Robert Haskins

There are many anti-spam solutions available to the e-mail administrator, resulting in a daunting task when attempting to pick an anti-spam solution. Some general classifications of anti-spam solutions include (examples in parentheses): > Open source (SpamAssassin) > Standalone commercial applications (Sophos PureMessage for Unix) > Closely integrated with an existing e-mail solution (McAfee Spamkiller for Exchange) > Anti-spam gateway appliance (Ironport X1000) > Anti-spam service The line between various anti-spam solutions is very blurry. For example, many anti-spam gateway appliances contain a "service" portion where the appliance queries a real-time facility to help determine whether or not a message is spam. Also, many anti-spam gateway appliances and/or software also have integrated anti-virus or traditional firewall functionality. This article focuses on t... (more)

The Rise of Reputations in the Fight Against Spam

The battle with spam can easily be compared to an arms race. Spammers will learn about and start exploiting a certain method to send their garbage messages. E-mail administrators (with the help of open source developers and vendors) will respond with anti-spam tools battling the latest and "greatest" spammer methodologies. This seems to be an endless cycle, having yet to reach an end point. Some of the more common anti-spam methodologies in use today include (though this is certainly not an exhaustive list): Header/content checks (SpamAssassin) Bayesian analysis Sender authentic... (more)