Anti-spam appliances

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Anti-spam appliances are software or hardware devices integrated with on-board software that implement e-mail spam filtering [1] and/or anti-spam for instant messaging (also called "spim") and are deployed at the gateway or in front of the mail server. They are normally driven by an operating system optimized for spam filtering. Anti-spam appliances have existed in wide area networks and home networks since the early 2000s. [2] [3]

The anti-spam appliances that are found in wide area networks are usually built from server hardware and are generally used by companies, corporations, ISPs, and universities, [4] [5] and anti-spam appliances that are found in home networks are usually built from embedded hardware and are generally used by consumers. Anti-spam technology companies that have produced anti-spam appliances for wide area networks and/or home networks include, but are not limited to Proofpoint, IronPort, Barracuda Networks, D-Link, Spam Cube, Netgear and TrustEli. [6] [7] [8]

Some main reasons why hardware anti-spam appliances may be selected instead of software could include, the customer's preference to buy hardware rather than software due to its ease of installation, the appliance can manage itself after it is installed, and anti-spam appliances commonly provide other security features such as anti-virus protection. [9]

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Appliance may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Honeypot (computing)</span> Computer security mechanism

In computer terminology, a honeypot is a computer security mechanism set to detect, deflect, or, in some manner, counteract attempts at unauthorized use of information systems. Generally, a honeypot consists of data that appears to be a legitimate part of the site which contains information or resources of value to attackers. It is actually isolated, monitored, and capable of blocking or analyzing the attackers. This is similar to police sting operations, colloquially known as "baiting" a suspect.

Various anti-spam techniques are used to prevent email spam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Email spam</span> Unsolicited electronic advertising by email

Email spam, also referred to as junk email, spam mail, or simply spam, is unsolicited messages sent in bulk by email (spamming). The name comes from a Monty Python sketch in which the name of the canned pork product Spam is ubiquitous, unavoidable, and repetitive. Email spam has steadily grown since the early 1990s, and by 2014 was estimated to account for around 90% of total email traffic.

Email filtering is the processing of email to organize it according to specified criteria. The term can apply to the intervention of human intelligence, but most often refers to the automatic processing of messages at an SMTP server, possibly applying anti-spam techniques. Filtering can be applied to incoming emails as well as to outgoing ones.

Norton Internet Security, developed by Symantec Corporation, is a discontinued computer program that provides malware protection and removal during a subscription period. It uses signatures and heuristics to identify viruses. Other features include a personal firewall, email spam filtering, and phishing protection. With the release of the 2015 line in summer 2014, Symantec officially retired Norton Internet Security after 14 years as the chief Norton product. It was superseded by Norton Security, a rechristened adaptation of the original Norton 360 security suite. The suite was once again rebranded to Norton 360 in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Message submission agent</span>

A message submission agent (MSA), or mail submission agent, is a computer program or software agent that receives electronic mail messages from a mail user agent (MUA) and cooperates with a mail transfer agent (MTA) for delivery of the mail. It uses ESMTP, a variant of the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), as specified in RFC 6409.

SpamCop is an email spam reporting service, allowing recipients of unsolicited bulk or commercial email to report IP addresses found by SpamCop's analysis to be senders of the spam to the abuse reporting addresses of those IP addresses. SpamCop uses these reports to compile a list of computers sending spam called the "SpamCop Blocking List" or "SpamCop Blacklist" (SCBL).

SORBS was a list of e-mail servers suspected of sending or relaying spam. It had been augmented with complementary lists that include various other classes of hosts, allowing for customized email rejection by its users.

MailScanner is an open source email security system for use on Unix email gateways and was first released in 2001. It protects against viruses, spam, malware, and phishing. It is distributed under the GNU General Public License.

The term Mail Hub is used to denote an MTA or system of MTAs used to route email but not act as a mail server since there is no MUA access. Examples could include dedicated anti-SPAM appliances, anti-virus engines running on dedicated hardware, email gateways and so forth.

