmacy" used SSL encryption.
While spam experts applauded the court order as a positive step, they said there likely would be no change in the amount of spam being delivered. Spamhaus, in a statement, said it still is witnessing a barrage of HerbalKing spam, thanks to a massive botnet, estimated at its peak to be 35,000 nodes strong.
"Botnet spam systems are very automated and will continue to spam even if the operators do not login and control them," the organization said. "These spammers set up tens of thousands of domains and the spam systems route in new ones every day."
David Poellhuber, principal of ZeroSpam, a Canadian vendor, told SCMagazineUS.com that spam currently accounts for 96 percent of all emails.
"This case is a drop in the ocean of spam," he said. "It won't make much of a difference. We haven't seen our radar screen going down very much because of this."
John Teakell, a Dallas attorney for Smith, could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.
In 2005, the FTC won a $2.2 million spam judgment against Atkinson and a business partner.
How to Configure Anti-Spam Automatic Updates
For computers that are running Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, anti-spam Automatic Updates functionality relies on the Microsoft Update service framework. The Automatic Updates application is the Microsoft Windows client for the Microsoft Update service and is hosted on the computer that is running Microsoft Exchange. The Automatic Updates application manages connectivity and communication with Microsoft Update. Typically, the Automatic Updates client makes periodic requests to Microsoft Update for updates that apply to all applications on the host computer.
Because the data that spam signatures provide is especially time-sensitive, multiple requests per hour are required to maintain a high level of protection against spam. Therefore, the Microsoft Forefront Security for Exchange Server Anti-spam Update service uses the Automatic Updates client as a proxy for making requests to Microsoft Update. Forefront Anti-spam Automatic Updates is optimized for frequent checks and only requests updates of spam signature data and Microsoft IP Reputation Service data.
Forefront Anti-spam Automatic Updates requires a one-time opt-in process. Before you use Forefront Anti-spam Automatic Updates, you must opt in to Microsoft Update on each computer where you run the Forefront Anti-spam Automatic Updates. You can opt in to Microsoft Update by following one of these steps:
1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Depending on which Control Panel view you use, Classic or Category, do one of the following:
To perform the following procedures on a computer that has the Edge Transport server role installed, you must log on by using an account that is a member of the local Administrators group on that computer.
Forefront Anti-spam Automatic Updates functionality is a premium feature that requires either an Exchange Enterprise Client Access License (CAL) for each user mailbox or a Microsoft Forefront Security for Exchange Server license.
Before you perform these procedures, you should understand the following Automatic Updates concepts:
* Automatic Updates client As briefly discussed earlier, the Automatic Updates client is the application for the Windows operating system that communicates with the Windows Update and Microsoft Update Web sites. Automatic Updates polls the Windows Update or Microsoft Update Web sites for new updates that are applicable for any of the Microsoft software that is running on the host computer.
You can enable and configure the Automatic Updates client if you visit either the Windows Update or Microsoft Update Web sites. You can configure the Automatic Updates client to download updates automatically, to download and install the updates, or not to download updates. If you configure the Automatic Updates client so that it doesn't download updates, all updates must be performed manually by the end-user of the computer.
* Forefront Anti-spam Automatic Updates Forefront Anti-spam Automatic Updates use the Automatic Updates client as a proxy to request and download updates from the Microsoft Update Web site. Forefront Anti-spam Automatic Updates only requests updates for content filtering, the Microsoft IP Reputation Service, and spam signature data.
* Proxy configuration Forefront Anti-spam Automatic Updates use HTTP to access the Microsoft Update Web site. Exchange 2007 transport servers rely on the underlying Windows HTTP Services (WinHTTP) to manage all HTTP and HTTPS traffic. Both Hub Transport servers and Edge Transport servers may use HTTP to access updates for Microsoft Exchange 2007 Standard Anti-spam Filter Updates and Forefront Anti-spam Automatic Updates. Make sure WinHTTP is configured to allow HTTP traffic on the computers where updates will be downloaded.
The schedule that you set for the Automatic Updates client that is used by the Windows operating system, does not define the frequency of Forefront Anti-spam Automatic Updates. By using the Exchange Management Console or the Exchange Management Shell, you can set Forefront Anti-spam Automatic Updates to download and install automatically. If you set Forefront Anti-spam Automatic Updates to download and install automatically, it will update much more frequently than the Windows Automatic Updates client allows.
Forefront Anti-spam Automatic Updates contain data only. They do not contain updated binaries or libraries. Anti-spam updates do not require mail flow interruption or service restarts.
It is a best practice to configure the anti-spam Automatic Updates to download spam signature data and the IP Block list service that is provided by the Microsoft IP Reputation Service. For more information about how to add block list providers, you need to Configure IP Allow List and IP Block List Providers.
Procedure:
To use the Exchange Management Console to enable anti-spam updates
1. In the Exchange Management Console, click Edge Transport.
2. Select the server on which the Exchange Anti-spam Update service is to be configured.
3. In the Action pane, click Enable Anti-spam Updates.
Because the data that spam signatures provide is especially time-sensitive, multiple requests per hour are required to maintain a high level of protection against spam. Therefore, the Microsoft Forefront Security for Exchange Server Anti-spam Update service uses the Automatic Updates client as a proxy for making requests to Microsoft Update. Forefront Anti-spam Automatic Updates is optimized for frequent checks and only requests updates of spam signature data and Microsoft IP Reputation Service data.
Forefront Anti-spam Automatic Updates requires a one-time opt-in process. Before you use Forefront Anti-spam Automatic Updates, you must opt in to Microsoft Update on each computer where you run the Forefront Anti-spam Automatic Updates. You can opt in to Microsoft Update by following one of these steps:
1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Depending on which Control Panel view you use, Classic or Category, do one of the following:
- Click System, and then click the Automatic Updates tab.
- Click Performance and Maintenance, click System, and then click the Automatic Updates tab.
- If you opt in to Microsoft Update by using the Microsoft Update Web site, you still must enable anti-spam updates on the Exchange server by using one of the procedures in this topic.
- Run the Enable Anti-spam Updates wizard as described later in this topic.
- Run the Enable-AntispamUpdates cmdlet as described later in this topic.
To perform the following procedures on a computer that has the Edge Transport server role installed, you must log on by using an account that is a member of the local Administrators group on that computer.
Forefront Anti-spam Automatic Updates functionality is a premium feature that requires either an Exchange Enterprise Client Access License (CAL) for each user mailbox or a Microsoft Forefront Security for Exchange Server license.
Before you perform these procedures, you should understand the following Automatic Updates concepts:
* Automatic Updates client As briefly discussed earlier, the Automatic Updates client is the application for the Windows operating system that communicates with the Windows Update and Microsoft Update Web sites. Automatic Updates polls the Windows Update or Microsoft Update Web sites for new updates that are applicable for any of the Microsoft software that is running on the host computer.
You can enable and configure the Automatic Updates client if you visit either the Windows Update or Microsoft Update Web sites. You can configure the Automatic Updates client to download updates automatically, to download and install the updates, or not to download updates. If you configure the Automatic Updates client so that it doesn't download updates, all updates must be performed manually by the end-user of the computer.
* Forefront Anti-spam Automatic Updates Forefront Anti-spam Automatic Updates use the Automatic Updates client as a proxy to request and download updates from the Microsoft Update Web site. Forefront Anti-spam Automatic Updates only requests updates for content filtering, the Microsoft IP Reputation Service, and spam signature data.
* Proxy configuration Forefront Anti-spam Automatic Updates use HTTP to access the Microsoft Update Web site. Exchange 2007 transport servers rely on the underlying Windows HTTP Services (WinHTTP) to manage all HTTP and HTTPS traffic. Both Hub Transport servers and Edge Transport servers may use HTTP to access updates for Microsoft Exchange 2007 Standard Anti-spam Filter Updates and Forefront Anti-spam Automatic Updates. Make sure WinHTTP is configured to allow HTTP traffic on the computers where updates will be downloaded.
The schedule that you set for the Automatic Updates client that is used by the Windows operating system, does not define the frequency of Forefront Anti-spam Automatic Updates. By using the Exchange Management Console or the Exchange Management Shell, you can set Forefront Anti-spam Automatic Updates to download and install automatically. If you set Forefront Anti-spam Automatic Updates to download and install automatically, it will update much more frequently than the Windows Automatic Updates client allows.
Forefront Anti-spam Automatic Updates contain data only. They do not contain updated binaries or libraries. Anti-spam updates do not require mail flow interruption or service restarts.
It is a best practice to configure the anti-spam Automatic Updates to download spam signature data and the IP Block list service that is provided by the Microsoft IP Reputation Service. For more information about how to add block list providers, you need to Configure IP Allow List and IP Block List Providers.
