| Every one of us knows how spam impacts us. | | | | Consequently we have consistently been a |
| Every day we either get a ton of spam - or if | | | | first responder when some of the most |
| we're fairly well protected by spam filters - | | | | malicious virus attacks have hit, saving our |
| only a few pieces.Like a large number of | | | | customers from potentially devastating damage |
| people, I don't use any spam filters. Ah. | | | | to their networks."This is one beautiful |
| You think I'm insane. But wait. My problem | | | | little machine. A Barracuda Spam Firewall can |
| is that I get a lot of email from marketing | | | | support from 1,000 to 30,000 active users. It |
| types which I want to receive. And the spam | | | | can usually be installed in less than five |
| filtering software is not very sensitive to | | | | minutes and receives automatic hourly updates |
| my needs. Even white-listing doesn't always | | | | for new forms of spam and viruses. It has a |
| work. So, I prefer to get all that spam and | | | | 10 layer defense system beyond the use of |
| just delete it.Now this solution can work for | | | | open source anti spam and anti virus |
| me despite the time it takes to delete my | | | | solutions: denial of service and security |
| daily overdose of spam. However, at the | | | | protection, IP block list, rate control, |
| enterprise level, it's a whole different | | | | virus check with archive decompression, |
| story. If you have a relatively large | | | | proprietary virus check, user specified |
| internal network with even a modest number of | | | | rules, spam fingerprint check, Intent |
| email users, you're looking at a major | | | | Analysis, spam rule-based scoring, and |
| problem. And the more users you have, the | | | | Bayesian analysis. Plus it also does both |
| worse the problem is.Sure, you can put up | | | | inbound and outbound email filtering with the |
| software on the mail server. Works, kind of. | | | | inclusion of sophisticated outbound email |
| But pretty soon you may find you need to | | | | filtering techniques (just in case you've got |
| upgrade the mail server. And that's after | | | | a spam zombie on board or somebody's got an |
| you already put it on a stand-alone | | | | infected PC).However, it isn't exactly cheap. |
| machine.Rather than continuing to buy ever | | | | Still, when you consider the time, |
| more expensive software to run on a machine | | | | bandwidth, user frustration and potential |
| that keeps needing to be upgraded, you might | | | | hardware upgrade costs, the price may look a |
| want to think about a dedicated anti spam | | | | lot more reasonable. You can check it out at |
| appliance.To give you some idea of what's | | | | you are in the market for an anti-spam |
| possible let's take a look at Barracuda | | | | appliance, the Barracuda Spam Firewall isn't |
| Networks dedicated anti spam appliance. All | | | | your only choice. The impact of spam on |
| you need to do is put this baby in front of | | | | internet businesses - even those who |
| your mail server. I say baby, advisedly | | | | primarily use it for just email - is so great |
| because this one will learn by doing and by | | | | that a simple search for "anti spam |
| training provided by your users.Dean Drako, | | | | appliance" will find you a number of |
| CEO of Barracuda Networks said, "Bayesian | | | | alternatives to examine. Even McAfee is |
| filtering is still one of the most accurate | | | | getting into the anti spam hardware game.I'm |
| defenses against spam. The new plug-ins allow | | | | hoping that it won't be too long before I can |
| users to directly train the Bayesian filter, | | | | pick up a Bayesian multi-level anti spam, |
| making the Barracuda Spam Firewall even more | | | | anti virus firewall appliance for my home PC |
| accurate based on the users individual email | | | | that keeps me safe and cuts my need to delete |
| preferences. Viruses and other threats can | | | | without deep-sixing the email I want or |
| infect the network quickly if they are not | | | | costing me more than I can afford. I suspect |
| stopped at the network edge. With Intent | | | | it's on the way.Copyright 2005 Richard |
| Analysis our customers have an advantage over | | | | KeirRichard writes in a variety of areas |
| these threats because the Barracuda Spam | | | | involving eBusiness and the internet. |
| Firewall is able to block them real time. | | | | |