IT News & Technology update

SpamAssasin and Traffic Control to Reduce Spam by 75 Percent

The open source anti-spam tool to become more efficient with Traffic Control
By: Bogdan Popa, Security and Search Engines Editor

SpamAssasin, a very popular open-source application which tries to block spam on the web, will become more powerful in the near future as the developers announced the integration of Traffic Control 3, a traffic-shaping solution, Network World revealed today. According to the same source, MailChannels, Traffic Control's parent company, said their technology is able to block nearly 75 percent of the spam for SpamAssasing users which is quite a high percentage considering the amount of unsolicited messages delivered these days on the web.

"Our technology is a software package that slows down spam from suspicious sources like spam bots. Our research shows that 90% of spammers will give up before delivering spam if the data rate of the connection is slowed down," Ken Simpson, CEO of MailChannels, stated according to Network World. "SpamAssassin supports hundreds of millions of users. But SpamAssassin is limited because it is just a content filter."

It seems like no less than 150,000 websites currently use the open-source SpamAssasin, so such an addition would be welcome by all of them. Moreover, numerous clients have already bought the paying version of Traffic Control - an alliance between the two anti-spam solutions should bring a new and powerful weapon in the fight against unwanted content.

Traffic Control is free and can be downloaded from our Linux section, using the following link. In case you encounter difficulties installing and configuring the application, you can use the installation guide written on the program page. In addition, you can also find the latest version of SpamAssasin, namely the 3.2.4 release, right here on Softpedia.

However, please note that "a license is required for sites that process more than 10,000 messages per day," as it is mentioned on the website. "If a valid license cannot be found, Traffic Control restricts the number of connections it will open with your mail server, limiting performance for high volume applications."

No Comment | Posted in » blocking spam, security, security element, spam  

I Have Just Won 800,000 Pounds

By: Bogdan Popa, Security and Search Engines Editor | softpedia.com

Yep, you've heard it correctly, I have just won 800,000 pounds at the UK lottery. You're probably curious why I'm so bored and what's the reason for not being excited about the amazing prize. Well, because it is only a stupid SPAM message that came into my inbox! I've seen too many of these in the past, so there's not something new.

But as far I can see,
it may be a new spam campaign targeting the Gmail accounts, because the message came into my Google account and managed to reach the inbox. Titled "Winning Notification", the message sent from a Hotmail account has all the characteristics of a spam message.

First of all, I never play at lottery. And don't ask me why, because the best answer would be probably "just because...". So, I can't have won such a prize. Secondly, there are too many typos and grammar mistakes in the email body that made me laugh when I first read it.

"We are pleased to inform you of the release of 26th Novermber 2007. result of the Mulit National Internet Lottery Int.promotion programs conducted in united kingdom . Your name attached to the ticket number 033-20737-750 with serial number 033-05 drew the lucky number which consequently won lottery in the 2nd category", the first paragraph of the email reads. "You are therefore been approved for a lump sum of £800,000.00", it continues...

The interesting fact is that it also contains pictures with past winners of the lottery, which are attached at the end of the email. In addition, it comes with a scanned signature, probably as an attempt to trick me in believing the email is not a fake.

So, what do I have to do to claim the prize? "To begin your claim, please contact your claim agent FIRM :MR SHANAH OF SHANAH AGENCY & CONSULTING(PTY) UNITED KINGDOM TEL.NUMBER +44 7x3 1x89x4x7 ."

Nice Christmas prank. Report Spam!

No Comment | Posted in » blocking spam, fake alert, spam  

SPAMfighter Standard 6.2.2

SPAMfighter Standard - if you are looking for a Outlook/Express tool to remove spam from your inbox, look no further. SPAMfighter is the tool you are looking for. Simple, reliable and efficient.

A lot of anti-spam products rely on filters and other rule based technologies, but spammers work every day to stay out of these filters. What works one day doesn't work the next. SPAMfighter Standard is an Outlook utility software that filters spam and phising attempts.

SPAMfighter works completely different. SPAMfighter is using the power of a very large community of people that instantly report if they receive a spam mail. When several people have reported the same spam mail, it's automatically filtered for the rest of the community.

In this way very few people in the community will ever see the spam mail. On top of that a lot of spam is filtered before it ever hits the community, but how we do that we will keep for our self, the spammers might be reading our site as well ;-)

So if you use SPAMfighter you will stop
receiving spam instantly and if you by chance get one, have the good feeling of reporting it and remove it from all other community member with one single click.

SPAMfighter is currently available in English, German, French, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, Swedish and Danish language.

SPAMfighter supports the following mail servers: ArGoSoft, CMailServer, CommuniGate, Courier, DynFX, GroupWise, IMail, Kerio, Domino, MDaemon, Merak, MERCUR, MS SMTP MAIL Service, Netscape Messaging Server, NTMail, Postfix, QMail, Sendmail, Winmail, Winroute, WorkgroupMail, XMail and more.

SPAMfighter Pro gives you: The right to use SPAMfighter in a company, No SPAMfighter footer, No commercial in emails, Premium support

Here are some key features:
· SPAMfighter Standard is 100% free for private use
· Award winning spam blocking technology
· Protects against "phishing", identity theft, and other email fraud
· Used by more than one million happy users around the World
· Protects all the email accounts on your PC
· Unique language filtering tool that empowers you to stop emails written in specific languages
· Unique picture filter that can recognize spam which is sent as a picture
· Automatic "real mail" protection - means no lost business mails!
· Blacklist domains and emails
· Spam Abuse Reporting with one click
· Automatic Whitelist management
· Privacy Guaranteed - we don't see any of your email
· Does not filter based on simple phrases or "trigger" words. Allows any content
· Language support: English, German, Spanish, Chinese, French, Italian, Greek, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Suomi, Russian, Bulgarian, Portuguese, Japanse and Danish

Requirements:
· Email client: Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express and Windows Mail
· Memory: 64 MB minimum
· Disk Space: 10 MB

Limitations:
· SPAMfighter Standard is 100% free for private use.

Developer: SPAMfighter
License: Freeware
Size / OS: 11.8 MB, Windows All
Last Updated: December 6th, 2007, 11:55 GMT
Download location: click here to download

No Comment | Posted in » blocking spam, download, freeware, security software, Software  

Blocking spam with Exchange Server 2003

Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 now has built-in Open Relay Filter (ORFilter) or DNS Blacklist and Realtime Blackhole List (DNSBL, RBL) capabilities, which releases us from the need to rely on 3rd party software for the spam filtering.

Update - Exchange Intelligent Message Filter

Microsoft Exchange Intelligent Message Filter is a product developed by Microsoft to help companies reduce the amount of unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE), or spam, received by users.

Intelligent Message Filter is based on Microsoft SmartScreen Technology from Microsoft Research. By using e-mail characteristics tracked by SmartScreen technology, Intelligent Message Filter can help determine whether each incoming e-mail message is likely to be spam. Based on this likelihood, you can choose to block e-mail messages at the gateway or at the mailbox store.

Note: The Intelligent Message Filter is not supported in a clustered environment. Therefore, Intelligent Message Filter updates are not offered to Exchange Server 2003 servers in a clustered environment.

No Comment | Posted in » blocking spam, exchange, Microsoft, Windows 2003 server