Procedure:
To use the Exchange Management Console to enable anti-spam updates
1. In the Exchange Management Console, click Edge Transport.
2. Select the server on which the Exchange Anti-spam Update service is to be configured.
3. In the Action pane, click Enable Anti-spam Updates.
Microsoft Exchange Server
Microsoft Exchange Server is a messaging and collaborative software product developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Servers line of server products and is widely used by enterprises using Microsoft infrastructure solutions. Exchange's major features consist of electronic mail, calendaring, contacts and tasks; support for mobile and web-based access to information; and support for data storage.
Planning the migration from Microsoft's internal "legacy XENIX-based messaging system" to Exchange Server environment began in April 1993 , and by January 1995 some 500 users were running on Exchange Server Beta 1. By April 1996 32,000 users were migrated to the environment.
Exchange Server 4.0, released on June 11, 1996, was the original version of Exchange Server sold to the public, positioned as an upgrade to Microsoft Mail 3.5. The original version of Microsoft Mail (written by Microsoft) had been replaced several weeks after Lotus acquired cc:Mail by a package called Network Courier, acquired during the purchase of Consumer Software Inc. in April 1991. Exchange Server was however an entirely new X.400-based client-server mail system with a single database store that also supported X.500 directory services. The directory used by Exchange Server eventually became Microsoft's Active Directory service, an LDAP-compliant directory server. Active Directory was integrated into Windows 2000 as the foundation of Windows Server domains.
On May 23, 1997, Exchange Server 5.0 was released, which introduced the new Exchange Administrator console, as well as opening up "integrated" access to SMTP-based networks for the first time. Unlike Microsoft Mail (which required a standalone SMTP relay), Exchange Server 5.0 could, with the help of an add-in called the Internet Mail Connector, communicate directly with servers using the internet mail standard. Version 5.0 also introduced a new Web-based e-mail interface Exchange Web Access, this was rebranded as Outlook Web Access in a later Service pack. Along with Exchange Server version 5.0, Microsoft released version 8.01 of Microsoft Outlook, version 5.0 of the Microsoft Exchange Client and version 7.5 of Microsoft Schedule+ to support the new features in the new version of Exchange Server.
Exchange Server 5.5, introduced November, 1997, was sold in two editions, Standard and Enterprise. They differ in database store size, mail transport connectors and clustering capabilities. The Standard Edition had the same 16 GB database size limitation as earlier versions of Exchange Server, while the Enterprise Edition had an increased limit of 16 TB (although Microsoft's best practices documentation recommends that the message store not exceed 100 GB). The Standard Edition includes the Site Connector, MS Mail Connector, Internet Mail Service (previously "Internet Mail Connector"), and Internet News Service (previously "Internet News Connector"), as well as software to interoperate with cc:Mail, Lotus Notes and Novell GroupWise. The Enterprise Edition adds an X.400 connector, and interoperability software with SNADS and PROFS. The Enterprise Edition also introduced two node clustering capability. Exchange Server 5.5 introduced a number of other new features including a new version of Outlook Web Access with Calendar support, support for IMAP4 and LDAP v3 clients and the Deleted Item Recovery feature. Exchange Server 5.5 was the last version of Exchange Server to have separate directory, SMTP and NNTP services. There was no new version of Exchange Client and Schedule+ for version 5.5, instead version 8.03 of Microsoft Outlook was released to support the new features of Exchange Server 5.5.
Exchange Server 2000 (v6.0), released on November 29, 2000, overcame many of the limitations of its predecessors. For example, it raised the maximum sizes of databases and increased the number of servers in a cluster from two to four. However, many customers were deterred from upgrading by the requirement for a full Microsoft Active Directory infrastructure to be in place, as unlike Exchange Server 5.5, Exchange Server 2000 had no inbuilt Directory Service, and had a dependency upon Active Directory. The migration process from Exchange Server 5.5 did not have any in-place upgrade path, and necessitated having the two systems online at the same time, with user-to-mailbox mapping and a temporary translation process between the two directories. Exchange Server 2000 also added support for Instant Messaging, but that capability was later spun off to Microsoft Office Live Communications Server. This migration was made significantly easier by Exchange Server 2003 (although still involved the same basic steps); many users of Exchange Server 5.5 waited for the release of Exchange Server 2003 to upgrade. The upgrade process also required upgrading a company's servers to Windows 2000. Some customers opted to stay on a combination of Exchange Server 5.5 and Windows NT 4.0, both of which are no longer supported by Microsoft.
Exchange Server 2007
Exchange Server 2007 was released in late 2006 to business customers as part of Microsoft's roll-out wave of new products. It includes new clustering options, 64-bit support for greater scalability, voice mail integration, better search and support for Web services, better filtering options, and a new Outlook Web Access interface. Exchange 2007 also dropped support for Exchange 5.50 migrations, routing groups, admin groups, Outlook Mobile Access, X.400, and some API interfaces, amongst other features.
Exchange Server 2007 (v8 or with SP1 v8.1) runs on 64-bit x86-64 versions of Windows Server only. This requirement applies to supported production environments only; a 32-bit trial version is available for download and testing. However, companies currently running Exchange Server on 32-bit hardware will be required to replace or migrate hardware if they wish to upgrade to the new version. Companies that are currently running Exchange Server on 64-bit capable hardware are still required to migrate from their existing Exchange 2000/2003 servers to a new 2007 server since in-place upgrades are not supported in 2007.
The first beta of Exchange Server 2007 (then named "Exchange 12" or E12) was released in December 2005 to a very limited number of beta testers. A wider beta was made available via TechNet Plus and MSDN subscriptions in March 2006 according to the Microsoft Exchange team blog.[citation needed] On April 25, 2006, Microsoft announced that the next version of Exchange Server would be called Exchange Server 2007.
Exchange Server 2007 is an integrated part of the Innovative Communications Alliance products.
Key improvements
The principal enhancements, as outlined by Microsoft, are:
* Protection: anti-spam, antivirus, compliance, clustering with data replication, improved security and encryption
* Improved Information Worker Access: improved calendaring, unified messaging, improved mobility, improved web access
* Improved IT Experience: 64-bit performance & scalability, command-line shell & simplified GUI, improved deployment, role separation, simplified routing
* Exchange Management Shell: a new command-line shell and scripting language for system administration (based on Windows PowerShell). Shell users can perform every task that can be performed in the Exchange Server graphical user interface plus additional tasks, and can program often-used or complex tasks into scripts that can be saved, shared, and re-used. The Exchange Management Shell has over 375 unique commands to manage features of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007.
* "Unified Messaging" that lets users receive voice mail, e-mail, and faxes in their mailboxes, and lets them access their mailboxes from cell phones and other wireless devices. Voice commands can be given to control and listen to e-mail over the phone (and also send some basic messages, like "I'll be late")
* Increased the database maximum size limit. Database size is now limited to 16Tb per database.
* Increased the maximum number of storage groups and mail databases per server, to 5 each for Standard Edition (from 1 each in Exchange Server 2003 Standard), and to 50 each for Enterprise Edition (from 4 groups and 20 databases in Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise).
Clustering and high availability
Exchange Server Enterprise Edition supports clustering of up to 4 nodes when using Windows 2000 Server, and up to 8 nodes with Windows Server 2003. Exchange Server 2003 also introduced active-active clustering, but for two-node clusters only. In this setup, both servers in the cluster are allowed to be active simultaneously. This is opposed to Exchange's more common active-passive mode in which the failover servers in any cluster node cannot be used at all while their corresponding home servers are active. They must wait, inactive, for the home servers in the node to fail. Subsequent performance issues with active-active mode have led Microsoft to recommend that it should no longer be used. In fact, support for active-active mode clustering has been discontinued with Exchange Server 2007.
Exchange's clustering (active-active or active-passive mode) has been criticised because of its requirement for servers in the cluster nodes to share the same physical data. The clustering in Exchange Server provides redundancy for Exchange Server as an application, but not for Exchange data. In this scenario, the data can be regarded as a single point of failure, despite Microsoft's description of this set up as a "Shared Nothing" model. This void has however been filled by ISV's and storage manufacturers, through "site resilience" solutions, such as geo-clustering and asynchronous data replication. Exchange Server 2007 introduces new cluster terminology and configurations that address the shortcomings of the previous "shared data model".
Exchange Server 2007 provides built-in support for asynchronous replication modeled on SQL Server's "Log Shipping" in CCR (Cluster Continuous Replication) clusters, which are built on MSCS MNS (Microsoft Cluster Service—Majority Node Set) clusters, which do not require shared storage. This type of cluster can be inexpensive and deployed in one, or "stretched" across two datacenters for protection against site-wide failures such as natural disasters. The limitation of CCR clusters is the ability to have only two nodes and the third node known as "voter node" or file share witness that prevents "split brain" scenarios, generally hosted as a file share on a Hub Transport Server. The second type of cluster is the traditional clustering that was available in previous versions, and is now being referred to as SCC (Single Copy Cluster). In Exchange Server 2007 deployment of both CCR and SCC clusters has been simplified and improved; the entire cluster install process takes place during Exchange Server installation. LCR or Local Continuous Replication has been referred to as the "poor man's cluster". It is designed to allow for data replication to an alternative drive attached to the same system and is intended to provide protection against local storage failures. It does not protect against the case where the server itself fails.
