Download Spam Blocker Now And Stop Spam Immediately

Not everyone will like changing his email address to get rid of spam because many people share their email addresses with their friends, colleagues, subscribers, and customers. They also may have business cards and other material with the email addresses printed on them. Moreover, getting a new email address won’t free you from spam forever. It will work the first time while your email is new. But as far as you will be using it to communicate with your contacts, the spam flow coming to that email address will be growing. So, how to combat spam? Where is the right solution? One of the effective ways to combat spam is using an anti-spam filter. Fortunately, there are a lot of anti-spam tools available on the Internet.

I am using the anti-spam filter is called SpamCombat. For me, it’s a “must-have” tool. I’ve been using it for about 2 years and my statistics show that 80% of emails I receive are deleted by SpamCombat.

The particularity of SpamCombat is that it works at the source i.e. it connects directly to your inbox on the server and manages the emails there. It’s not the same when you are using the filters in your email software, for example Outlook or Thunderbird. The major difference is that SpamCombat deletes spam and junk emails on the email server so that you never have to download them. Using an anti-spam filter in Outlook, for instance, would mean that you have to pull down the messages onto your computer first and then analyze and manage them accordingly. This may pose a threat if some emails contain viruses.

SpamCombat is easy to use. It’ll take just a few minutes to set it up. The downloadable version of SpamCombat will never expire so you have plenty of time to decide if it is working for you. SpamCombat is provided with 6 filters, which detect spam emails with great accuracy and precision. You can customize the filters for your needs. On the company’s user forum there is a topic dedicated to SpamCombat filters: http://www.justlan.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=937

The program users gratefully share their filters with others and I found many useful anti-spam filters there. I added some of them to my SpamCombat installation and the amount of spam that was identified increased to 80%. This means that on average, 3 of every 10 emails I receive are legitimate and are allowed through by SpamCombat. The rest are deleted at the server and I don’t have to spend time downloading them. This is a big deal if you are using dialup access to the Internet.

There is a concept of a blacklist and a whitelist. You can “whitelist” and “blacklist” the emails by any field from the message header (not only by the From field where the message sender’s email address is) and by any word or phrase from the message content. SpamCombat will allow all emails through that are on the whitelist, and it will mark for deletion or automatically delete all those that are on the blacklist. Adding or removing someone from the whitelist or blacklist is a very simple point and click exercise.

SpamCombat also allows using wildcards and regular expressions to set legitimate filters up. For example, if you specify all emails coming from your company domain name as being legitimate, then all messages from your colleagues will be allowed through without you having to specify each person. You can achieve this by using a wildcard setting such as “*@youworkdomain.com”. This can also be used to blacklist an entire domain such that all messages are immediately marked for deletion or automatically deleted depending on your settings.

There is also the Bayesian filter, self-learning system based on legitimate and spam emails you receive. I trained the Bayesian filter well and now it identifies my legitimate and spam emails in the proper way.

SpamCombat also has more advanced filters. One of them is known as “DNSBL filter”. There are servers on the internet which list known spam addresses. When you receive a message from one of these addresses, SpamCombat automatically marks it as spam without your filters even being invoked. This is a remarkable filter. It identifies about 10% of spam emails that I get.

Another advanced filter is called Complex Filter. This filter is based on the VBScript. If you are familiar with the VBScript, you can write a script and add it to the Complex Filter. A nice filter is described there: http://www.glocksoft.net/sc/discover-amazingly-powerful-anti-spam-filter/

The software configuration is very flexible. You can choose a deletion mode for spam emails by yourself: you can specify the emails to be deleted automatically without your participation, or you can have the program mark them for deletion but let you preview them just in case. This is important at the beginning until you tailor the program for your mail.

You can also set SpamCombat to move spam emails to the internal program trash or delete them permanently. The emails will be stored in the trash for a number of days depending on your settings. There is also a way to recover an email from the trash and receive it with your regular email client.

SpamCombat is independent software and does not interfere with your email client. It sits in the system tray and does its work thoroughly. On my computer, it checks my inbox every 20 minutes and notifies me that new emails arrived. I then review them and do a cleanout. I have my email client setup to only receive messages when I instruct it to so that SpamCombat has the most opportunity to do its work.

SpamCombat is an indispensable tool in my email arsenal. If spam is a vital problem for you, it could do likewise for you. Download your free copy today and use it for as long as you want to fight spam on your main email account.

Spam Prevention Methods Explained

There are many ways to fight SPAM. The most widely used methods are Rule Based and Challenge-Response. A quick and concise overview of these two methods follows.

However, for those impatient readers, I’m guilty of this as well, the bottom line is that I am partial to the Challenge-Response method of SPAM prevention and strongly recommend the completely FREE software offered by The Spam Research Center. I have evaluated many different anti-SPAM programs, both free and paid, and I can honestly say that their software will not only stop close to 100% of SPAM, but it will also save you time and frustration.

