By Marvin Huffaker
President, Principal Consultant
Marvin Huffaker Consulting, Inc.
Cover Photography by Eduardo G. Melguizo
|
View in PDF format (Coming Soon)  |
If you have been paying attention to your inbox lately, you'll notice that the spam problem is out of control. Spam clutters up your mailbox, it clogs your Internet bandwidth, and it spreads viruses and malware. Spam is the hazardous waste, the nasty brown smog, and the residual pollution in our Internet based lifestyles. We are constantly exposed to these toxins that suck the life out of our computers, expose us to viruses, and waste our valuable time.
Luckily, there are solutions out there that are very effective at eliminating spam. The biggest challenge for any company is determining the best options for their environment. Some people run Exchange, others run GroupWise. People are using all kinds of different email solutions, so they need something that works best for their unique setup. As a consulting company with a reputation to uphold, we only recommend solutions that we can stand behind 100%. We currently run GWGuardian by Messaging Architects, and it's very effective. It blocks most spam, and we don't have to babysit it. The downside to GWGuardian is that it requires a Windows server.
Speaking of Windows, I recently had lunch with my arch enemy, the Blue Gunk Punk. We had an in depth discussion about spam solutions, and I set him straight. Perhaps you have some of the same questions he had. Here is how it went:
Marvin Huffaker and the Blue Gunk Punk talk about Spam
Blue Gunk Punk |
BLUE GUNK PUNK: You've been talking about Exchange a lot lately. I thought you only worked with GroupWise. Did you finally give in and go Blue? |
| MARVIN HUFFAKER: Absolutely not! We prefer GroupWise for its security, reliability, and performance. But the truth is, spam effects everybody. Exchange, Lotus, Sendmail – they're all susceptible to spam. We have customers that run a variety of email systems, and have anti-spam solutions that protect all of them. |
 Marvin Huffaker |
|
BGP |
I'm installing Exchange 2007. It has new security features, so I'm safe. |
MH |
Call me when you have to clean up from the next big email worm and I'll sell you a solution that could have prevented it. |
|
BGP |
Well, GroupWise isn't safe either. |
MH |
You are absolutely correct. While GroupWise is much more secure than Exchange and has never been known to propagate viruses, GroupWise (as well as any other email system) doesn't know the difference between a good message and an infected one. Once that virus reaches your workstations, you could be in big trouble. |
|
BGP |
I thought we were talking about Spam. But you haven't stopped yapping about Viruses! |
MH |
That's because spam is responsible for propogating many forms of viruses. If you don't have spam protection, you are at risk for getting viruses through your email. |
|
BGP |
But can I protect myself from both? |
MH |
Yes. Anti-spam and anti-virus usually go hand in hand. Most (but not all) anti-spam solutions include or integrate with anti-virus engines to protect you from viruses too. When we sell a solution, we make sure you get both. |
|
BGP |
Really, spam is not that big of a deal to me. The cost of anti-spam isn't worth it. |
MH |
It should be a big deal. Research shows that spam costs your company $874 per employee per year. So if your company has 75 users, that adds up to over $65,000 per year. A good anti-spam solution doesn't cost anywhere near that amount. It could cost even more if you get an email worm that shuts down your servers. |
|
BGP |
But I can setup RBL's in Exchange, and I know that GroupWise can use RBL's too, so your numbers are way off. |
MH |
It's true that RBL's (Realtime Black Lists) will block a lot of obvious spammers, but they are not a comprehensive anti-spam solution. In fact, the RBL component of any good anti-spam software is only 1-2% of its total functionality. RBL people have to receive spam before it's added to the list. And by that time, millions of other people have already received the same spam. |
|
BGP |
How do spammers get my email address anyway? I never give it out. |
MH |
Spammers use a technology some people call “spambots”. These spambots generate massive email address lists based on common names, numbers, and other factors. Then they append it to domain names like yours and start blasting through the list. Most of the emails are rejected because they are invalid, but some of them work. The valid email addresses are not rejected by your system, so the spammers know its a good address. Nobody is 100% safe from being discovered in this manner. |
|
BGP |
So is it possible to stop the Spambots? |
MH |
Unfortunately, GroupWise and Exchange cannot prevent this type of attack by themselves. But good anti-spam engines have throttle mechanisms that detect when spambots are attacking, and they can shut off the transmission from the spammer. |
|
BGP |
What are my options? |
MH |
One option is to run an anti-spam / anti-virus solution on the mail server itself. For GroupWise, we recommend Gwava from Beginfinite, Inc. It's specifically designed for GroupWise and has very low overhead. Gwava can do all kinds of things to thwart spam and viruses before they get to your users mailboxes. However, we don't recommend running Gwava on a GroupWise server if it is already under a very large load. |
|
BGP |
But I'm running Exchange. I told you that already. |
MH |
We recommend that Exchange users run a solution that is on a separate system. It shouldn't run on the Exchange server because Exchange is already busy enough. We prefer the MXGuardian product from Messaging Architects. It sits on another server between the mail server and perimeter, and is very effective. MXGuardian essentially processes the email, cleans out the spam and viruses, and then passes it on to your Exchange server. |
|
BGP |
I don't have a budget for the extra hardware or software. I blew it when I bought Exchange 2007. |
MH |
If you don't have the budget for hardware or a comprehensive in-house solution, you can utilize a hosted solution for a low monthly subscription fee. It's a good way to cut out a lot of your spam, but does mean your email passes through another companies system before it hits yours. Make sure you go with a trustworthy company that has a good reputation. Marvin Huffaker Consulting will be offering a hosted solution soon. |
|
BGP |
Nothing could be 100% effective against spam. Do I have any other options? |
MH |
Yes, turn off your email server and bury your head in the sand. I tried this once and eventually had to come back to the real world. For most companies, email is a business critical application, so you have to rely on solutions that are proven to be effective. Marvin Huffaker Consulting can help implement an effective anti-spam solution regardless of your email platform. |
About Marvin Huffaker Consulting
Marvin Huffaker Consulting, Inc. is a company that specializes in Email solutions. We can be contacted Toll Free at 1-888-690-0013. You can find additional contact info here.
|