In November 2007, Microsoft released SP1 for Exchange Server 2007. This service pack includes an additional high-availability feature called SCR (Standby Continuous Replication). Unlike CCR which requires that both servers belong to a Windows cluster, typically residing in the same datacenter, SCR can replicate data to a non-clustered server, located in a separate datacenter.
Licensing
Like Windows Server products, Exchange Server requires Client Access Licenses, which are different from Windows CALs. Corporate license agreements, such as the Enterprise Agreement, or EA, include Exchange Server CALs. It also comes as part of the Core CAL. Just like Windows Server and other server products from Microsoft, you can choose to use User or Device CALs. Device CALs are assigned to a device (workstation, laptop or PDA). User CALs, are assigned to a user or employee (not a mailbox). User CALs allow a user to access Exchange e-mail from any device. User and Device CALs are the same price, however cannot be used interchangeably. For Service Providers looking to host Microsoft Exchange, there is an SPLA (Service Provider License Agreement) available whereby Microsoft receives a monthly service fee in the place of the traditional Client Access Licenses. Two types of Exchange CAL are available: Exchange CAL Standard and Exchange CAL Enterprise. The Enterprise CAL is an add-on licence to the Standard CAL.
Planning the migration from Microsoft's internal "legacy XENIX-based messaging system" to Exchange Server environment began in April 1993 , and by January 1995 some 500 users were running on Exchange Server Beta 1. By April 1996 32,000 users were migrated to the environment.
Exchange Server 4.0, released on June 11, 1996, was the original version of Exchange Server sold to the public, positioned as an upgrade to Microsoft Mail 3.5. The original version of Microsoft Mail (written by Microsoft) had been replaced several weeks after Lotus acquired cc:Mail by a package called Network Courier, acquired during the purchase of Consumer Software Inc. in April 1991. Exchange Server was however an entirely new X.400-based client-server mail system with a single database store that also supported X.500 directory services. The directory used by Exchange Server eventually became Microsoft's Active Directory service, an LDAP-compliant directory server. Active Directory was integrated into Windows 2000 as the foundation of Windows Server domains.
On May 23, 1997, Exchange Server 5.0 was released, which introduced the new Exchange Administrator console, as well as opening up "integrated" access to SMTP-based networks for the first time. Unlike Microsoft Mail (which required a standalone SMTP relay), Exchange Server 5.0 could, with the help of an add-in called the Internet Mail Connector, communicate directly with servers using the internet mail standard. Version 5.0 also introduced a new Web-based e-mail interface Exchange Web Access, this was rebranded as Outlook Web Access in a later Service pack. Along with Exchange Server version 5.0, Microsoft released version 8.01 of Microsoft Outlook, version 5.0 of the Microsoft Exchange Client and version 7.5 of Microsoft Schedule+ to support the new features in the new version of Exchange Server.
Exchange Server 5.5, introduced November, 1997, was sold in two editions, Standard and Enterprise. They differ in database store size, mail transport connectors and clustering capabilities. The Standard Edition had the same 16 GB database size limitation as earlier versions of Exchange Server, while the Enterprise Edition had an increased limit of 16 TB (although Microsoft's best practices documentation recommends that the message store not exceed 100 GB). The Standard Edition includes the Site Connector, MS Mail Connector, Internet Mail Service (previously "Internet Mail Connector"), and Internet News Service (previously "Internet News Connector"), as well as software to interoperate with cc:Mail, Lotus Notes and Novell GroupWise. The Enterprise Edition adds an X.400 connector, and interoperability software with SNADS and PROFS. The Enterprise Edition also introduced two node clustering capability. Exchange Server 5.5 introduced a number of other new features including a new version of Outlook Web Access with Calendar support, support for IMAP4 and LDAP v3 clients and the Deleted Item Recovery feature. Exchange Server 5.5 was the last version of Exchange Server to have separate directory, SMTP and NNTP services. There was no new version of Exchange Client and Schedule+ for version 5.5, instead version 8.03 of Microsoft Outlook was released to support the new features of Exchange Server 5.5.
Exchange Server 2000 (v6.0), released on November 29, 2000, overcame many of the limitations of its predecessors. For example, it raised the maximum sizes of databases and increased the number of servers in a cluster from two to four. However, many customers were deterred from upgrading by the requirement for a full Microsoft Active Directory infrastructure to be in place, as unlike Exchange Server 5.5, Exchange Server 2000 had no inbuilt Directory Service, and had a dependency upon Active Directory. The migration process from Exchange Server 5.5 did not have any in-place upgrade path, and necessitated having the two systems online at the same time, with user-to-mailbox mapping and a temporary translation process between the two directories. Exchange Server 2000 also added support for Instant Messaging, but that capability was later spun off to Microsoft Office Live Communications Server. This migration was made significantly easier by Exchange Server 2003 (although still involved the same basic steps); many users of Exchange Server 5.5 waited for the release of Exchange Server 2003 to upgrade. The upgrade process also required upgrading a company's servers to Windows 2000. Some customers opted to stay on a combination of Exchange Server 5.5 and Windows NT 4.0, both of which are no longer supported by Microsoft.
Exchange Server 2007
Exchange Server 2007 was released in late 2006 to business customers as part of Microsoft's roll-out wave of new products. It includes new clustering options, 64-bit support for greater scalability, voice mail integration, better search and support for Web services, better filtering options, and a new Outlook Web Access interface. Exchange 2007 also dropped support for Exchange 5.50 migrations, routing groups, admin groups, Outlook Mobile Access, X.400, and some API interfaces, amongst other features.
Exchange Server 2007 (v8 or with SP1 v8.1) runs on 64-bit x86-64 versions of Windows Server only. This requirement applies to supported production environments only; a 32-bit trial version is available for download and testing. However, companies currently running Exchange Server on 32-bit hardware will be required to replace or migrate hardware if they wish to upgrade to the new version. Companies that are currently running Exchange Server on 64-bit capable hardware are still required to migrate from their existing Exchange 2000/2003 servers to a new 2007 server since in-place upgrades are not supported in 2007.
The first beta of Exchange Server 2007 (then named "Exchange 12" or E12) was released in December 2005 to a very limited number of beta testers. A wider beta was made available via TechNet Plus and MSDN subscriptions in March 2006 according to the Microsoft Exchange team blog.[citation needed] On April 25, 2006, Microsoft announced that the next version of Exchange Server would be called Exchange Server 2007.
Exchange Server 2007 is an integrated part of the Innovative Communications Alliance products.
Key improvements
The principal enhancements, as outlined by Microsoft, are:
* Protection: anti-spam, antivirus, compliance, clustering with data replication, improved security and encryption
* Improved Information Worker Access: improved calendaring, unified messaging, improved mobility, improved web access
* Improved IT Experience: 64-bit performance & scalability, command-line shell & simplified GUI, improved deployment, role separation, simplified routing
* Exchange Management Shell: a new command-line shell and scripting language for system administration (based on Windows PowerShell). Shell users can perform every task that can be performed in the Exchange Server graphical user interface plus additional tasks, and can program often-used or complex tasks into scripts that can be saved, shared, and re-used. The Exchange Management Shell has over 375 unique commands to manage features of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007.
* "Unified Messaging" that lets users receive voice mail, e-mail, and faxes in their mailboxes, and lets them access their mailboxes from cell phones and other wireless devices. Voice commands can be given to control and listen to e-mail over the phone (and also send some basic messages, like "I'll be late")
* Increased the database maximum size limit. Database size is now limited to 16Tb per database.
* Increased the maximum number of storage groups and mail databases per server, to 5 each for Standard Edition (from 1 each in Exchange Server 2003 Standard), and to 50 each for Enterprise Edition (from 4 groups and 20 databases in Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise).
Clustering and high availability
Exchange Server Enterprise Edition supports clustering of up to 4 nodes when using Windows 2000 Server, and up to 8 nodes with Windows Server 2003. Exchange Server 2003 also introduced active-active clustering, but for two-node clusters only. In this setup, both servers in the cluster are allowed to be active simultaneously. This is opposed to Exchange's more common active-passive mode in which the failover servers in any cluster node cannot be used at all while their corresponding home servers are active. They must wait, inactive, for the home servers in the node to fail. Subsequent performance issues with active-active mode have led Microsoft to recommend that it should no longer be used. In fact, support for active-active mode clustering has been discontinued with Exchange Server 2007.
