Spam protection is a vital part of email security and can help keep you safe online. Even the savviest of internet users can get tricked by spam, an advanced and constantly updating threat to your email security. Without any kind of spam protection, spam filter, or email security measures, you are leaving yourself and/or your business prone to attacks from cybercriminals.

It is crucial to not only understand what spam is but to have adequate email protection and security measures in place, to keep you and your inbox secure. Read on to find out more about spam, how it can be dangerous, and what to look for in a spam protection service.

What Is Spam?

Spam is any kind of unsolicited digital communication distributed in bulk. It is most commonly sent by email, but can also be sent through messages, phone calls, and social media. This might be for the purpose of advertising, spreading malware, or for gaining personal information and money. Below are some of the most common types of spam to look out for;

Phishing Emails

Phishing emails are a type of spam sent to a large number of people, intended to hook a few people within that group. These simple yet incredibly effective scams are styled to make the phishing victim give up sensitive information such as passwords and financial details.

Spoof Emails

Spoof emails can often mimic the style of a legitimate sender, such as Apple or Paypal, and ask you to verify a purchase you didn’t make or request for the payment of a large invoice. Many of these scams can also appear to be from tech support and, appearing to be from Microsoft or Apple, ask you to call a certain number.

Malware Spam

Malware is software that can gain unauthorised access to your computer system when delivered to your electronic devices through a spam email attachment or a clickable link. Types of malware include Trojans, bots, info-stealers, crypto miners, spyware, and keyloggers.

Spam Protection

It is of utmost importance to be incredibly careful when receiving emails, it is good to carry a “better safe than sorry” outlook to clicking on unknown links or attachments. Learning to spot signs of phishing and spam can be of a massive benefit, and instilling it within your business is a sensible step for the sake of not only your company’s computer network but also your employees’ well-being.

Whilst education about spam is important, it is also a good idea to have a strong layer of security installed on your and your business’ computer network. This ensures that spam is eradicated from your workplace’s emails and employees aren’t prone to subtly-designed and effective spam attacks.

Why Is Spam Protection Important?

Email security is vital for both an employee’s and a business’s safety. As the volume of spam consistently increases, even if you are aware of the signs of spam, everyone is human and can fall for many scams. Spam doesn’t just target individuals too, it can work in a coordinated manner to prey into the network system of your business. If you are handling sensitive data, it isn’t just the information of your employees at risk, but your clients/customers also.

Whatsmore, having a spam protection system in place can even help the productivity of your employees and improve the network’s performance, by keeping unnecessary traffic off email servers.

How Can Spam Protection Work?

Anti-spam protection works through software connected to an email server. It can instantly catch spam when recognised, stopping it from reaching any individual email address on the server. With spam protection software installed, emails that have suspicious content are flagged by the spam filter and then are immediately sent into a separate folder for later investigation.

Content Filtering

Anti-spam protection software and spam cleaners often use an approach called content filtering as the main form of email security. Content filtering analyses an email’s subject and body along with the words contained in a message. These words are then examined against an internal database of terms and words frequently used in other spam emails, such as millionaire, free, extra cash, etc. Anti-spam software can also help recognise when spam emails alter the spelling of words to sneak their messages to the user through content filters.

Bayesian Filtering

A Bayesian spam filter is a sophisticated and complex approach used for detecting spam. This spam filter analyses every email and calculates the probability of it being spam, and then rates how “spam-like” it is. If the email contains a message that is over a certain “spam-like” threshold, then it will be flagged as spam.

This spam filter can also construct a custom database built of words that are considered to be spam and those that do not fall under the spam category. This selection can be based on the email customers’ preferences or wherever this email protection system is in place.

Blacklisting

With this technique, the IP address of the spammer’s computer is quickly identified by a real-time blacklist and emails sent from that address are then blocked. This method is considered to be simple and extremely effective, but it represents a quick-fix solution that leads to spammers finding other IP addresses and continuing this process. Whatsmore, legitimate messages can sometimes be blocked.

Anti-Spam

Anti-spam is an effective email security and spam protection service that protects email accounts from spam. At MailCleaner, we provide a 99% effective spam filter which is easy to install, has a simple user interface, and is available with a flexible pricing system. It is also a fully Open Source product, ensuring that your data is treated confidentially.

The MailCleaner’s anti-spam filter offers a range of anti-spam services and packages, suitable for every type of business, from small to large businesses. The spam cleaning and filtering service is made by changing your business’ domain name and filtering mail through our MailCleaner’s hosted servers. All spam will be protected from your business and employees by quarantining unwanted messages and viruses to a separate folder.

If you’re worried about losing non-spam emails through this layer of email protection and security, our servers can not only monitor a large amount of traffic, but they can also manage newsletter permissions to ensure no company emails are being lost with spam.

About Us:

Founded in 1995, at MailCleaner, we’ve been providing email security and spam protection services for almost thirty years. During this time, we’ve provided a simple, secure, and bespoke spam protection service for businesses all over the world. Now with new bases in Toronto and Bucharest, MailCleaner is expanding into the foremost anti-spam solution for businesses and governments around the world.

If you’re interested in learning more about spam and email safety in order to keep your business safe, visit our website which contains information about data confidentiality, the laws around spam, and more!

Anti-spam is an effective and easy way of keeping your business safe. Get in touch with us today if you’re interested in our services or have any questions. You can call our head office at + 41 21 695 20 20 or email us at info@mailcleaner.net to discover more about spam and anti-spam.

Everything You Need To Know About Spam Protection