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CostEffective IT: Stopping SPAM
Cost-Effective
IT: Stopping SPAM, by Richard Sonnier
Houston
Business Show "Advisor" Richard Sonnier, of the Information
Technology Services firm Nimble Services, Inc., provides weekly
information on our show about business technology issues. He can be
reached at 281-445-4800 x250 or rsonnier@nimbleservices.com.
This week I will discuss stopping SPAM.
What is SPAM?
SPAM is email that is cogging up the Internet. By some estimates over
80% of the Internet email is SPAM, but what is SPAM? SPAM like beauty
is in the eye of the beholder. The best technical definition of SPAM is
Unsolicited Bulk Email. SPAM is an email that is sent to a large number
of people, and those people did not request the information in the
email. Our clients at Nimble Services have a simpler definition: SPAM
is any email that I do not want to see.
Eliminating SPAM?
Getting rid of all the SPAM sent to you or your company is very
difficult. The technology to combat SPAM is being overwhelmed by the
volume and speed of the SPAM senders. Here is an example. Back in July
I wrote about new SPAM fighting technology coming to the Internet to
eliminate some of the SPAM problem. Today, the picture is far less
rosy. The first component of the new technology called the Sender
Policy Framework (SPF) has a major operational flaw. While still a step
forward in the war on SPAM and I still encourage everyone to use it, it
turns out that the most aggressive users of SPF are the SPAM senders.
For the detailed story see InfoWorld.
For details on SPF see http://spf.pobox.com/.
The professional SPAM marketing companies make big bucks and they are
using SPF as a barrier to entry for competitors, especially the
fly-by-night operators that are the very worst of the SPAM problem. As
true Internet capitalist, the more professional email mass marketing
companies are turning the latest antiSPAM technology against their low
cost, evil competitors. The upside is the worst of the SPAM operators
may be stopped by SPF, but I fear the professional guys are just going
to take over so the total volume of SPAM will continue to increase.
It is even worst for the second component of new antiSPAM technology
called Sender ID by Microsoft. Sender ID may never happen due to
licensing problems with the technology. Still some technology
improvements are being made and they will help.
Controlling SPAM
Today, we can control the SPAM problem with various types of software.
I recommend you implement three layers of antiSPAM as follows:
- Use the antiSPAM services of your Internet provider. The good
providers provide solutions to filter out the obvious SPAM.
- Install an email gateway to receive the Internet email and scan
it for viruses and SPAM. Many vendors offer these products.
- Finally, use an email reader with antiSPAM features like Bayesian
SPAM filtering.
The good news is that this three layered approach can reduce SPAM by
about 95%. The bad news is that the SPAM senders are constantly
upgrading their techniques to bypass these current antiSPAM tools.
Thus, after a few weeks of tuning you will see your SPAM decrease; but
within a month it will start to increase again and you will have to
retune your defenses.
Next week, I will discuss Netscape Reborn: FireFox.
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