Exchange's clustering (active-active or active-passive mode) has been criticised because of its requirement for servers in the cluster nodes to share the same physical data. The clustering in Exchange Server provides redundancy for Exchange Server as an application, but not for Exchange data. In this scenario, the data can be regarded as a single point of failure, despite Microsoft's description of this set up as a "Shared Nothing" model. This void has however been filled by ISV's and storage manufacturers, through "site resilience" solutions, such as geo-clustering and asynchronous data replication. Exchange Server 2007 introduces new cluster terminology and configurations that address the shortcomings of the previous "shared data model".
Exchange Server 2007 provides built-in support for asynchronous replication modeled on SQL Server's "Log Shipping" in CCR (Cluster Continuous Replication) clusters, which are built on MSCS MNS (Microsoft Cluster Service—Majority Node Set) clusters, which do not require shared storage. This type of cluster can be inexpensive and deployed in one, or "stretched" across two datacenters for protection against site-wide failures such as natural disasters. The limitation of CCR clusters is the ability to have only two nodes and the third node known as "voter node" or file share witness that prevents "split brain" scenarios, generally hosted as a file share on a Hub Transport Server. The second type of cluster is the traditional clustering that was available in previous versions, and is now being referred to as SCC (Single Copy Cluster). In Exchange Server 2007 deployment of both CCR and SCC clusters has been simplified and improved; the entire cluster install process takes place during Exchange Server installation. LCR or Local Continuous Replication has been referred to as the "poor man's cluster". It is designed to allow for data replication to an alternative drive attached to the same system and is intended to provide protection against local storage failures. It does not protect against the case where the server itself fails.
In November 2007, Microsoft released SP1 for Exchange Server 2007. This service pack includes an additional high-availability feature called SCR (Standby Continuous Replication). Unlike CCR which requires that both servers belong to a Windows cluster, typically residing in the same datacenter, SCR can replicate data to a non-clustered server, located in a separate datacenter.
Licensing
Like Windows Server products, Exchange Server requires Client Access Licenses, which are different from Windows CALs. Corporate license agreements, such as the Enterprise Agreement, or EA, include Exchange Server CALs. It also comes as part of the Core CAL. Just like Windows Server and other server products from Microsoft, you can choose to use User or Device CALs. Device CALs are assigned to a device (workstation, laptop or PDA). User CALs, are assigned to a user or employee (not a mailbox). User CALs allow a user to access Exchange e-mail from any device. User and Device CALs are the same price, however cannot be used interchangeably. For Service Providers looking to host Microsoft Exchange, there is an SPLA (Service Provider License Agreement) available whereby Microsoft receives a monthly service fee in the place of the traditional Client Access Licenses. Two types of Exchange CAL are available: Exchange CAL Standard and Exchange CAL Enterprise. The Enterprise CAL is an add-on licence to the Standard CAL.
Exchange Server 2007 Antivirus and Anti-Spam Tour
Viruses, spam, and phishing attacks are all threats to your e-mail environment. With Microsoft Exchange, you have choices in how you protect your e-mail environment. You can choose Microsoft Exchange Hosted Filtering, which protects your messaging environment in the cloud. Or you can choose the Exchange Server 2007 Edge Transport server role, with Microsoft Forefront Security for Exchange Server, for protection in your network perimeter. In addition to protection from external threats, Forefront Security for Exchange Server also offers antivirus protection for Exchange servers within your local area network (LAN).
Exchange Hosted Filtering: Virus and Spam Protection in the Cloud
Microsoft Exchange Hosted Filtering is a fully managed e-mail security service that helps stop viruses and spam before they reach your network. Exchange Hosted Filtering provides reliable spam filtering with high capture rates and virtually no false positives. In addition, the service helps provide zero-day virus detection and blocking, and flexible filter options that help you enforce corporate e-mail policies for inbound and outbound mail.
Exchange Hosted Filtering provides enterprise-class hosted services for e-mail security and management with service performance backed by service level agreements (SLAs). Exchange Hosted Filtering gives you a convenient way to improve the reliability and scalability of your existing messaging infrastructure.
How Exchange Hosted Filtering Works
With just a simple MX record configuration change, Microsoft Exchange Hosted Filtering can be up and running quickly. There is no hardware to provision; no software to buy, install, or configure; and no expensive training required for your IT staff.
Furthermore, there is no need for you to change or modify your existing e-mail infrastructure or even to install or maintain any new hardware or software. The heart of Exchange Hosted Filtering is a distributed network of data centers located at key sites along the Internet backbone. Each data center contains fault-tolerant servers that are load-balanced from site to site and from server to server. In the unlikely event that one data center is unavailable, traffic can be easily routed to another data center, minimizing the chances of any interruption to the service. Microsoft algorithms analyze and route message traffic between data centers to help ensure secure and timely delivery.
Exchange Server 2007: Virus and Spam Protection in the Perimeter
Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 features a server role that helps you safeguard the messaging infrastructure for your organization. The Edge Transport Server role provides virus protection and spam filtering at the network perimeter—before dangerous data can affect your network.
The Edge Transport server role can be deployed with Microsoft Forefront Security for Exchange Server to provide a comprehensive antivirus and antispam solution for your organization. Automatic updates can be configured for both virus and spam filtering, and custom filters can be centrally configured to help you enforce corporate policies. The Edge Transport server is fully configurable to meet the unique needs of your organization.
Understanding the Exchange Edge Transport Server Role
The Exchange Edge Transport server role offers the best of both worlds. First and foremost, it provides added security in the form of an e-mail gateway that is deployed in the perimeter of your network. In addition, it provides you with consistent administration experiences, the Exchange Management Console and the Exchange Management Shell, which you might be used to with the other Exchange Server roles.
Furthermore, the Exchange Edge Transport server role allows you to use the information that already exists in your network to better protect your network. User-created Outlook Safe Lists are propagated to the Edge to help ensure that your users receive their business-critical e-mail and recipient filtering with optimal security using the information stored in Microsoft Active Directory. The Edge Transport server role is a highly available, enterprise class SMTP mail gateway.
Forefront Security for Exchange Server and Your Network
Microsoft Forefront Security for Exchange Server is an on-premise solution that provides protection for Microsoft Exchange 2007 Edge Transport, Hub Transport, and Mailbox server roles. Forefront Security for Exchange helps protect your e-mail infrastructure from infection and downtime through an approach that emphasizes layered defenses, optimization of Exchange Server performance and availability, and simplified management control.
• Advanced Protection: Forefront Security for Exchange Server provides multiple scan engines at multiple layers throughout the e-mail and collaboration infrastructure to provide maximum threat protection
• Improved Availability and Performance: Forefront Security for Exchange Server includes scanning innovations, performance controls, and tight integration with Microsoft Exchange Server to improve the overall availability and performance of messaging environments
• Simplified Management: Forefront Security for Exchange Server helps you ensure that you can simply and cost-effectively manage the security of your messaging servers
Exchange Hosted Filtering: Virus and Spam Protection in the Cloud
Microsoft Exchange Hosted Filtering is a fully managed e-mail security service that helps stop viruses and spam before they reach your network. Exchange Hosted Filtering provides reliable spam filtering with high capture rates and virtually no false positives. In addition, the service helps provide zero-day virus detection and blocking, and flexible filter options that help you enforce corporate e-mail policies for inbound and outbound mail.
Exchange Hosted Filtering provides enterprise-class hosted services for e-mail security and management with service performance backed by service level agreements (SLAs). Exchange Hosted Filtering gives you a convenient way to improve the reliability and scalability of your existing messaging infrastructure.
How Exchange Hosted Filtering Works
With just a simple MX record configuration change, Microsoft Exchange Hosted Filtering can be up and running quickly. There is no hardware to provision; no software to buy, install, or configure; and no expensive training required for your IT staff.
Furthermore, there is no need for you to change or modify your existing e-mail infrastructure or even to install or maintain any new hardware or software. The heart of Exchange Hosted Filtering is a distributed network of data centers located at key sites along the Internet backbone. Each data center contains fault-tolerant servers that are load-balanced from site to site and from server to server. In the unlikely event that one data center is unavailable, traffic can be easily routed to another data center, minimizing the chances of any interruption to the service. Microsoft algorithms analyze and route message traffic between data centers to help ensure secure and timely delivery.
Exchange Server 2007: Virus and Spam Protection in the Perimeter
Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 features a server role that helps you safeguard the messaging infrastructure for your organization. The Edge Transport Server role provides virus protection and spam filtering at the network perimeter—before dangerous data can affect your network.
The Edge Transport server role can be deployed with Microsoft Forefront Security for Exchange Server to provide a comprehensive antivirus and antispam solution for your organization. Automatic updates can be configured for both virus and spam filtering, and custom filters can be centrally configured to help you enforce corporate policies. The Edge Transport server is fully configurable to meet the unique needs of your organization.
