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FAQs

What is spam? Why filter it?

Nowadays, spam refers to junk mail or unsolicited commercial mail which floods e-mail systems around the world. Spam has grown at a dizzying rate over the last few years and is now a serious inconvenience for companies, since it collapses their IT systems and reduces employee productivity. According to Ferris Research (a specialist consultancy in this field), the cost of spam to companies in 2003 was $10 billion.

Who sends spam?

Spam is sent for financial motives. Different studies have shown that there is up to a 6% reply rate to junk mail, which results in an economic benefit for the spammer. According to the article "You CAN-SPAM" published in Internet News in 2004, a spammer can send 240 million messages in 4 working days with subsequent revenue ranging from $40,000 to $1 million. Although 40% of spam comes from the United States, other countries are now bolstering the trend.

How accurate is the spam filter?

The spam filtering system can detect between 92% and 99% of spam. The main problem is that spam is interpreted differently by different people. Widely distributed news or information bulletins may or may not be considered as spam. Increasing the filtering accuracy results in an increase in the number of false positives (messages classified by the system as spam, but not so by the user), as a result of which a balance is required. It is possible to obtain a level of false positives of less than 1 in 100,000 in an accuracy range of 92% to 95%.

When including addresses in their white and black Lists, users help to improve filtering accuracy.

What guarantees does TrustLayer Mail offer for spam filtering?

When it comes to spam filtering, and as a result of its continually changing nature, Panda Software cannot contractually guarantee the effectiveness of the system. TrustLayer Mail uses the most advanced technologies available and expert personnel 100% dedicated to combating spam, updating filtering rules, lists of known spammers, tables of unreliable addresses etc to guarantee the highest levels of detection at all times.

What spam filtering system does TrustLayer Mail use?

The spam filtering system is based on MailShell Technology, also including blacklists managed by Panda Software. Through artificial intelligence procedures, the system compiles and runs more than 300,000 checks to determine whether the message is spam or not, executing thousands of calculations in a fraction of a second. It is checked whether the message has been sent out en masse studying its similarity with other messages, and a message identifier (fingerprint) is created. It is then verified whether the sender or the IP address from which the message originates is of a dubious nature. The message's structure, format and content is later analyzed (including hyperlinks) to determine whether the majority of people consider its content suitable. Finally, tricks normally used by spammers for reducing the cost of sending messages and avoiding anti-spam filters are searched for.

How often is it updated?

The system is automatically updated every day, with the possibility of including changes in the rules and lists as they are produced by the GNOC. The GNOC can also alter the automatic updating periods to improve the system's effectiveness.

Is spam sent by the TrustLayer Mail clients filtered?

Outbound messages are not filtered by the anti-spam system. However, the GNOC operations center can detect mass-mailing of messages from clients’ mail servers and report these situations, in case these actions are due to inappropriate use of services or systems (for example, the server is being used or hijacked by spammers without the client’s knowledge).

What happens to messages that contain spam?

The domain administrator can determine the rules to be applied in filtering spam. These rules make it possible to configure on a user by user basis what actions should be taken with the message according to the spam analysis score. These actions include deleting the message, storing it in a quarantine system or marking its file header or heading with a particular text.

How can the end user see the messages in spam quarantine?

The end user can access their message quarantine through the Web console or by configuring the system to periodically send a summary message of the quarantine status with a link to the corresponding TrustLayer Mail Web console.

Can a message be released in the quarantine? Who does it?

Messages in the spam quarantine can be released (sending to the original recipient or to another mail account) by the domain administrator or recipient (the user to whom the message is sent) if they are authorized for this.