Implementation

1. What is involved in implementing Anti-Spam?

You will need to change your DNS records, so that the 'MX' (mail exchanger) record for your domain point's to the filtration systems server. After the change has been made, your email will be redirected through the anti spam filters before being delivered to your mail server.

 

2. What is an MX record?

The (MX) record identifies the location of a domain’s mail server. Much like a regular postal address, the record directs computers where to send email for a specific domain. Unfortunately, the record also informs spammers of the location of a domain’s mail server. By changing the MX record, your inbound email is redirected and filtered for spam and viruses and then delivered to your company’s mail server.

 

3. Is there any downtime necessary to implement the Anti-Spam service?

There is no downtime involved. The setup process is quick & easy, and will not affect or delay your inbound or outbound email.

 

4. How soon will we see results?

Normally within a few hours of the DNS change, and quite often in a few minutes of the change. In order for all of the inbound messages to be filtered, the changes to your domain's MX record must fully resolve through the Internet. The Time-To-Live (TTL) setting within your domain’s DNS specifies how quickly these changes take effect; TTL values can range from one hour to 24 hours or more.

 

Reliability and Server Back-Up

1. How reliable is it?

The network and software has been designed to handle boththe rapidly growing volume of email and the heavy loads that are common with SMTP traffic. With no single point of failure and guarantees a 99.999% uptime.

 

2. Are there delays in receiving messages?

No. Most messages are processed in less than one second. You will not notice any delays in the delivery of email.

 

3. What happens if our mail server goes down?

In the event that a customer's mail server is inaccessible, the system holds them in a message queue, and emails will be delivered once the mail server is back up. A timing algorithm is used to deliver those queued messages, ensuring that your mail server is not overloaded with the influx of inbound mail.

 

4. Can we access email while our organization’s mail server is down?

In addition to the queuing described above, a full-fledged backup mail service can be provided so that customers may rapidly access full inbound and outbound email communications in the event of a prolonged outage or other problem with their email server.

 

Security

1. How secure is the privacy of my e-mail?

The service does not affect your email's security. E-mail in itself is not secure. Email messages are sent in clear, unencrypted plain text format across many networks and often multiple mail servers before delivery at their destination. The anti-spam service only adds additional 'hop' on the Internet before email is delivered to a your mail server.

The Anti-Spam service does not back-up or make copies of email messages, except the temporarily queuing messages if customer’s mail server is down. Messages are not accessed by anybody other than the intended recipients, and the log files contain only message headers & NOT message contents.

 

2. Can we improve the security of our email?

Yes, Email encryption services can be provided via the StartTLS protocol, which means that email messages are transmitted in a secure, encrypted format rather than in plain text.

 

Spam Detection and Handling

1. What determines which messages are spam?

A wide range of tests are used to detect spam. These include traditional, commonly used approaches for spam detection such as  authenticity checks, header analysis, signature analysis, an artificial intelligence Bayesian engine. Databases of domain names and addresses used by spammers, and whitelists and blacklists. Katharion has also developed advanced, industry-leading techniques such as real-time message source analysis, graphics analysis, and user-based message profiling.

 

2. What happens to messages that are detected as spam?

There are several options for handling the spam messages. Junk messages can be.

1. Redirected to a hosted quarantine.

 2. Redirected to an alternative email address such as spam@yourcompany.com

3. Marked as spam in the subject line and delivered to the intended recipient.

4) Deleted.

These options can be configured globally as company-wide or at the end user level, and changed at any time.

 

3. What percentage of junk email is caught?

This rate varies by customer and is based on the email traffic patterns for a given domain, and the aggressiveness level set. (Customers can configure how aggressive the filter is set). On average, over 98% of junk email and 100% of email-borne viruses are blocked!

 

4. What are whitelists and blacklists?

Whitelists are rules that allow messages to be delivered. If you would like to guarantee that all messages from yourcustomer.com, for example, will not be flagged as spam regardless of what those messages contain, you can simply add that domain to your whitelist. Blacklists are rules that block messages based on the domain name or email address of the sender.
 

Virus Detection

1. Is this a substitute for our current anti-virus software?

NO, we do not recommend that customers eliminate their current virus protection, while over 90% of viruses are transmitted through email, viruses can be spread through means other than email. As viruses have become more common and more damaging, companies are increasingly adopting an additional layer of protection at their Internet gateway to provide an additional defense.

2. How often are the anti-virus definitions updated?

Anti-virus definitions are updated every five minutes. These updates help to protect you against fast-moving viruses that may not have been caught with an internal anti-virus solution.

3. How do we report un-caught spam?

 

Compatibility

1. Does it work with Microsoft Exchange?

Yes. the system works seamlessly with any mail server that you are using. As a managed service, it is compatible with widely used programs such as Microsoft Exchange, Novell's Groupwise, and Lotus Notes, or any other mail server software that you may be using.

 

2. What about Macintosh, Linux, or Unix environments?

Yes, as a service rather than a product, no software needs to be installed on your mail server or workstations. In this manner it works with any mail server, or email client, and/or any combination of operating systems.

 

3. If my company hosts email at an external provider, will it work?

Yes. Many companies use an externally hosted email server, in addition to or in lieu of an internal mail server. Anti-Spam works correctly regardless of where a company's mail server or servers are located.

 

Integration

1. Does the service integrate with our existing mail server?

No - Anti-Spam works without any changes to your existing mail infrastructure and without any integration. For ISPs and enterprise customers, we do recommend that user management and authentication functions be integrated to reduce the need for any ongoing management regardless of the number of end users.

 

2. What options for integration are provided?

Designed to integrate seamlessly, this ensures that email addresses, aliases, user preferences, and authentication information can be automatically synchronized with an organization’s internal system(s). In addition to integration via standard protocols such as LDAP and LDAPS, it also offers a web interface that allows for domain and user management.

 

3. Are there any extra charges for integration?

No. integration is a means to ensure ongoing ease of management for customers, and all features related to integration are included in the standard pricing for the service.
 

Billing

1. Are there any set-up fees or implementation costs?

No. As a managed service, there is no hardware or software to purchase and no setup fees. Simply, a per-user price, based on the number of users who are enrolled for filtering. To receive a price quote, please contact us online or via phone at 888-409-4678.

 

2. How is my organization billed?

As a subscription service. Customers generally are billed monthly, either by invoice or by credit card depending on the number of users. You may enroll month-to-month, or be eligible for a discount if the term is annual or longer.