Understanding the Exchange Edge Transport Server Role
The Exchange Edge Transport server role offers the best of both worlds. First and foremost, it provides added security in the form of an e-mail gateway that is deployed in the perimeter of your network. In addition, it provides you with consistent administration experiences, the Exchange Management Console and the Exchange Management Shell, which you might be used to with the other Exchange Server roles.
Furthermore, the Exchange Edge Transport server role allows you to use the information that already exists in your network to better protect your network. User-created Outlook Safe Lists are propagated to the Edge to help ensure that your users receive their business-critical e-mail and recipient filtering with optimal security using the information stored in Microsoft Active Directory. The Edge Transport server role is a highly available, enterprise class SMTP mail gateway.
Forefront Security for Exchange Server and Your Network
Microsoft Forefront Security for Exchange Server is an on-premise solution that provides protection for Microsoft Exchange 2007 Edge Transport, Hub Transport, and Mailbox server roles. Forefront Security for Exchange helps protect your e-mail infrastructure from infection and downtime through an approach that emphasizes layered defenses, optimization of Exchange Server performance and availability, and simplified management control.
• Advanced Protection: Forefront Security for Exchange Server provides multiple scan engines at multiple layers throughout the e-mail and collaboration infrastructure to provide maximum threat protection
• Improved Availability and Performance: Forefront Security for Exchange Server includes scanning innovations, performance controls, and tight integration with Microsoft Exchange Server to improve the overall availability and performance of messaging environments
• Simplified Management: Forefront Security for Exchange Server helps you ensure that you can simply and cost-effectively manage the security of your messaging servers
Exchange Server 2007 Training Package
Exchange Server 2007 has made a significant impact on the messaging world. With newly redesigned architecture, a more robust email application, tighter security, and more options for users AND administrators... Exchange 2007's overhauled environment presents many new challenges.
So many in fact, Train Signal has responded with a new training course that breaks down the complexities of Exchange Server 2007 in plain language. You know you MUST learn Exchange Server 2007... why not choose the same proven training program being praised by IT professionals worldwide?
"Am I Qualified To Take This Exchange 2007 Course?"
So many in fact, Train Signal has responded with a new training course that breaks down the complexities of Exchange Server 2007 in plain language. You know you MUST learn Exchange Server 2007... why not choose the same proven training program being praised by IT professionals worldwide?
"Am I Qualified To Take This Exchange 2007 Course?"
- If you're a mid to upper level System or Exchange admin... who is fairly comfortable working with Windows Servers but who has limited experience with Exchange 2007, or previous versions.
- If you're a beginning to intermediate Exchange Admin... and you want to update your skills or be formally exposed to some areas of Exchange 2007 that you may not be familiar with already.
- If you have installed Windows 2003 Server before and you're comfortable with basic server management tasks like user creation, backups, share creation and checking logs. Basic familiarity with Active Directory concepts is assumed, but experience at setting up AD is not expected.
- Understand the larger architecture changes, including how 64-bit servers change the playing field and shift resource needs for Exchange 2007
- Learn how to deal with certificates in Exchange 2007
- Discover how to troubleshoot failures with Client Access technologies like Outlook Anywhere and Exchange ActiveSync
- Lock down your network security with Edge Transport Server
- Crash course in PowerShell for non-scripters
- Tackle initial setup issues regarding inbound and outbound mailflow
- The ONLY Exchange Server 2007 course on the market covering integration with Sharepoint document libraries!
- Learn about (and avoid!) the common misconfigurations and costly mistakes made by most admins (beginning AND pro)...
Anti spam for Exchange and Lotus Domino
An effective anti-spam tool gives you the right balance of control and automation
You need to let legitimate messages get in and out of your network. You need to stop the spam meessages that cut away at productivity. Without the right configuration control, you can't achieve those goals.
You also need easily automated screening to avoid being overwhelmed by the volume and ever-shifting nature of spam and phishing attempts. Policy Patrol Spam Filter for Exchange and Lotus Domino was designed to strike the right balance of organizational control and automated protection.
Immediate Spam Relief
Policy Patrol Spam Filter ships with a default anti-spam configuration that will start blocking spam within seconds after installation. You will easily configure your system at the Administrator level for immediate results.
Offload Administrators
Policy Patrol Spam Filter allows you to offload work from Administrators by leveraging users to manage their own spam reduction in a high benefit-to-cost manner. This adds spam “eye-witness” efficiencies to organization-wide efforts and allows Administrators to use the advanced options to optimize results.
Save bandwidth
Why download messages that are 100% sure to be spam? Policy Patrol can reject messages from senders on DNS black lists and messages without valid recipients before they are downloaded. Most other anti-spam solutions first download the entire message and then delete it. With Policy Patrol Spam Filter you can save bandwidth and processing times by simply rejecting the messages before they are even downloaded.
Benefits:
System Requirements:
You need to let legitimate messages get in and out of your network. You need to stop the spam meessages that cut away at productivity. Without the right configuration control, you can't achieve those goals.
You also need easily automated screening to avoid being overwhelmed by the volume and ever-shifting nature of spam and phishing attempts. Policy Patrol Spam Filter for Exchange and Lotus Domino was designed to strike the right balance of organizational control and automated protection.
Immediate Spam Relief
Policy Patrol Spam Filter ships with a default anti-spam configuration that will start blocking spam within seconds after installation. You will easily configure your system at the Administrator level for immediate results.
Offload Administrators
Policy Patrol Spam Filter allows you to offload work from Administrators by leveraging users to manage their own spam reduction in a high benefit-to-cost manner. This adds spam “eye-witness” efficiencies to organization-wide efforts and allows Administrators to use the advanced options to optimize results.
Save bandwidth
Why download messages that are 100% sure to be spam? Policy Patrol can reject messages from senders on DNS black lists and messages without valid recipients before they are downloaded. Most other anti-spam solutions first download the entire message and then delete it. With Policy Patrol Spam Filter you can save bandwidth and processing times by simply rejecting the messages before they are even downloaded.
Benefits:
- Increase productivity and save bandwidth by blocking spam.
- Offload Administrators by allowing users to manage their own spam.
- Never miss a legitimate message with the user quarantine report.
- Avoid wasted resources by deleting known spam and simply concentrating on suspected spam.
- Avoid security leaks by blocking phishing attempts.
- Set different spam management options according to the user's technical proficiency.
- Detailed tracking allows you to fine tune spam filtering according to your needs.
System Requirements:
- Windows 2000 Professional or (Advanced) Server, Windows XP Professional or Windows Server 2003.
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Exchange Server 2003, Exchange Server 2000 or Exchange Server 5.5 (or Windows Small Business Server), Lotus Domino or other mail server.
- Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 .
Outstanding spam capture rate and low false positives with GFI MailEssentials’ two anti-spam engines
A new version of the leading anti-spam and anti-phishing software GFI MailEssentials has been released, GFI, an international developer of quality software at unbeatable prices, announced today. Version 14 ships with an additional anti-spam engine that will improve spam capture rates out of the box with minimal configuration. GFI MailEssentials 14 also features a RealTime dashboard and reporting functionality.
With over 60 awards to its name, 80,000 satisfied customers, GFI MailEssentials is an anti-spam filter that captures well over 98% of spam – including the latest CNN and MSNBC spam – but with a very low rate of false positives. GFI MailEssentials can detect and block phishing emails as well as add email management tools to the mail server: disclaimers, mail monitoring, Internet mail reporting, list server, server-based auto replies and POP3 downloading. It also ships at a price that is 35% cheaper than any of GFI’s competitors.
The latest version, GFI MailEssentials 14, ships with SpamRazer, an additional anti-spam engine that provides a second layer of protection and highly effective filtering out-of-the-box. It has been designed to be very simple to use and because it is frequently updated, the latest spam attacks such as NDR spam, CNN spam, MSNBC spam and many more are caught without the need to tweak or train the product.
With SpamRazer filtering, IP reputation filtering, Bayesian and other advanced anti-spam technology modules, an ultra high capture rate is obtained as well as a market-leading low rate of false positives thereby ensuring that good and important emails are not classified as spam. To further improve the overall performance of the Microsoft Exchange Server where GFI MailEssentials is installed, Version 14 hooks into the Exchange Server at the SMTP protocol level. This means that Exchange will not have to download every single email before GFI MailEssentials can reject it as spam. This will save on bandwidth and also boost CPU performance.
Two other new features in GFI MailEssentials 14 include a dashboard to give administrators a visual snapshot of their mail flow and the product’s status. In terms of reporting, GFI MailEssentials 14 allows users (always at the administrator’s discretion) to receive a daily report showing how much email was received for that user and how much of it was caught as spam. The email report will list the emails caught as spam.
“With over 80,000 customers, GFI MailEssentials is the leading anti-spam and anti-phishing server software on the market today. It is the perfect anti-spam solution for small and medium sized businesses because it uses cutting edge technology but ships at the lowest price on the market. Version 14 of this award-winning software is a much-awaited release and we are confident that it caters for the needs of our large customer base and incorporates much of what our clients have requested in terms of features and technology,” David Vella, Director of Product Management at GFI, said. Pricing starts at $207.20 for 10 mailboxes. To order, customers may use either the online order form or via one of GFI’s authorized distributors and resellers.