Barracuda Networks, Inc. is a company providing security, networking and storage products based on network appliances and cloud services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blue Frog</span>

Blue Frog was a freely-licensed anti-spam tool produced by Blue Security Inc. and operated as part of a community-based system which tried to persuade spammers to remove community members' addresses from their mailing lists by automating the complaint process for each user as spam is received. Blue Security maintained these addresses in a hashed form in a Do Not Intrude Registry, and spammers could use free tools to clean their lists. The tool was discontinued in 2006.

Spam Cube, Inc was a high-tech startup company based in the midtown area of New York City. The company invented and manufactured the Spam Cube, a SaaS network security hardware device for consumers that blocked spam e-mail, computer viruses and phishing. The company invented a SaaS delivery platform technology that enables any home networking embedded device such as a Broadband cable modem, DSL modem, Wireless router or Femtocell to offer network Security As A Service technology that blocks spam e-mail, computer viruses and phishing. The Spam Cube SaaS platform gave the consumer the choice to select spam e-mail, computer viruses, and phishing blocking technology that was powered by either McAfee or Symantec managed enterprise Security As A Service technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Computer appliance</span> Dedicated computer system

A computer appliance is a computer system with a combination of hardware, software, or firmware that is specifically designed to provide a particular computing resource. Such devices became known as appliances because of the similarity in role or management to a home appliance, which are generally closed and sealed, and are not serviceable by the user or owner. The hardware and software are delivered as an integrated product and may even be pre-configured before delivery to a customer, to provide a turn-key solution for a particular application. Unlike general purpose computers, appliances are generally not designed to allow the customers to change the software and the underlying operating system, or to flexibly reconfigure the hardware.

Postini, Inc. was an e-mail, Web security, and archiving service owned by Google from 2007 until its closure. It provided cloud computing services for filtering e-mail spam and malware, offered optional e-mail archiving, and protected client networks from web-borne malware. In November 2011, Google announced the discontinuation of Postini in August 2012.

Brightmail Inc. was a San Francisco–based technology company focused on anti-spam filtering. Brightmail's system has a three-pronged approach to stopping spam, the Probe Network is a massive number of e-mail addresses established for the sole purpose of receiving spam. The Brightmail Logistics and Operations Center (BLOC) evaluates newly detected spam and issues rules for ISPs. The third approach is the Spam Wall, a filtering engine that identifies and screens out spam based on the updates from the BLOC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Proofpoint, Inc.</span> American cybersecurity company

Proofpoint, Inc. is an American enterprise cybersecurity company based in Sunnyvale, California that provides software as a service and products for email security, identity threat defense, data loss prevention, electronic discovery, and email archiving.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Endian Firewall</span> Linux distribution

Endian Firewall is an open-source router, firewall and gateway security Linux distribution developed by the South Tyrolean company Endian. The product is available as either free software, commercial software with guaranteed support services, or as a hardware appliance.

References

  1. ↑ "spam filter (redirected from Anti-spam)". The Free Dictionary. Dictionary of Unfamiliar Words by Diagram Group. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  2. ↑ "Barracuda Networks launches antispam appliance line". Todd R. Weiss, Computerworld. Retrieved 2003-10-13.
  3. ↑ Pogue, David (30 March 2006). "A Spam Fighter Is Overzealous but Can Learn". The New York Times. Retrieved 2006-03-30.
  4. ↑ "IronPort C600 Email Security Appliance for Large Enterprises and ISPs" (PDF). IronPort Systems Inc, Sunnyvale CA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-03-15. Retrieved 2006-03-15.
  5. ↑ "E-mail and Anti-Spam - Marking Potential Spam". University of Colorado Boulder.
  6. ↑ "Test Center guide: Mail security appliances". Logan Harbaugh, InfoWorld. Retrieved 2008-04-09.
  7. ↑ "SecureSpot offers protection after problematic setup". Tamara Chuang, The Gadgetress, ocregister.com. Archived from the original on 2006-11-11. Retrieved 2006-10-24.
  8. ↑ "Spam Slayer: Don't Can Spam, Cube It". Tom Spring, PCWorld. Archived from the original on 2020-08-04. Retrieved 2006-03-28.
  9. ↑ "3 Types of Antispam Software". Doug Lowe, Networking All-in-One For Dummies. Retrieved 2018-06-28.
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