Anti-Spam
Active AntiSPam provides comprehensive spam-blocking for your organization. The algorithms and methods are the most comprehensive and most advanced in the industry. Our service even includes Bayesian analysis which has been shown to be the most effective and most accurate method of blocking spam.
The methods and techniques used by Active AntiSPam are constantly updated (via hourly Updates), to keep up with changes that spammers and virus writers are constantly making.
Active AntiSPam provides a number of parameters that can be adjusted and tuned for your specific environment. These parameters do not have to be adjusted to obtain extremely effective spam blocking, but are available for advanced users.
Anti Spam Algorithms
Some of the algorithms employed to block spam are listed below with a short description.
| Technique | Description |
|---|---|
| Blacklisting of websites & domains | Our Update Centre maintains an up to date list of the largest and most aggressive known spammers. This list is also maintained by both other anti-spam groups. This list is automatically updated for each domain we look after. |
| Keyword scanning of emails | This can be configured on a per customer (domain) basis. Our scanning methods include a scoring system such that emails are scored based on a number of criteria. If the score is above a threshold, then that email is flagged as spam. |
| Checksum technology | Our Update Centre monitors email traffic through the Internet and uses checksum technology to keep track of the number of times a particular message has appeared on the Internet. If a message has appeared very broadly, it would be categorized as known spam. Checksums of known spam messages are utilized by Active AntiSPam to block spam messages. |
| Message authenticity checking | Several algorithms are utilized to verify the authenticity of a message. Some of these are simple checks to verify that the "from address" is authentic. Some are more complex relating to SMTP protocol. |
| Blacklists and Whitelists | Domains, IPs, and email addresses can be blocked or whitelisted (allowed through). These lists may be maintained on a per user basis or on a corporate basis. |
| Rate controls | Rate controls are utilized to stop denial of service attacks as well as dictionary based spam attacks. |
| Bayesian Algorithms | Bayesian filters are personalized to each user and adapt automatically to changes in spam. To determine the likelihood that an email is spam, these filters use Bayesian analysis to compare the words or phrases in the email in question to the frequency of the same words or phrases in the intended recipient's previous emails (both legitimate and spam). |
| Spam Fingerprint Checking | Fingerprinting techniques examine the characteristics, or fingerprint, of emails previously identified as spam and use this information to identify the same or similar email each time one is intercepted. These real time fingerprint checks are continuously updated by our Update Centre and provide a method of identifying spam with nearly zero false positives. |
| Intention Analysis | Intention Analysis is used to look at the objective or goal of the email. If the objective of the email is to sell something, try and have you click on a commercial link, or get you to take a particular action that is indicative spam, the email will be categorized as spam. |