About GFI
GFI is a leading software developer that provides a single source for network administrators to address their network security, content security and messaging needs. With award-winning technology, an aggressive pricing strategy and a strong focus on small-to-medium sized businesses, GFI is able to satisfy the need for business continuity and productivity encountered by organizations on a global scale. Founded in 1992, GFI has offices in Malta, London, Raleigh, Hong Kong, and Adelaide which support more than 200,000 installations worldwide. GFI is a channel-focused company with over 10,000 partners throughout the world. GFI is also a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner.
All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
With over 60 awards to its name, 80,000 satisfied customers, GFI MailEssentials is an anti-spam filter that captures well over 98% of spam – including the latest CNN and MSNBC spam – but with a very low rate of false positives. GFI MailEssentials can detect and block phishing emails as well as add email management tools to the mail server: disclaimers, mail monitoring, Internet mail reporting, list server, server-based auto replies and POP3 downloading. It also ships at a price that is 35% cheaper than any of GFI’s competitors.
The latest version, GFI MailEssentials 14, ships with SpamRazer, an additional anti-spam engine that provides a second layer of protection and highly effective filtering out-of-the-box. It has been designed to be very simple to use and because it is frequently updated, the latest spam attacks such as NDR spam, CNN spam, MSNBC spam and many more are caught without the need to tweak or train the product.
With SpamRazer filtering, IP reputation filtering, Bayesian and other advanced anti-spam technology modules, an ultra high capture rate is obtained as well as a market-leading low rate of false positives thereby ensuring that good and important emails are not classified as spam. To further improve the overall performance of the Microsoft Exchange Server where GFI MailEssentials is installed, Version 14 hooks into the Exchange Server at the SMTP protocol level. This means that Exchange will not have to download every single email before GFI MailEssentials can reject it as spam. This will save on bandwidth and also boost CPU performance.
Two other new features in GFI MailEssentials 14 include a dashboard to give administrators a visual snapshot of their mail flow and the product’s status. In terms of reporting, GFI MailEssentials 14 allows users (always at the administrator’s discretion) to receive a daily report showing how much email was received for that user and how much of it was caught as spam. The email report will list the emails caught as spam.
“With over 80,000 customers, GFI MailEssentials is the leading anti-spam and anti-phishing server software on the market today. It is the perfect anti-spam solution for small and medium sized businesses because it uses cutting edge technology but ships at the lowest price on the market. Version 14 of this award-winning software is a much-awaited release and we are confident that it caters for the needs of our large customer base and incorporates much of what our clients have requested in terms of features and technology,” David Vella, Director of Product Management at GFI, said. Pricing starts at $207.20 for 10 mailboxes. To order, customers may use either the online order form or via one of GFI’s authorized distributors and resellers.
About GFI
GFI is a leading software developer that provides a single source for network administrators to address their network security, content security and messaging needs. With award-winning technology, an aggressive pricing strategy and a strong focus on small-to-medium sized businesses, GFI is able to satisfy the need for business continuity and productivity encountered by organizations on a global scale. Founded in 1992, GFI has offices in Malta, London, Raleigh, Hong Kong, and Adelaide which support more than 200,000 installations worldwide. GFI is a channel-focused company with over 10,000 partners throughout the world. GFI is also a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner.
All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Readers’ Choice Award Winner - Exchange Anti Spam Solution Category
The No.1 anti-spam solution used by 80,000+ customers
The most effective way to beat spammers at their game is to use the no. 1 anti-spam solution GFI MailEssentials, which is used by 80,000 customers worldwide and has won over 60 awards.
GFI MailEssentials features not one, but two anti-spam engines to give administrators an ultra high spam capture rate out of the box with minimal configuration. Not only does it have one of the highest spam capture rates in the industry – well over 98% – but it ships at the best price on the market.
The latest version includes SpamRazer; an additional anti-spam engine that provides a second layer of protection. It has been designed to be very simple to use and due to frequent updates, SpamRazer will require no tweaking or training for it to be fully effective to filter the latest spam attacks such as NDR spam, CNN spam, MSNBC spam and any new types that appear on a regular basis. With SpamRazer filtering, IP reputation filtering, Bayesian and other advanced anti-spam technology modules, administrators can rest assured that the spam capture rate will be the highest possible. GFI MailEssentials also has a market-leading low rate of false positives.
GFI MailEssentials can detect and block phishing emails as well as add email management tools to your mail server: disclaimers, mail monitoring, Internet mail reporting, list server, server-based auto replies and POP3 downloading.
Looking for email anti-spam and email security?
GFI MailDefense Suite, comprising GFI MailEssentials and GFI MailSecurity, ships at the lowest price on the Market! Try the GFI MailDefense Suite Today!
An additional anti-spam engine
The latest version of GFI MailEssentials includes a new, second anti-spam engine, SpamRazer, which provides a second layer of protection. It has been designed to be very simple to use and due to frequent updates, SpamRazer will require no tweaking or training for it to be fully effective whilst filtering the latest spam attacks such as NDR spam, CNN spam, MSNBC spam and many more. Not only will administrators benefit from out-of-the-box filtering but they will not need to tweak GFI MailEssentials each time a new attack is out. With SpamRazer filtering, IP reputation filtering, Bayesian and other advanced anti-spam technologies, the spam capture rate is well over 98%. GFI MailEssentials has a market-leading low rate of false positives thereby ensuring that good and important emails are not deleted.
Precise real time dashboard
GFI MailEssentials also ships with a precise, real-time dashboard that gives administrators a graphical view of the software’s status and as well as the server’s email flow. Components shown on the dashboard are the status of key services provided by GFI MailEssentials, statistics of email flow and blocked spam and also POP2Exchange logging.
Improved performance
GFI MailEssentials hooks into Exchange server at the SMTP protocol level and the Exchange server does not need to download all the email before the software can determine whether an email is spam or a genuine message. This feature saves bandwidth and processing power.
Inbuilt spam reporting
Administrators can now use GFI MailEssential’s reporting function to send a daily report to the users within the organization that shows how many emails were received by that individual and how many emails are identified as spam and filtered. This snapshot of email traffic shows the end-user how effective the anti-spam engine is and that the bulk of spam sent to him or her was successfully captured. The report also gives a full list of those emails identified and filtered as spam.
Eliminate hard to catch NDR, MSNBC and CNN spam!
With spammers controlling tens of thousands of zombie machines, these large botnet armies have become one of the leading sources of spam. The Botnet/Zombie check in GFI MailEssentials eliminates hard to catch attachment spam such as image spam, PDF spam, Excel and ZIP spam. The attachment spam check filters this attachment spam quickly, efficiently and with a very low rate of false-positives. GFI MailEssentials uses two anti-spam filter engines and a variety of technologies such as Bayesian Filtering and IP reputation filtering to keep Non-Delivery Report (NDR), CNN spam, MSNBC spam and many more at bay.
Server-based anti-spam and anti-phishing
GFI MailEssentials is server-based and installs on the mail server or at the Gateway, eliminating the deployment and administration hassle of desktop-based anti-spam and anti-phishing products. Desktop-based software involves training your users to create anti-spam rule sets, and subsequently users have to spend time updating these rules. Besides, this system does not prevent your server message stores from filling up with spam.
Bayesian filtering technology
Bayesian filtering is widely acknowledged by leading experts and publications as the best way to catch spam. A Bayesian filter uses a mathematical approach based on known spam and ham. This gives it a tremendous advantage over other spam solutions that just check for keywords or rely on downloading signatures of known spam. GFI’s Bayesian filter uses an advanced mathematical formula and a dataset which is ‘custom-created’ for your installation: The spam data is continuously updated by GFI and is automatically downloaded by GFI MailEssentials, whereas the ham data is automatically collected from your own outbound mail. This means that the Bayesian filter is constantly learning new spam tricks, and spammers cannot circumvent the dataset used. This results in a 98+% spam detection rate, after the required two-week learning period. In short, Bayesian filtering has the following advantages:
* Looks at the whole spam message, not just keywords or known spam signatures
* Learns from your outbound email (ham) and therefore greatly reduces false positives
* Adapts itself over time by learning about new spam and new valid email
* Dataset is unique to your company, making it impossible to bypass
* Multilingual and international.
Read more about Bayesian filtering in this GFI white paper.
Downloads updates to spam profile database
GFI MailEssentials can download updates to the Bayesian spam profile database from the GFI site, ensuring that it recognizes the latest spam and spamming techniques. GFI maintains the spam profile database by working with a number of spam collection organizations that continually supply spam samples.
