Why CorePhase Is The Best for Spam Filtering
If you've been researching "spam filtering" then
chances are you've seen a lot of different options ranging
from service providers to firewall hardware to downloadable
software. How is one to know which solution is really the
best? Truth is there are lots of great options for general
spam filtering but when it comes to a true small business
solution CorePhase's approach beats the others hands down.
Taking a close look at all the options available will explain
why.
1. Downloadable Software Solutions
Lot's of software companies are offering spam filtering software
that you can download to your PC and it will filter spam as
it's received. While this can certainly be an effective method
of keeping of keeping your inbox clean it's not the best solution
for a small business. Here's why.
- One must purchase a software license for every PC using
it which can become expensive.
- Spammer techniques evolve which means so must the software
if it's to remain effective. This means additional IT administrative
tasks for someone in your office.
- Once a virus infected spam hits your PC it may be too
late regardless of how it's handled by the downloaded spam
filtering software.
- Although the spam is getting filtering on each PC - all
those useless emails are still congesting your network.
- With most spam filter software malicious emails can still
be seen by the recipient which could create liability issues
for your business.
2. Spam Firewall Solutions
Some companies offer pieces of hardware that are installed
at the outer perimeter of your network and will filter spam
at that level. While this can be effective it's generally
one of the most expensive methods available and can be a burden
on your network administrator. In addition most of these appliances
only work if you host your own email server within your own
network. Currently less than 5% of small businesses are in
a position to justify the expense of a hardware firewall solution.
3. Spam Filtering Based on Keywords
For a while this was the most popular method of filtering
spam and sure, some keywords are obviously easy to identify
as harmful or offensive spam. Problem is that beyond the obvious,
"spam identifiers" will vary. Examples may be emails
that use lending terms or stock investing terms. Sure there's
lots of spam on these topics but what if your business happens
to deal in these industries? What if you are not in one of
those industries but are simply communicating with your bank
about a mortgage or your financial advisor on an investment?
Chances are you will never get their emails because key terms
used in the communication are flagged as spam identifiers.
In addition spammers are getting wise to this method and have
developed techniques to render this form of defense all but
obsolete.
4. Spam Filtering Based on Sender's Mail Server
This is by far the oldest method used today in trying
to block spam and has probably become the most useless. For
starters, a savvy spammer will generally only use a mail server
once and once it's been blocked or shut down they will move
on. This means if you are blocking their server you are always
one step behind the spammer. Spammers will also often hijack
(hack into) a perfectly legitimate mail server and spam from
it. By the time that mail server has caught on and protected
itself the spammer is done and moved on. Blocking that mail
server is not only one step behind the spammer, but blocking
out an otherwise perfectly legitimate company mail server
who happened to be the victim of a hacker. That would be like
turning your back on a neighbor because someone broke into
their home. It just doesn't make sense. Lastly, most small
businesses use an ISP that has hundreds, sometimes thousands
of users sharing a single mail server. If one bad apple happens
to spam you from that server is it wise to reject emails from
the other people using that same server? No.
5. Sender Verification Links
I'm sure at some point you've sent an email to a friend or
colleague and immediately received a reply giving you a link
to go and validate yourself before that recipient will accept
your email. Did you know that less than 50% of senders ever
complete that validation process? Most either disregard the
message, think it's spam, don't understand it or are simply
offended that their friend or potential service provider has
an auto reply that basically says, "I don't trust you!".
Sure this method may be OK for residential use, especially
if you have kids who may be receiving messages over that account
but for a business to use this method is unwise. Sure we want
spam protection but are we willing to offend potential clients
to get it? Hopefully not.
The CorePhase Spam Filtering Method
The CorePhase spam filtering method was initially developed
out of necessity for our internal use for our group of small
businesses. Trying all of the methods above either proved
to be ineffective, too expensive or caused us to miss too
many good emails in the process. Over the last few years we
have reached a fine balance of filtering spam without missing
valid emails and doing so in a way that works for today's
small business. Sure our system blocks emails that use some
blatant spam keywords and yes we do block mail servers that
we have investigated and determined to be of no use other
than for spam but the heart of our system works more on what
we have learned about the behaviors of spammers and the mail
servers they use. The end result is a spam filtering system
that is highly effective in blocking spam yet produces virtually
no false-positives regardless of industry, email origination
or content of messages. It requires no special software, hardware
nor sender or recipient techniques. In addition it's one of
the most affordable solutions available.
In short CorePhase is the best anti spam solution available
for today's small business.
We Guarantee It!
Our services are backed by a 30-day satisfaction guarantee.
If you are not completely satisfied with the ease, quality
and spam protection of our services within your first 30 days
you may cancel and receive a full refund. |
