Email spam is defined as the sending unsolicited bulk email to thousands of recipients, often with identical or near identical content. It is illegal in most countries and, by definition, occurs without the permission or consent of the recipient. At it worst, email spam inundates the recipients’ email addresses with unsolicited and often harmful email messages. Email spam protection safeguards businesses and individuals through email filtering and deploying anti-virus protection and anti-spam software.
Anti-spam is the software used to protect emails from malware obtained from spam mail or spam ads. This anti-spam filter prevents unwanted spam emails from entering your internal mail platform. At Flying Cow Design, we deploy feature-rich spam protection software that includes the following features:
- Cloud-based anti-spam protection deployed through SaaS (software as a service) for email filtering and protection against email viruses and malware
- Protection against phishing, email viruses, malware, spyware and other online attacks
- Scanning of inbound and outbound email messages
- Message archiving to protect against lost productivity
- End-user privilege configuration and mail management
- Email server configuration for spam filtering, safe sender management
- Account creation facilitated through Active Directory and lDAP integration and automated discovery of users
- Safeguards against false positives and erroneous flagging of spam messages
- Mail backups archives store quarantined mails for review and possible future recovery
- Facilitates disaster recovery planning
- Webmail functionality for easy access and management
Not all spam email is malware. Spammers have found more and more ways to penetrate your email inboxes, sneaking past your anti-virus and malware protection software. Email spam costs businesses billions of dollars when these emails are unknowingly opened. Using software called Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC), which is designed to prevent email spoofing, you can expect a more thorough protection. DMARC checks for:
- The relationship between email sender and recipient to determine safe senders
- Reputation of the domain and IP address from which the email originates
- Scanning and analysis of email headers and envelopes
- Scanning of email content for malicious content
Placing individual emails in quarantine allows your company to still function and receive emails. You can log in to your emails and search through them while avoiding opening spam and imposter emails. Quarantines will include the following:
- Email spam filtering
- Impostor email filtering
- Auto-categorization of unsolicited bulk emails
- Protection against phishing messages
- Scanning and filtering of malware code
- Blocking of adult content
Viruses and online threats are everywhere. With spam filters, in place, your email and your company are at less of a risk. To prevent further risks or unknown online threats, it is vital to have email spam protection services already in place for consistent monitoring. These services can monitor your incoming and outgoing messages and stop spam and viruses from entering your mail servers.
No one wants to be the victim of an online attack. However, spammers are always looking for a way to steal your information, or at least make it mess for you. Email encryption is a form of email protection whereby you can be sure the only person opening it is whom it is intended.
If spam attacks your email, it can go down at any time, with no warning to you. When your staff relies on email for daily tasks and interaction, it is vital to have a backup plan in place. With email continuity, you and your staff can rest assured knowing you can still access your email using the web portal or Outlook integration.
Even if you open an email without replying to it, the spammer can be notified that your email was opened. They do this by embedding a link usually attached to a picture that has a unique name. When the email gets opened the email program tries to load the image from their server, telling them that that file was accessed. Moreover, your email was the only email sent out that would do that.
Protection at a Corporate level
Employee education is paramount. Employees must be made aware that filling in information from company computers on dodgy websites must be avoided. All suspicious email should NOT be opened, and any such instances should be directed to the corporate IT department or security.
The other obvious way is to protect the employees from themselves. This means up-to-date Firewalls, Virus Scanners and Removers, strong Security Policies, and good Malware (adware, spyware, etc) Removal Utilities, also trap as much spam email as possible at the mail server, before it reaches the employee.
Protection at a Government or State level
Strong laws are required that make the penalties for spamming harsh. In 2003, the Ban on Deceptive Unsolicited Bulk Electronic Mail Act of 2003 was passed that allowed the prosecution of spammers (bulk emailers) to be tried under RICO legislation. RICO (Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) laws were created in the US in 1970 to take down the Mob (Mafia). They allow the confiscation of all illegally derived assets from an individual or organization including houses, boats, cars, planes, currency, and any other monetary instruments. The US takes spamming very seriously indeed! The drawback of this is that the internet knows no boundaries, and spammers can exist as readily outside the USA as inside its borders.
Contact Flying Cow Design today to know more about our email spam protection services.
CEO, Flying Cow Design
Attended University of Auckland
Lives in San Francisco Bay Area
