ASSP - Anti Spam SMTP Proxy Hosting

A very effective built-in spam protection system called ASSP is located in your web hosting control panel and can be turned on or off at the click of the mouse.

ASSP is often termed the most powerful spam protection system available in the industry, and for good reason. The ASSP control panel interface provides a variety of modules that allows you to pick and choose the types of filters you wish to enable for every single one of your hosted domain names! A good number of modules are included, such as RBL, HELO, PTR, and MX/A filters

At the same time, ASSP requires very little configuration; you do not need to continually update it with details of your email accounts, mailing list memberships, etc. ASSP does this for you when you go about your daily email routines!

You can use this spam filter in conjunction with any other anti-spam tool you already use at your computer, if you wish. However, if you're like most users, you'll find that this is entire unnecessary. With ASSP alone, you'll find the amount of spam you receive in your inbox reduced by 90%

The Problem

More than half of email messages transmitted on the Internet today are spam, whilst analysts predict that spam will account for 70 percent of all emails by April 2004

Lost Productivity

A Gartner survey in 2002 revealed that staff were already spending an average of 49 minutes per day (10% of their time) managing their email. Further, the IT department is increasingly occupied supporting users with spam issues and dealing with the fallout from virus infections, rather than working on productive projects.

Wasted Bandwidth

Downloading unwanted email costs money in telephone and data transfer charges. The bandwidth consumed means your Internet connection runs slower, destroying the efficiency of your entire operation as commerce becomes ever more reliant on Internet applications. European commission figures put the cost of spam to European businesses in connection charges alone at £6.4bn per year.

Pornographic Emails

A significant proportion of unsolicited email messages contain pornographic content causing distress to the recipient and creating dangers for younger users. Additionally, a number of employees have already successfully sued their employers for failing to provide adequate protection from pornographic emails.

Fraud & Identify Theft

Emails using social engineering techniques and spoofed web sites to dupe the reader into disclosing confidential information such as online banking access details, addresses and credit card numbers are a growing trend. There is also the infamous Nigerian 419 scam in which a deposed African dictator offers a cut of millions of dollars for your help transferring it from a secret account in Africa to yours. People were stung for an estimated £8.4 million last year in the UK alone through advanced fee and other forms of online fraud.

Email Bourne Viruses

The convergence of virus and spam technology means that the problem will only get worse. Recent virus attacks such as the Sobig and Klez worms have brought corporate email systems to a halt, clogged inboxes with useless mails, cost industry billions in clean up costs and have the potential to inflict terminal damage on today's online businesses.

The Solution

ASSP is the result of hundreds of hours of research and development, a unique product utilising advanced technology to rid your inbox of irritating spam and harmful viruses. You no longer have to download and filter junk messages, saving your time and bandwidth.

ASSP operates on our powerful mail server cluster, every email destined for your mailbox is scanned and checked by a number of different processes at the point of entry into our network.

Heuristics Engine

Thousands of tests check the message headers and content for tell tale signs of spam. The originating mail server and senders address are verified to prevent spoofing. We proactively monitor and adapt the tests used by ASSP to any new techniques the spammers employ.

Bayesian Probability Algorithms

Bayesian algorithms are used to build up a database of the characteristics of unwanted mail and the characteristics of legitimate mail. The database can then be consulted to determine the likelihood of any particular message being spam. Furthermore, through continually analysing messages the database is actively updated as the nature of spam changes, creating a form of self evolving intelligence.

Checksum Databases

Any message has a unique checksum, as users report unsolicited mail messages, their checksums are added to a database. Several collaborative checksum databases are consulted to ascertain whether the message concerned matches one previously identified as spam by another Internet user.

Real Time Blackhole Lists

Several real time blackhole lists (RBLs) are maintained on the Internet which catalog known sources of spam. ASSP checks for the presence of the originating mail servers in any of these lists.

Virus Scanner

All our hosting accounts include virus scanning as standard, a feature which operates in unison with ASSP. Virus definitions are checked for and updated automatically ensuring that you are protected against threats as they emerge. The virus scanner is capable of detecting all known virus types, including polymorphic or self-encrypting viruses, it is even capable of scanning the contents of compressed archives such as zip and rar files ensuring that no virus bearing email can make it to your inbox.

Each positive test assigns a weighted score to the incoming message. The final score is used to determine whether or not the message is spam.

Reliability

This scoring system combined with the quantity and diversity of tests performed means that unlike most competing products, the likelihood of ASSP incorrectly identifying a message as spam is negligible and makes it nigh on impossible for spammers and virus writers to craft their messages to bypass the filters

Flexibility

You have complete control over the handling of any mail identified as spam. Choose from the following options:

Reject

Return the message to the sender with an informative message detailing why their message was rejected.

Tag

Add headers or text to the message subject enabling you to filter all unwanted email into a specified folder using rules in your email program.

Quarantine

Send it to a mailbox you specify in which you can view and verify suspect messages or archive them should they be required in the future.

Configurable

From the moment you activate ASSP on your mailbox you can expect to see all virus bearing mail and upwards of 99% of unsolicited mail eradicated from your inbox. However you can tune the sensitivity of ASSP as well as add addresses and domains to your block and allow lists to create a perfect solution tailored to your needs.