Anti Spam - SpamUnit

Wikipedia users have compiled a comparative list of features of many email programs: see wikipedia for a full list. This list is particularly important for choosing an email client based on spam filtering and spam protection services. It also provides a list of which clients are free.

If you want to see whether your email client supports in-client spam protection, or whether it supports server-side spam filtering (such as an Exchange spam filter), this is an ideal list to use. Some clients have their own in-built spam filters, while others plug into SpamAssassin or other spam blockers. Some also offer phishing filtering.

Also extremely important is how each client deals with HTML email. HTML can be used in emails to include images or special links that spammers use to deceive users, or to breach spam blocking software. Each client may deal with HTML in a different way, so it’s worth looking int exactly how they render HTML email messages.

Of course, while plenty of email clients have their own protection, many users still use spam list technology to guarantee a greater incidence of blocking spam from reaching their inboxes. Still, with numerous freeware packages on the market, as well as professional solutions, it’s worth researching your choice of client.

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Have you just upgraded to Outlook 2007 from Outlook 2003 or Outlook Express? Spam, of course, is sent to you regardless of what email client you use, but Outlook spam filtering can greatly decrease the amount you actually see. However, some people have found it difficult to configure the 2007 version of Outlook’s spam filter; thankfully, there are some guides available to help the user set it up.

Microsoft’s official site describes Outlook spam protection. The new, improved “Junk E-mail Filter” is turned on by default and is set to low. Some bloggers find this more than sufficient, but you can set it to High. While this is ideal for users who receive a great deal of spam, Microsoft suggests checking the Junk E-mail Folder to see if any legitimate messages have slipped through the net.

Another part of the Junk E-Mail Filter is the spam list, or Junk E-Mail Filter List. There are five different list types that are automatically maintained, but also allow user customization; using downloaded spam lists, you can block certain senders or even whole top-level domains; for example, if you wish to avoid Russian spam, you can block all Russian mail. (See http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/outlook/HA012300261033.aspx for more.)

Of course, extra spam blocking software or anti spam software is also recommended for those whose spam problems will just not go away. After all, some critics (see http://chris.pirillo.com/2006/05/26/65-reasons-why-outlook-2007-will-suck) have said that the manual spam blocking process in Outlook is cumbersome and works on a “one at a time” basis. Perhaps, then, some users need more antispam software.

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The war on spam gets tougher with each advance in technology by spammers. Here, a new type of image spam - one that goes undetected by much spam guard software and even some spam firewalls - can circumvent e-mail filters by embedding spam text in a background or template image. Most spam filtering software “shoots on sight” against unsolicitied images that are used merely as attachments to junk emails, but background images are sometimes left alone as they tend to be used more legitimately. Not any more, it seems; by abusing the template function, spam software makers have found a new way to reach their audience.

It’s a different type of image, but it’s not quite a new type of spam. McAfee, antispam software specialists, noted that regular image spam rates are falling, and it seems that this new method is just going to fill the gap. Spam blocker software must evolve to deal with this new threat, and it is set to do so very soon. To prevent spam such as this from reaching your inbox, it is now best to configure your spam tool to disable all images except from trusted sources. This way, you can enable images in mails that are important to you without risking having spammers reach you in an unwanted way.

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GoodMail, a spam filter system from GoodMail Systems of California, has been adopted by several large American ISPs. Comcast, Cox Comunnications, Warner Cable and Verizon email spam filters will now all respond to the GoodMail seal of veracity.

The system works by fitting each legitimate email with an encrypted software token. This has the effect of acting like a spam whitelist facilitator; email recipient systems, carrying out a spam check, will read the token and that read the token know that the email sent to them is not to be touched by their spam filtering service. In return, the email sender pays 0.25 US cents to the GoodMail company - and these profits are set to be split with the ISPs who join the system.

Of course, as positive as this development is, it does not mean no more spam for everyone. As it’s targeted at businesses, and not home users, it will not be adopted by even a majority of email users, meaning that alternative spam blacklist techniques are required to be 100% safe. But for the 400+ businesses who use GoodMail, they now have important allies in the ISP world: it shows that email marketing does not have to be malicious spam. Full article

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Barracuda Networks, Inc., famed manufacturers of the Barracuda spam firewall, have hit back at the DOS (denial of service) spammers who recently hit anti-spamlist-keepers Spamhaus. Barracuda Spam Firewall users utilise spam black lists, such as those provided by Spamhaus, to power their spam hardware solutions. The spam list contains blacklisted IPs and email addresses, which the firewall then filters out before spam messages can reach your inbox. However, when Spamhaus was rendered inaccessible by DOS attacks, Barracuda retained its effectiveness: this is because it combines spam lists with 11 other defence layers, including its own profiling algorithims and the Energize Updates service, a subscription-based service that comes into play before external lists such as those provided by Spamhaus are employed. The company also pointed out that the virus worm used to carry out the DOS attacks was quickly blocked by Energize Update, which is rolled out to all subscribing Barracuda Spam Firewall users. Many botnet and DOS attacks are spread via viruses like these, and the vast majority of attempted virus attacks take place via email.

Barracuda, often used by large businesses, is thus a choice for those who need 100% guaranteed uptime on their spam list solutions, although most home users may find it excessive.

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