Protect your users against the menace of phishing emails
GFI MailEssentials’ anti-phishing module detects and blocks threats posed by phishing emails by comparing the content of the scam with a constantly updated database of blacklisted mails, thereby ensuring all the latest phishing emails are captured. As extra protection, it also looks for typical phishing keywords in every email sent to your organization. Read more about phishing.
Sort spam to users' junk mail folders
GFI MailEssentials gives you the flexibility to choose what to do with spam. You can delete it, move it to a folder, forward the spam mail to a public email address or folder, or send it to individual customizable folders (for example, a “junk mail” folder) in the end-users’ inboxes. This allows users to easily review mail that has been flagged as spam.
List server for newsletter lists and discussion lists
A list server is the best method for distributing company newsletters, since it automates the process of allowing users to subscribe and unsubscribe. However, until now, list servers have been expensive and difficult to administer and they did not integrate with Exchange Server. GFI MailEssentials integrates with Exchange and can use Microsoft Access or Microsoft SQL Server as the backend. Both newsletter lists and discussion lists are supported.
Easy tuning of the Bayesian engine via public folders
Administrators can easily tune the Bayesian engine by dragging and dropping spam or ham to the appropriate public folder. GFI MailEssentials learns from the spam and ham that it picks up from these folders and further improves its spam detection rate. Administrators can control access to this feature through the use of Public Folder security.
Allow users to whitelist or blacklist via public folders
GFI MailEssentials allows users to whitelist or blacklist senders simply by dragging and dropping the appropriate mail to a public folder. This gives users more control and reduces administration. Administrators can control access to this feature through the use of Public Folder security.
Email header analysis and keyword checking
GFI MailEssentials intelligently analyzes the email header and identifies spam based on message field information. It detects forged headers, encoded IPs, spam mutation, spam sent from invalid domains, and more. It also enables you to configure keywords to check for spam using keyword checking.
Third party DNS blacklists (DNSBL) checking
GFI MailEssentials supports DNS blacklists (real time black hole lists), which are databases of known spammers. If the sending mail server is on one of those lists, it marks the email as spam. GFI MailEssentials supports popular third party blacklists such as ORDB, SpamHaus, Spamcop and also enables administrators to configure custom RBL servers.
Support for multiple third party SURBL servers
GFI MailEssentials checks email content against SURBL servers. Administrators can configure multiple SURBL servers, add their own and also define the priority of which server should be checked first.
Whitelists enable you to ensure that email from particular senders or domains are never flagged as spam, permitting more stringent anti-spam rules. GFI MailEssentials includes a patent-pending automatic whitelist management tool, which automatically adds outgoing mail recipients to your whitelist. This greatly reduces false positives, without any need for additional administration. Whitelists can also be built based on domain names, email addresses and keywords.
Instant view of emails from new senders
The New Senders feature provides users with an instant view of emails sent from people they never had previous contact with, thereby helping users to better organize emails in their email client. If an email is not found to be spam by the GFI MailEssentials anti-spam modules and is also not on the whitelist, then the New Senders module has the ability to move the email to a user's subfolder, for example, Inbox\NewSenders.
Eliminates directory harvesting
Spammers often try to guess recipient addresses by generating multiple random email addresses at a domain; they then send their spam mail to all those addresses. GFI MailEssentials checks the validity of ALL the email addresses included in the mail sent, either via a query to Active Directory or through support for LDAP, and if they are not all valid, marks the mail as spam.
Reports on spam filtering and email usage
The database-driven reporting engine allows you to create advanced reports on your inbound and outbound email. You can report on the amount of spam filtered and on rules which caught most spam. You can also generate reports on user, domain and mail server usage.
Support for SPF – the Sender Policy Framework
As most of today’s spammers spoof email addresses, it is important to be able to check whether an email is genuine or if it has been sent from a forged sending address. This can be done via the Sender Policy Framework (SPF), which allows users to test whether a particular email originates from its claimed source. GFI MailEssentials is one of the first commercial anti-spam solutions to support this framework. Its SPF module automatically checks whether the mail from a particular company was actually sent by its registered mail servers.
Set priorities for each anti-spam module
You can configure which method of capturing spam is to be given priority, and create your own hierarchical list. For example, the administrator can select that the whitelisting anti-spam feature must be applied first to all incoming mail, then Bayesian scanning, and so on.
Company-wide disclaimer/footer/header text
GFI MailEssentials enables you to add disclaimers to the top or bottom of an email. Text and HTML formats are supported. You can include fields/variables to personalize the disclaimer. You can also create multiple disclaimers and associate them with a user, group or domain.
Email monitoring
The email monitoring feature enables you to keep a central store of the email communications of a particular person or department. By configuring the email to be copied to an email address, all email can be stored in an Exchange or Outlook store, making searching for email or content easy.
Email archiving to a SQL database
GFI MailEssentials can archive all inbound and outbound mail to a Microsoft SQL Server database. You can search for a particular email or an entire email thread via the included web interface. Mail archiving is essential for back-up and search reasons. For a complete email archiving solution, please check out GFI MailArchiver for Exchange.
Seamless integration with Exchange Server, Lotus Domino and other SMTP servers
GFI MailEssentials integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Exchange 2000/2003/2007: It installs on the Exchange SMTP service and does not require gateway configuration. Via the SMTP protocol, it also works with Exchange 5.5, Lotus Domino and other popular SMTP/POP3 servers.
Checkmark certified
GFI MailEssentials holds Checkmark certification from West Coast Labs and more awards.
Content checking, anti-virus and anti-trojan
Get anti-virus, email content checking and anti-trojan protection for your mail server with the GFI MailEssentials & GFI MailSecurity Suite. GFI MailSecurity for Exchange/SMTP is an email content checking, exploit detection, threats analysis and anti-virus solution that removes all types of email-borne threats before they can affect your email users. Click here for more information about GFI MailSecurity!
Other features:
* Whitelisting of emails by keyword
* Blocking foreign language spam based on character set
* Email monitoring of particular user or department email communications
* Fake non-delivery reports (NDRs)
* Personalized server-based auto replies with tracking number
* POP3 downloader
* Web interface for searching email archive.
You're in good company...
Many leading companies have chosen GFI MailEssentials. Here are just a few: Toyota, IBM, Schuff International, PerotSystems, British Midlands, B&W Speakers and many more.
The most effective way to beat spammers at their game is to use the no. 1 anti-spam solution GFI MailEssentials, which is used by 80,000 customers worldwide and has won over 60 awards.
GFI MailEssentials features not one, but two anti-spam engines to give administrators an ultra high spam capture rate out of the box with minimal configuration. Not only does it have one of the highest spam capture rates in the industry – well over 98% – but it ships at the best price on the market.
The latest version includes SpamRazer; an additional anti-spam engine that provides a second layer of protection. It has been designed to be very simple to use and due to frequent updates, SpamRazer will require no tweaking or training for it to be fully effective to filter the latest spam attacks such as NDR spam, CNN spam, MSNBC spam and any new types that appear on a regular basis. With SpamRazer filtering, IP reputation filtering, Bayesian and other advanced anti-spam technology modules, administrators can rest assured that the spam capture rate will be the highest possible. GFI MailEssentials also has a market-leading low rate of false positives.
GFI MailEssentials can detect and block phishing emails as well as add email management tools to your mail server: disclaimers, mail monitoring, Internet mail reporting, list server, server-based auto replies and POP3 downloading.
Looking for email anti-spam and email security?
GFI MailDefense Suite, comprising GFI MailEssentials and GFI MailSecurity, ships at the lowest price on the Market! Try the GFI MailDefense Suite Today!
An additional anti-spam engine
The latest version of GFI MailEssentials includes a new, second anti-spam engine, SpamRazer, which provides a second layer of protection. It has been designed to be very simple to use and due to frequent updates, SpamRazer will require no tweaking or training for it to be fully effective whilst filtering the latest spam attacks such as NDR spam, CNN spam, MSNBC spam and many more. Not only will administrators benefit from out-of-the-box filtering but they will not need to tweak GFI MailEssentials each time a new attack is out. With SpamRazer filtering, IP reputation filtering, Bayesian and other advanced anti-spam technologies, the spam capture rate is well over 98%. GFI MailEssentials has a market-leading low rate of false positives thereby ensuring that good and important emails are not deleted.
Precise real time dashboard
GFI MailEssentials also ships with a precise, real-time dashboard that gives administrators a graphical view of the software’s status and as well as the server’s email flow. Components shown on the dashboard are the status of key services provided by GFI MailEssentials, statistics of email flow and blocked spam and also POP2Exchange logging.
Improved performance
GFI MailEssentials hooks into Exchange server at the SMTP protocol level and the Exchange server does not need to download all the email before the software can determine whether an email is spam or a genuine message. This feature saves bandwidth and processing power.
