Applying Military Tactics to War on Spam

Written by Carl E. Reid on August 12, 2008

Consider your email infrastructure as a position which must deflect daily spammer assaults. As a tactical network commander, you must consider 3 fronts:

1. Insuring an email server only focuses its resources on SMTP related transactions. Under the guise of saving money, it’s a mistake to load add-in spam software. Placing this server on the inside of the fire wall greatly improves performance. Although MS Exchange and Lotus Domino software comes with some spam fighting tools, their strong functional purpose is being in the email routing business. So the email server should be configured solely to perform I/O housekeeping processes related to email send and receive. This keeps the end user complaint noise down to a whisper.

2. Convince management that funding must be allocated for a “dedicated” transparent SMTP proxy server. Placed outside the firewall, this creates a buffer zone between spammers and the email server. 3rd party add-in spam software, like GFI MailEssentials, should be loaded on this server. It is dedicated to fighting full frontal incoming spam assaults. It also scans and delivers outgoing mail more efficiently to the Internet.

This is easy to sell to your boss, if you help your boss present the benefits to senior management.

  • Allows for server resource load balancing
  • Provides an insurance policy leveraging dedicated spam fighting software
  • Eliminates public visibility of email server to prevent hacking
  • Dedicated spam software has more robust updating features that keep up with newest spam tricks
  • Lower maintenance costs with 2 servers performing dedicated functions.

3. Educating the email user community. This is the weakest fortification that constantly needs reinforcing. Spammers thrive on a steady diet of ignorance, when people receive spam emails. Consider sending out weekly bulletins about new types of spam emails circulating. Reiterate that old statement about not opening emails from unknown senders.

Let me know, if you need help writing that proposal to senior management for purchasing the proxy server.

About Carl E. Reid

Developing his career from the mail room to the board room, Carl E. Reid has achieved success by skillfully blending 40 years of technology and business intelligence experience with his passion for helping companies succeed. Carl is founder and CEO of NetTECH Systems Reid & Associates, Inc., an emerging technology consulting company located in the New York City area. One of his specialties is 15 years as a collaboration and email infrastructure consultant. He has implemented and supported Lotus Notes/Domino and other types of SMTP gateway/network configurations in small to large global companies up to 33,000 employees. Some of his clients have included IBM, Citi, JPMChase, Oxygen, LVMH - Moet Hennessy, MeadWestvaco, non-profits and professional organizations. Carl is a Savvy Business Owner, Public Speaker and Author. His articles have appeared in Network World, Computer Monthly magazines and hundreds of web sites. Combining business technology consulting with professional blogging, Carl specializes in advising clients how to best leverage the Internet as a tool for high impact visibility. Carl's speaking style combines humor with expertise, and his advice is always down-to-earth and practical. He personally publishes Library of Congress recognized newsletter blog, http://www.SavvyIntrapreneur.com and http://www.iTechSpeak.com. Carl wrote the original "Professional Blogger Job Description", being used as standard document within companies. As a business career coach, Carl teaches professionals how to run their career as a profitable business.
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