Solutions to your SPAM and Junk Email problems from Finn Consultants. Anti-spam, Anti-virus, Anti-phishing software and managed solutions – Bude in Cornwall, Holsworthy in Devon and Exeter in Devon.
SPAM is a big issue in today’s corporate world, is seems as soon as you have an email address the quantity of Junk Emails steadily increases. Staff members are often interrupted regularly to read an email which turns out to be an irrelevant ‘stock report’ or an advert for some type of ‘enhancement’ drug.
Phishing is also a newer, very worrying type of spam that pretends to be an email from for example your bank enticing you to click on a link within the email and login. These originally started with scams such as: ‘We have lost your details, please click here and login to ensure your money is safe.’ They send this to millions of people so at some point a recipient will Bank with this organisation and will unwittingly click on the link, they will be directed to a website that looks very similar if not exactly like the bank’s website and provide their details. Unfortunately this website will not be the bank’s but the fraudsters. The response from the page will probably say something like ‘Thank you for your confirmation, we will contact you shortly’. At this point the fraudsters have the login details and can transfer the fateful recipient’s money into their own (and likely to be foreign) bank account!
It is argued by some that employers could be liable for staff’s losses should this occur from a work email address, therefore should take reasonable steps to avoid it. Also more businesses are using online banking, therefore the unwitting employee (who may have the company’s login details) may give them away to a sham artist in this manner.
So what are the solutions?
Policy is always a good starting point, most companies now have an Internet and Email Policy listing what staff must do to avoid SPAM and avoid Phishing fraudsters. Also ensuring that all staff understand that no anti-SPAM solutions are perfect, whilst the correct solution can be accurate care must be taken to clear the Junk Email box regularly and to ensure that there are no legitimate emails identified as SPAM. We have seen all too often personnel either letting the Junk Email box fill-up unchecked (missing valuable customer orders or client emails) or deleting all items without a thought (with the similar consequences).
For many years text based anti-spam software has been available. A solution is also now built into email clients such as Microsoft Outlook 2003 and above. These are very useful but some may say they are aimed at the home user market.
Image, PDF, & MP3 SPAM are starting to fool the ‘lower’ end of the anti-spam market. You may find a picture advertising a certain medical product, which cannot be scanned by the text based solution because they are just not text emails. This is where a server based or managed service comes in use.
A Smaller Company with No Email Server
Workstation Anti-Spam Software can be a good solution, with the right advice the correct software can be selected for you. Alternatively a Managed / Outsourced Service is a good option, although you loose some of the control it does mean that no software is required on your computers, again correct advice can help you to select the correct solution for your needs.
A company with an Email Server
Server Based Anti-SPAM is undoubtedly the most customisable solution for your needs and only requires software to be installed and configured on your server, saving an install and setup on each computer/workstation. All of your customers’, suppliers and other contacts’ email addresses can automatically be ‘white-listed’ so that they are not falsely identified as SPAM. The process of checking the Junk Email box in outlook also is a benefit as any mistakes that the system makes can be quickly highlighted to it, a good server based system will learn from its mistakes. Once clear benefit over the workstation solution is that the system applies what it has learnt from everyone’s email rather than just one employee, and therefore is far more effective in a shorter period of time.
Managed / Outsourced Services are also readily available, there are many on the market. You do not need an email server, but they do also work with them. They also do not often require any software installing on your server (or workstations), which is a benefit and for a monthly/annual subscription fee they will manage the configuration side of things for you. You can highlight false-positives to them and emails that have not been correctly identified as SPAM. This solution will learn about new SPAM quicker than a server based solution, but applies these rules across many companies not just your company or industry, this is not so effective. We have seen a number of companies to select both a Managed Service and a Server Based solution for extra protection.
A recommended solution is an integrated Anti-virus, Anti-Spam and Anti-Phishing solution, this can be in the form of workstation, server or outsourced/managed. They can also be used to restrict the type of files emailed out of your company, so you can allow employees to email Microsoft Word documents and PDF Files but not databases (such as customer or contact data) tightening security further.
Finn Consultants can advice, provide and implement the suitable solution (including policies) for your needs, call us now.