Anti-Spam Cloud Service

Using an anti spam cloud service means that the cloud will host your email filtering solution as opposed to an on site piece of hardware.

There are a number of key advantages to this namely the ease of installation, speed of set up and low level of maintenance.

There is no outsourcing of control to the service provider as you retain complete management of the dashboard and can set the controls to different levels based on individual, group or global scales using integration with directory services. Typically an MX record changes it enough to set up this solution.

The contrast between spam filtering and effective spam filtering is important to acknowledge. If you consider that there are close to 300 billion emails broadcast daily and the fact that almost half of these are spam emails then you get a much clearer idea of the challenge that your group is facing as hacking attempt to steal sensitive information such as usernames and passwords (phishing emails) using malware and ransomware.

In most cases an anti spam cloud solution will recognize somewhere between 97-99% of spam , Depending on the policies set in the spam filter by you or your IT staff. these spam emails will be blocked, quarantined or marked as spam. However, it is possible to get an even better detection rate if you tinker with the “acceptable spam thresholds”. Doing so will result in less time spent dealing with spam and a much better cybersecurity process in your group.

To deal with the growing refined nature of the spam emails cloud anti spam solutions tackle spam with by employing filtering techniques such as:

• Domain Name Server Blackhole Lists (DNSBLs): In this process the IP addresses of inbound emails are matched with suspected sources of spam to look for similarities. Once found they are rejected, quarantined or flagged.
• SMTP Controls: These checks look to validate the source of emails and use processes such as reviewing MX records, confirming qualified MAIL FROM commands, and seeking for digital signatures
• Sender Policy Frameworks: To stop the arrival of “spoofed emails” domain names are reviewed for legitimacyUsing this method you will cut the amount of phishing emails and prevent email impersonation attacks from infiltrating your databases.
• URIBL and SURBL Filters: Filters like this seem URLs that attempt to bring users to web pages with a history of hosting malware or phishing kits.
• Content Analysis Tools: A search of email headers and email copy in your inbound mail will be completed to award a “spam score”. Once the established spam tolerance level is broken messages from that source are quarantined or deleted.
• Recipient Verification Protocols: Inbound emails have their detailed review to make sure that they are coming from a valid mailbox (i.e. j.doe@xyz.com, sales@xyz.com, etc.). If this is not the case then the messages are quarantined or deleted.

It is still possible to invest in hardware and software-based email filters. However, if you are spending your money wisely then you will not pass up on the chance to install an anti-spam cloud service. Cloud solutions can be used on all existing operating systems and can grow as your organization grows.