Email Security. How to counter the never ending spam threats?

Spams are as threatening to network security as viruses entering your systems via Internet browsers.  Most users get a spam email or two at least per day.  If the spam filters are set low, it can go up to 50 or more spams a day.  Companies deploy several solutions to address this but there’s always that little 5% gap that never seems to close.  New threats keep cropping up and the anti-spam solutions are constantly trying to keep up with them.  It is hard to stay ahead of them.

Understanding the various types of spams is as important as the solutions to counter them.

• Botnet – malware infected computers that can be controlled remotely by hackers
• Phishing – impersonation of emails
• Blended threats – Various types of spam along with technology that make it diffcult to detect or contain
• Social engineering – using some inside knowlege and making it appear credible
• Outbound spam – Internal systems being affected first and then the maltransforms odes in a botnet

Solutions to attack spams:

• Holistic protection – Looking for email viruses outside of phishing or botnet ,such as malware detection, anti-virus protection and a combination of solutions  
• Reputation Analysis – Checking IP addresses that come in often to people in the organization
• Content scanning – Using several attributes to check the content of emails which include html and structures
• Behavioral analysis – Checking patterns of requests coming in and looking for odd, anamolous behavior
• Bi-directional filtering – Filtering both in-bound and outbound traffic

Spams will never go away.  There is a profitable business for hackers, so they are here to stay.  The best way to prepare is by having comprehensive, adaptable technology and solutions as part of the security efforts year after year; and budget for them accordingly.