Spam: the managed solution

Consultants to the Law Society of Scotland describe the "managed service" solution to the problem of spam email

The Journal, November 2006, page 30

The issue with email

You may have seen – or indeed, if you were unfortunate, been involved in – a high profile attack on the legal profession recently which took place via email and attempted to retrieve the banking details of those individuals targeted. In other words, the legal sector, like virtually every other industry, is now officially under attack from the scourge of the spammer.

Spam is no longer an issue which can be ignored. The simple fact is that the problem has not only not gone away since Bill Gates’ famous quote in January 2004 which stated “Two years from now, spam will be solved”; it has actually worsened – and quite considerably.

The situation is evolving all the time. For example the volume of emails sent has recently risen dramatically on a global scale – more than doubling from 1 June 2006 to the end of September 2006 in fact. Consequently, any email user who does not employ an effective spam management technique will have noticed a considerable increase in the amount of spam they have received over this period.

Indeed as time goes by and the situation continues to worsen, email is simply becoming less and less viable as a communications tool for any business not employing an effective means of managing this issue.

A worsening problem

Until relatively recently, spammers focussed their activities on distributing identical emails to as many recipients as possible. This effectively allowed any business user of email to utilise a simple anti-spam tool, such as a free piece of software for example, to tackle the problem, at least in part.

However spammers have become aware of this and consequently changed tactic. Rather than one mail being distributed to many recipients, each mail is now being personalised to the recipient in an attempt to fool the simple spam blockers. Spammers are now able to distribute these emails in massive volumes, both in textual and graphical format – the latter including one or two pixel changes which are unique to each email, again in an attempt to elude capture.

What this means is quite simply that the less sophisticated means of combating the issue are no longer viable in any sense, and that businesses are being forced now take a more considered approach to how best to reclaim email.

The solution

Fortunately there are a number of strategies that an organisation can employ against these threats, including both hardware and software, which purport to combat the problems. However, the downfall with both solutions is that each requires at least a degree of user intervention or management in order to be effective.

A third option exists, which is to utilise a specialist managed service in order to manage the issue. Email managed services offer a number of key benefits. Most importantly, a managed service operates outside the office network, acting as an effective barrier to allowing spam or viruses through to the company servers, whilst also ensuring that users do not need to manage or update the service with virus definitions.

Also, as email is managed externally, managed services eliminate the problem of wasted bandwidth due to downloading spam and viruses, effectively providing additional resources within the user organisation at no extra cost.

Leading-edge managed service providers deliver added functionality, such as “zero hour” protection from the initial seconds of a spam or virus outbreak, protection against denial of service or attacks intended to acquire named recipients at the company, powerful rules engines, 24 hour customer service support and visual reporting mechanisms.

Looking ahead

With such massive changes occurring in a short space of time, it has become critical to ensure that the problem of spam is kept in check, if only to continue to use email as an effective communications medium. With such in-depth knowledge now available, it is all but essential to outsource the problem to a specialist, to ensure your business is not affected, even if you are targeted by an attack.

    Northgate Information Solutions works with businesses including the Law Society of Scotland and legal firms to help them achieve optimum performance through the intelligent use of IT, from offices in Linlithgow and Glasgow. For further information about their email managed service please contact Chris Beardsley on 01506 841 704 or chris.beardsley@northgate-is.comwww.northgate-is.com/managedservices