Rule Based Systems

As the name infers, these methods use “rules” to determine what is and what is not SPAM. They generally look for specific keywords or content in the email. They may also use special algorithms or a distributed “community” approach where SPAM examples are sent in by users (the community) to central servers. The “community” can then use this ever-growing database to detect and block SPAM. However, because the “rule” databases are in a constant state of change in an attempt to keep up with or stay one step ahead of the “spammers”, there is always the chance that valid emails will be mistaken as SPAM. In an attempt to avoid this situation, the emails are usually “tagged” as SPAM by adding a specific keyword to the email header, subject line or some other field. These keywords can then be included in email client (Outlook Express etc.) rules so that the questionable emails can be appropriately routed to special email folders for later inspection or deleted. Unfortunately, an additional burden is then put on the user to monitor “spam” email folders for falsely “tagged” emails. Although many of these Rule Based methods do reduce SPAM, the necessity of updating “rule” databases, the ever present possibility of valid emails being detected as SPAM and the time consuming need to review “spam” folder(s) makes these methods less than desireable.

Challenge-Response Systems

Although there is no perfect solution for eliminating SPAM, Challenge-Response methods have become increasingly popular. These methods are extremely simple and only require you to maintain a “white list” and a “black list”. When an email is received from someone on your “white list”, it is delivered. When an email is received from someone on your “black list”, it is rejected and deleted. When an email is received from someone on neither of your lists, a simple “challenge” reply email is sent to them. When the unknown sender replies appropriately to the “challenge” message, they are added to your “white list” and their original and any future emails are delivered to your INBOX. The reason this method works so effectively is that “spammers” usually do not supply valid return email addresses and, if they do, there is usually a “robot” that sent the SPAM and it will not respond to your “challenge” message.

Summary

Both Rule Based and Challenge-Response methods have their PROS and CONS. However, taking everything into consideration, I feel that the Challenge-Response method is the best to date. With that said, I DO NOT feel that all implementations of this method are equal. Some Challenge-Repsonse software has the same shortcomings as those implementing the Rule Based method – “spam” folders to maintain and false positives.

I have evaluated many anti-SPAM solutions and can honestly say that I feel that Spam Research Center has the best challenge-response anti-SPAM software available today! This software has been thoughtfully designed and thoroughly tested to provide you with close to 100% SPAM protection without false positives. Better yet, the software is completely free!

Tackling Insider Threat With Cyberoam Identity Based Utm Solution

A common misconception concerning network security is that the enterprise network is at considerable risk from external attackers only. As many security architects know, their networks resemble what is known as “Coconut security”: hard on the outside, soft in the inside. All of the protection and security resources are directed towards the perimeter, keeping the bad guy out by disabling access to any of the network using firewalls and network IDP. However, the soft inside is what the attackers are really after and the security solution is ultimately about getting to the crux of it all i.e. knowing the insider threat source for instantaneous action against security breaches.

The well known case of David Lennon launching an e-mail attack on his former employer, Domestic & General Group hogged headlines in IT publications and illustrates it well. Lennon caused chaos for Domestic & General by generating millions of hoax e-mails. The insurance company’s router and mail server crashed and the cost was in the tens of thousands of pounds.

In fact the insider threat proliferation is touching newer heights. Often criminal gangs infiltrate a company, entering via unsuspecting users.

Cyberoam Identity Based Security Soluion: Revealing the End User Identity

Addressing insider threats requires a combination of incident prevention, detection and response. Since the user is proving to be the weakest link in the security chain today, linking user identity to security is the solution to ensuring high levels of security and to fight against insider threats.

Linking user identity to security is the key to current security, which Cyberoam delivers. Cyberoam is the only UTM that embeds user identity in firewall rule matching criteria, eliminating IP addresses as intermediate components to identify and control the user. This offers instant visibility and proactive controls over security breaches even in dynamic IP environments. User Identity binds the security features: – Firewall-VPN, Anti-virus, Anti-spam, IDP, Content Filtering – to create a single, consolidated Cyberoam security unit enabling the administrator to change security policies dynamically while accounting for user movement – joiner, leaver, rise in hierarchy and more – through easy to configure policies. Ultimately Cyberoam delivers effective security by instant identification and immediate corrective action.

Best Anti-spam Software

Companies spend billions of dollars each year combating spam. Billions more is spent with the loss of productivity, having to purchase additional equipment, software, and man hours filtering through unwanted spam, and fixing problems directly related from spam. Direct effects of spam are the consumption of network and computer resources, data and intellectual property theft, identity theft, infection from virus and malware infection, and more.

When most people think of spam, they are thinking of the unsolicited emails sitting in their inbox that is time consuming to clean up. However, there are many more different types of spam; instant messaging spam, chat spam, newsgroup and forum spam, even cell phone spam, blogs and guestbook spam, video sharing spam, video gaming spam, mail bombing, and non-commercial spam. Email and Internet spam is frustrating and sometimes embarrassing when pornography pops up in front of grandma.

Why would someone want to send out so many annoying messages or pop-ups and what is the benefit for a spammer? A spammer expects total profit and if even only small percentages of people respond or make a purchase from the spam message, the spammer stands to make a bunch of money. Other non-commercial spammers are criminals seeking banking information, committing fraud, and have even lured people to their own kidnappings and murders. Competitors might use spam as a denial of service to your website to flood the viewer of your website with a ton of pop-ups and make it impossible to view the site. This is another malicious way spammers attack.

