spam filter - 3rd party. 1

[joblack23]

I work for a small company (+50 users) and lately we've been getting tons of spam. I am willing to sing up with a spam filter vendor but would like to know the pros and cons of this practice. Can they host my mx records so that all emails are flowing through them and is this the best solution?

Thanks much.

 

[ShackDaddy]

Spam vendors don't host your MX records, but you change your MX records to point to their servers, and then you configure their settings to forward all cleaned mail to your server's IP.

I myself have been an MXLogic/McAfee reseller for years and like their services a lot, but their competitors: Reflexions, Symantec and Trend are also reliable. I personally dislike Postini as a product because the management interface they provide is way to counter-intuitive and difficult to use.

The pros are that your internet connection never even has to see that spam traffic and your server doesn't have to waste CPU cycles processing it. Additionally, you don't have to hope that your server has the latest definition files to properly scan all the mail: when you use a hosted solution, all that is taken care of for you. I personally prefer to use a hosted solution to an onsite solution, since a server-based anti-spam solution adds another layer of local complexity that sometimes has unintended consequences.

Downside? The cost. Most solutions cost between $1.75 and $3.50 per mailbox/month. But you can also bundle that with archiving and encryption services, which many of my clients want, so that can work out well. I don't think there is a significant technical downside.

Dave Shackelford
ThirdTier.net
TrainSignal.com

 

[joblack23]

Thanks for your post Dave. I am in the process of getting one of these solutions. One other question I have is if there is any other places I can tighten the spam: i.e. Exchange transport connector to receive emails from only the Spam vendor emails. What happen with remove offices/users? I don't have a filter at the moment. Are there firewall rules that can be implemented to drop spam emails?

Thanks again.

Jo

 

[ShackDaddy]

What you'd typically want to do is configure your Internet Receive Connector (or your firewall) to only allow connections from the range of IP networks that your hygiene vendor uses. That will prevent your server being spammed sideways and keep the mail stream pure.

Normally if a user leaves the company and you disable their account, their mail would bounce with an "invalid address" message. In my experience I've had to do no other firewall anti-spam measures once I have the hosted solution in place. They work very well.

Dave Shackelford
ThirdTier.net
TrainSignal.com