Inbuilt spam reporting
Administrators can now use GFI MailEssential’s reporting function to send a daily report to the users within the organization that shows how many emails were received by that individual and how many emails are identified as spam and filtered. This snapshot of email traffic shows the end-user how effective the anti-spam engine is and that the bulk of spam sent to him or her was successfully captured. The report also gives a full list of those emails identified and filtered as spam.
Eliminate hard to catch NDR, MSNBC and CNN spam!
With spammers controlling tens of thousands of zombie machines, these large botnet armies have become one of the leading sources of spam. The Botnet/Zombie check in GFI MailEssentials eliminates hard to catch attachment spam such as image spam, PDF spam, Excel and ZIP spam. The attachment spam check filters this attachment spam quickly, efficiently and with a very low rate of false-positives. GFI MailEssentials uses two anti-spam filter engines and a variety of technologies such as Bayesian Filtering and IP reputation filtering to keep Non-Delivery Report (NDR), CNN spam, MSNBC spam and many more at bay.
Server-based anti-spam and anti-phishing
GFI MailEssentials is server-based and installs on the mail server or at the Gateway, eliminating the deployment and administration hassle of desktop-based anti-spam and anti-phishing products. Desktop-based software involves training your users to create anti-spam rule sets, and subsequently users have to spend time updating these rules. Besides, this system does not prevent your server message stores from filling up with spam.
Bayesian filtering technology
Bayesian filtering is widely acknowledged by leading experts and publications as the best way to catch spam. A Bayesian filter uses a mathematical approach based on known spam and ham. This gives it a tremendous advantage over other spam solutions that just check for keywords or rely on downloading signatures of known spam. GFI’s Bayesian filter uses an advanced mathematical formula and a dataset which is ‘custom-created’ for your installation: The spam data is continuously updated by GFI and is automatically downloaded by GFI MailEssentials, whereas the ham data is automatically collected from your own outbound mail. This means that the Bayesian filter is constantly learning new spam tricks, and spammers cannot circumvent the dataset used. This results in a 98+% spam detection rate, after the required two-week learning period. In short, Bayesian filtering has the following advantages:
* Looks at the whole spam message, not just keywords or known spam signatures
* Learns from your outbound email (ham) and therefore greatly reduces false positives
* Adapts itself over time by learning about new spam and new valid email
* Dataset is unique to your company, making it impossible to bypass
* Multilingual and international.
Read more about Bayesian filtering in this GFI white paper.
Downloads updates to spam profile database
GFI MailEssentials can download updates to the Bayesian spam profile database from the GFI site, ensuring that it recognizes the latest spam and spamming techniques. GFI maintains the spam profile database by working with a number of spam collection organizations that continually supply spam samples.
Protect your users against the menace of phishing emails
GFI MailEssentials’ anti-phishing module detects and blocks threats posed by phishing emails by comparing the content of the scam with a constantly updated database of blacklisted mails, thereby ensuring all the latest phishing emails are captured. As extra protection, it also looks for typical phishing keywords in every email sent to your organization. Read more about phishing.
Sort spam to users' junk mail folders
GFI MailEssentials gives you the flexibility to choose what to do with spam. You can delete it, move it to a folder, forward the spam mail to a public email address or folder, or send it to individual customizable folders (for example, a “junk mail” folder) in the end-users’ inboxes. This allows users to easily review mail that has been flagged as spam.
List server for newsletter lists and discussion lists
A list server is the best method for distributing company newsletters, since it automates the process of allowing users to subscribe and unsubscribe. However, until now, list servers have been expensive and difficult to administer and they did not integrate with Exchange Server. GFI MailEssentials integrates with Exchange and can use Microsoft Access or Microsoft SQL Server as the backend. Both newsletter lists and discussion lists are supported.
Easy tuning of the Bayesian engine via public folders
Administrators can easily tune the Bayesian engine by dragging and dropping spam or ham to the appropriate public folder. GFI MailEssentials learns from the spam and ham that it picks up from these folders and further improves its spam detection rate. Administrators can control access to this feature through the use of Public Folder security.
Allow users to whitelist or blacklist via public folders
GFI MailEssentials allows users to whitelist or blacklist senders simply by dragging and dropping the appropriate mail to a public folder. This gives users more control and reduces administration. Administrators can control access to this feature through the use of Public Folder security.
Email header analysis and keyword checking
GFI MailEssentials intelligently analyzes the email header and identifies spam based on message field information. It detects forged headers, encoded IPs, spam mutation, spam sent from invalid domains, and more. It also enables you to configure keywords to check for spam using keyword checking.
Third party DNS blacklists (DNSBL) checking
GFI MailEssentials supports DNS blacklists (real time black hole lists), which are databases of known spammers. If the sending mail server is on one of those lists, it marks the email as spam. GFI MailEssentials supports popular third party blacklists such as ORDB, SpamHaus, Spamcop and also enables administrators to configure custom RBL servers.
Support for multiple third party SURBL servers
GFI MailEssentials checks email content against SURBL servers. Administrators can configure multiple SURBL servers, add their own and also define the priority of which server should be checked first.
Whitelists enable you to ensure that email from particular senders or domains are never flagged as spam, permitting more stringent anti-spam rules. GFI MailEssentials includes a patent-pending automatic whitelist management tool, which automatically adds outgoing mail recipients to your whitelist. This greatly reduces false positives, without any need for additional administration. Whitelists can also be built based on domain names, email addresses and keywords.
Instant view of emails from new senders
The New Senders feature provides users with an instant view of emails sent from people they never had previous contact with, thereby helping users to better organize emails in their email client. If an email is not found to be spam by the GFI MailEssentials anti-spam modules and is also not on the whitelist, then the New Senders module has the ability to move the email to a user's subfolder, for example, Inbox\NewSenders.
Eliminates directory harvesting
Spammers often try to guess recipient addresses by generating multiple random email addresses at a domain; they then send their spam mail to all those addresses. GFI MailEssentials checks the validity of ALL the email addresses included in the mail sent, either via a query to Active Directory or through support for LDAP, and if they are not all valid, marks the mail as spam.
Reports on spam filtering and email usage
The database-driven reporting engine allows you to create advanced reports on your inbound and outbound email. You can report on the amount of spam filtered and on rules which caught most spam. You can also generate reports on user, domain and mail server usage.
Support for SPF – the Sender Policy Framework
As most of today’s spammers spoof email addresses, it is important to be able to check whether an email is genuine or if it has been sent from a forged sending address. This can be done via the Sender Policy Framework (SPF), which allows users to test whether a particular email originates from its claimed source. GFI MailEssentials is one of the first commercial anti-spam solutions to support this framework. Its SPF module automatically checks whether the mail from a particular company was actually sent by its registered mail servers.
Set priorities for each anti-spam module
You can configure which method of capturing spam is to be given priority, and create your own hierarchical list. For example, the administrator can select that the whitelisting anti-spam feature must be applied first to all incoming mail, then Bayesian scanning, and so on.
Company-wide disclaimer/footer/header text
GFI MailEssentials enables you to add disclaimers to the top or bottom of an email. Text and HTML formats are supported. You can include fields/variables to personalize the disclaimer. You can also create multiple disclaimers and associate them with a user, group or domain.
Email monitoring
The email monitoring feature enables you to keep a central store of the email communications of a particular person or department. By configuring the email to be copied to an email address, all email can be stored in an Exchange or Outlook store, making searching for email or content easy.
Email archiving to a SQL database
GFI MailEssentials can archive all inbound and outbound mail to a Microsoft SQL Server database. You can search for a particular email or an entire email thread via the included web interface. Mail archiving is essential for back-up and search reasons. For a complete email archiving solution, please check out GFI MailArchiver for Exchange.
Seamless integration with Exchange Server, Lotus Domino and other SMTP servers
GFI MailEssentials integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Exchange 2000/2003/2007: It installs on the Exchange SMTP service and does not require gateway configuration. Via the SMTP protocol, it also works with Exchange 5.5, Lotus Domino and other popular SMTP/POP3 servers.
Checkmark certified
GFI MailEssentials holds Checkmark certification from West Coast Labs and more awards.
Content checking, anti-virus and anti-trojan
Get anti-virus, email content checking and anti-trojan protection for your mail server with the GFI MailEssentials & GFI MailSecurity Suite. GFI MailSecurity for Exchange/SMTP is an email content checking, exploit detection, threats analysis and anti-virus solution that removes all types of email-borne threats before they can affect your email users. Click here for more information about GFI MailSecurity!
Other features:
* Whitelisting of emails by keyword
* Blocking foreign language spam based on character set
* Email monitoring of particular user or department email communications
* Fake non-delivery reports (NDRs)
* Personalized server-based auto replies with tracking number
* POP3 downloader
* Web interface for searching email archive.
You're in good company...
Many leading companies have chosen GFI MailEssentials. Here are just a few: Toyota, IBM, Schuff International, PerotSystems, British Midlands, B&W Speakers and many more.
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