So what can you do to protect your email and be able to surf the Internet without the unwanted pop-ups and phishing sites stealing your information? There are two solutions; Mozilla Firefox for your web browser and Anti-Spam Software for your email. These two solutions will provide the protection you need without having to worry anymore.

Having a positive Internet and email experience is what everyone wants. Mozilla wants this for everyone too. Mozilla is a non-profit organization who is dedicated to making your online experience incredible. They offer their web browser Firefox free of charge. Firefox is available to all Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms, in over 35 different languages. This web browser has integrated protection from spam, pop-ups, and phishing protection that tells you when you have accessed a website that is looking for information.

Mozilla Firefox is the leading web browser because they care about what the user wants. This browser allows you to personalize it the way you want it. Firefox includes a spell checker and search engine suggestions. It also includes a session restore so when you lose your Internet connection and have to sign online again, Firefox will take you back to the exact webpage from where your session terminated. That way, you don’t have to spend hours finding where you were before. Firefox even has accessibility features that integrate with Microsoft’s accessibility features in Windows for people with physical impairments to easily surf the web without having too many keystrokes to get to the site they want.
The best quality of Mozilla’s Firefox is the protection. Unlike Internet Explorer, Firefox has a button to clear private data so the browser doesn’t keep personal information. It also automatically updates itself. This is much better than having to go to Microsoft’s website to install the latest security updates and patches.
Anti-Spam Software can be found at www.antispampage.com. This useful tool provides the email protection you need with a user-friendly interface, which makes it simple to setup. Anti-spam software is learning software. This means, you teach it what is spam and what is not. Eventually, you will not be receiving anymore spam in your inbox. This software will block incoming spam before it even reaches your inbox and automatically delete malicious viruses. Anti-spam is compatible with Windows platforms 98, ME, 2000, and XP. 24-hour technical support is provided and 100% satisfaction or you are entitled to a full refund. Millions of users worldwide are using Anti-spam software and they couldn’t be happier.
Don’t allow unwanted spam, pop-ups, and phishing sites ruin your computing experience. Using a smart web browser like Mozilla Firefox and Anti-spam Software are the best ingredient for total protection on your computer.

Putting the axe to spam, viruses, malware, and other unwanted annoyances are only a couple steps away if you have the right tools. But until then you join millions of others fighting a losing war.

Four in 10 Company Networks in the US are not Secure

In a poll of 455 IT executives in US SMBs, 42% said their networks were not secure even though 96% and 93% of respondents respectively said they had anti-virus and a firewall installed. 80% said they also used spam filtering. This may indicate that small and medium sized businesses are starting to doubt the effectiveness of traditional perimeter security products in protecting them from other security threats, including data leakage and network breaches.

Conducted by eMediaUSA on behalf of GFI Software, an international developer of network security, content security and messaging software, 39% of respondents to the survey said email viruses are the greatest risk to network security, followed by internet downloads (22%) and hacker attempts (10%). Only 7% considered insider attacks and the threat of portable storage devices – such as USB sticks, CDs, floppies, smartphones, MP3 players, handhelds, iPods, digital cameras – to be the greatest risk.

The survey also reveals that 32% of the US companies surveyed had suffered a breach over the past 12 months mainly due to a virus attack (69%), followed by infected internet downloads (30%) and loss of hardware, such as laptops (24%). Only 2% reported a breach involving some form of fraud or identity threat.

Commenting on the results, Andre Muscat, GFI’s Director of Engineering, said: “Email viruses top the ‘greatest threat to network security’ list and this does not come as a surprise. It is one of the easier attack routes and this is confirmed by those respondents who reported a breach. While companies are aware of, and are focused on, tackling viruses and malware, they appear to be giving sparse attention to other equally dangerous threats such as data theft and leakage from endpoints such as connected USB sticks, iPods and PDAs on the network.”

According to the survey, only 19% of the respondents said they had deployed an endpoint security solution on their network. This indicates that few companies may consider the fact that an employee’s iPod or USB stick can be a threat and used to copy data from the network or else install unauthorized software or upload viruses and malware.

“There are other issues as well. How many companies are aware of vulnerabilities on their network that are not addressed through Microsoft’s regular updates? At the end of the day, it boils down to education – from the top of the organization down to the users – Our survey shows that just under half of the respondents believe security could improve if employees were more aware of security issues, while 25% believe that management should also have a better understanding of security matters,” Mr. Muscat added.

On a daily basis, IT executives are most concerned with downtime (71%) while more than half of the respondents said daily user support was a concern. One in five said compliance was a daily concern; while a mere 3% indicated eDiscovery to be a daily issue.

When it comes to choosing the type of security measure to adopt, just under 90% said they used a software solution with 55% opting for a combination of software, appliances and hosted services.

The full survey can be found at: http://www.gfi.com/documents/rv/smbsurvey.pdf

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