| |
| |
|
Go Back | About | Contact | Web Design News | |
|
|
|
The Anti Spam Challenge - Minimizing False Positives
Email is the quintessential business communication tool, so when it doesn't work like it's supposed to, business suffers. Anti spam software is designed to protect your inbox from unwanted messages, but unless your system is properly trained even the best software misses the mark and flags legitimate messages as spam. These messages are referred to as "false positives." While consumer and ISP anti spam products focus on blocking messages and even consider some false positives acceptable, businesses require anti spam solutions that treat their messages as very valuable. Failing to receive critical messages in a timely fashion can do irreparable damage to customer and partner relationships and cause important orders to be missed, so eliminating false positives while maintaining high anti spam accuracy is paramount to any enterprise anti spam solution. What causes false positives? Different anti spam solutions utilize different methods of detecting and blocking spam. Anti spam software typically uses content filtering or Bayesian Logic, an advanced content filtering method, to score each email, looking for certain tell-tale signs of spammer habits such as frequently used terms like "Viagra" or "click here." Other anti spam solutions reference blacklists and whitelists to determine whether the sender has shown spammer tendencies in the past. A false positive can occur when a legitimate sender raises enough red flags, either by using too many "spam terms" or sending from an IP address that has been used by spammers in the past. Minimizing False Positives Although it takes a person only a moment to process a message and identify it as spam, it is difficult to automate that human process because no single message characteristic consistently identifies spam. In fact, there are hundreds of different message characteristics that may indicate an email is spam, and an effective anti spam solution must be capable of employing multiple spam detection techniques to effectively cover all bases. A comprehensive anti spam approach involves examining both message content and sender history in tandem. By using a reputation system to evaluate senders based on their past behavior, a more accurate picture of their intentions and legitimacy can be discerned, and a solution's false positive rate can be further lowered. Has the sender engaged in spamming, virus distribution or phishing attacks in the past? If not, the likelihood of their message getting past the email gateway just went up, and the chances of a false positive declined accordingly. If they have, an effective reputation system knows and flags the message. Self-Optimization In order to be most effective, anti spam solutions must learn based on a recipient's preferences. While most of us prefer not to receive emails containing the term Viagra, some medical organizations might need to receive these emails in order to process patient data. In order to best learn your organizational preferences, anti spam solutions should put filtered emails into a quarantine that allows users to review and make decisions as to whether a particular message is spam. Making this quarantine available to the end-user lowers the administration costs and increases the accuracy of the anti spam system. Each time a user makes a decision about whether a particular email is or is not spam, the system becomes more personalized and intelligent about filtering email for that individual in the future. Over time, users find that they rarely need to review their quarantines anymore because the system has learned how to identify messages that are important to that user. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater In conclusion, it is imperative that false positives be kept to an absolute minimum for business users. Although consumers may have more patience with incorrectly blocked email, businesses cannot afford these types of problems. An effective, accurate anti spam solution aggregates multiple spam detection technologies, combining the benefits of each individual technique to stop spam while minimizing false positives. It also puts suspected spam into a quarantine that is available to end-users, and learns how to better identify spam in the future. Dr. Paul Judge is a noted scholar and entrepreneur. He is Chief Technology Officer at CipherTrust, the industry's largest provider of enterprise email security. The company's flagship product, IronMail provides a best of breed enterprise anti spam solution designed to stop spam, phishing attacks and other email-based threats. Learn more by visiting http://www.ciphertrust.com/products/spam_and_fraud_protection/ today.
MORE RESOURCES:
Spam-Blocker - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
How To Stop Unwanted Email Spam You can stop unwanted email spam, you can choose to reduce spam email or you can do nothing and continue to be annoyed. Those are your only choices because spam email is not likely to go away. Email Chain Letters - Harmless Fun or Not? I'm sure I'm not the only person on the planet that remembers getting the occasional chain letter in school.. Im Guilty Until Proven Innocent No doubt about it."Spam" (unsolicited commercial email) threatens toparalyze and ultimately destroy the email system as itcurrently exists on the Internet. CAN-SPAM Basics I. BACKGROUNDThe CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act) establishes requirements for those who send commercial email, spells out penalties for spammers and companies whose products are advertised in spam if they violate the law, and gives consumers the right to ask emailers to stop spamming them. Wiki Reek-y Havoc The Vandals are coming! And this time they're after your wallets.It's a new form of insidious spam and like its inbred email cousin, it's staggeringly stupid. The Cybermagic of Whitelists Before we start getting deep into the meat of this article it's important to explain some standard terminology to make sure the rest of this article makes sense.An IP address is a number which identifies your location on the Internet. Spam with Typos: Why Do They All Have Spelling Errors? A friend asked me: I don't get it. Why do spammers have such a hard time spelling things properly? I get mail trying to sell me "viagggra", increase my "brest" size, or save me money accessing "pr0n" sites or buying "seks toys". Beware Of Spam Withdrawals Q: I am so sick of all the spam that is sent to my business email address. I spend an hour every morning just trying to sort out the good email from the bad. What Exactly is Spam? Spam, as defined in the context of computers, the Internet and electronic messaging, is a term used to designate unsolicited bulk electronic messaging and communication. In particular, spam is unsolicited bulk mailings that are commercially oriented. Six Tips to Get Rid of Spam Email 1. Ignore Spam EmailDo not open an unsolicited email. I Must Be The Luckiest Person Alive! Spam I must be the luckiest person alive! My inbox is just crammed with good news, great advice, and millions in accounts just needing the ok from me. Right now, I've two million euros just waiting to be claimed. Spam eMails Are Not Just Annoying - They Are A Main Distributor Of Viruses Why is someone from India, Africa, or elsewhere writing you for information about your bank account with shady promises of depositing thousands of dollars within? (Many, many people have fallen for this real scam.) It's costing us ALL money - more on this in a bit. Sick Of Wading Through Spam? It's a nightmare isn't it? You fire up your email system first thing on Monday morning to be greeted with hundreds of new messages."Great", you say, "I'm so popular!"But no - your email has been added to thousands of spammers' lists, that's all. How To Analyze A Rip-Off Scheme This review is taken DIRECTLY from a piece of "junk mail." It is or the program that starts out with the heading: "Before You Decide To Throw This Away, Please Read The Enclosed At Least Once - Then Decide. Do You Know Whats in Your Trash? A hearty welcome to all the spam fighting filters and programs created to rescue us from the deluge of unwanted e-mail! There is practically a "solution" for everything. But as with most online "solutions" filters and programs are only tools that users need to make some effort to use properly to reap the benefits. Internet Tip of the Week: Outsourcing It's no secret that the US economy has slowed down, and many jobs have been outsourced overseas. Thousands of companies are still and are being forced to cut costs, decrease benefits, and even lay off employees. Blackhole or Fail - Which One Is Better For Your Mail Server? Very often SPAMMERS take advantage of catch-all email setup on webservers. Every email no matter what the recipients email address is will be caught by the default email account. Anti Trackback and Comment Spam Methods What is spam ? Spam is text or URL, in one or several exemplars, neither being waited nor wished, not having, neither directly nor from its shipper, no relationship neither with the recipient nor with a possible resource related to the recipient. How does spam appears in blogs ? Through the comments' body and commentator's URL. Customers Demand Internet Privacy .. How to Avoid Spam Complaints in Your Emails Spam filters are responsible for deleting a high percentage of legitimate business emails frompeople who have no wish to spam. Here are sometips to avoid spam complaints in your emails orezine.
|
ChicagoAnimation's Acquisitions: Market Polls - 1pennyStock.com
Sponsors: Paving | VTL's | Religious Statues
