In its latest version of Exchange, Microsoft has really tried to up the ante on safety and security. However, in the real world, spam, viruses and other email security threats are still a constant concern for enterprises using Exchange. As email security threats only continue to grow—consider the fact that U.S. companies will lose about $38 billion to cybercrime in just one year—more companies are realizing that third-party security measures are now a must-have.
By incorporating the right spam filter, your company can rest assured because employees still benefit from the advances of Microsoft Exchange, without inheriting the risks that incomplete email security may expose them to. Here, we take a look at four of the key features of the best spam filter for Exchange needs:
1. IP address reputation monitoring
New spam and virus threats emerge all the time, so it’s important that your email security tracks malicious email senders and updates a list of their IP addresses in real-time, 24 hours a day. This way your email users are protected from even the newest malicious senders. In addition to tracking known spammers, pattern-detection technology is a leading way to identify malicious messages—particularly dangerous zombie and botnet attacks that originate from clusters of computers and IP addresses working together.
2. Anti-spoofing technology
Spoofing has become a significant threat to enterprise organizations, as identity theft and other similar schemes can cause irreparable damage to a company’s reputation and bottom line. Most email security providers include protection from spoofing, but it’s important to find a solution that creates layers of anti-spoofing security.
Look for a system with both Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) signature checking within its email processing engine. The ideal solution will give IT administrators full control over how to apply SPF and DKIM checks to your organization’s email security approach.
3. Proven virus protection
Similar to the way in which spammer IP addresses must be tracked 24 hours a day, viruses need constant vigilance as well. Your best bet is an email security solution that includes real-time, 24-hour monitoring of new virus signatures to protect your company from each threat, even as they emerge. The system should inspect both the email body and attachment of a message, using email pattern detection technology to identify any new virus schemes that don’t yet have virus signatures in place.
4. Flexible user email communities
Many email security solutions protect users from unauthorized senders with a strict all-or-nothing whitelisting or blacklisting approach. Unfortunately, this leads to a lot of false positives, where the system identifies a message as spam, but it is actually mail that the user needs.
To avoid time-consuming and costly false positives, look for an email security solution that provides each user a bit of flexibility through self-managing email communities. With this technique, any new sender receives a simple auto-reply message that invites them to join a user’s email community. Once they join, all messages will be automatically delivered to the user. In addition, if the user sends an outbound message to a coworker, client or friend, that email address is automatically added to the email community.
These simple techniques help ensure that the user receives all pertinent messages, while also providing protection from malicious emails and making email management a more streamlined process.
Microsoft Exchange is a vital part of your organization, but due to the rising tide of spam, viruses and other schemes, it’s also a source of risk. Your need layered protection that will only allow legitimate messages through, while also helping your enterprise to maximize productivity. To find out more about the best spam filter for Exchange, request a demo of Sendio today.