Q1: What is Bug-Guard and what does it do?
Q2: Am I protected from email bourne viruses?
Q3: What is Postini Message Center?
Q4: Do you use any RBL black lists?
Q5: How much spam does the Bug-Guard system block?
Q6: What if I still get some spam in my inbox?
Q1. What is Bug-Guard and what does it do?
Bug-Guard is a multi-level system which has been developed to scan email and eliminate spam and virus activity. Currently the system has a 99.9% accuracy for blocking viruses and a 98% accuracy for blocking spam. The 98% accuracy can be improved at the customer level. See Level III below.
Bug-Guard Level I - guards the network and mailboxes externally using by eliminating contact from mailservers with a reputation for being exploited or sending spam. Because the majority of SPAM is stopped outside of the network it protects the network against the performance degradation that this could cause.
Bug-Guard Level II - identifies the user sending the email and puts them through streneous testing to insure that they are who they say they are via HyperConX proprietary HELO-VIO filters. Often spammers spoof their email address or pretend to be someone else. Over 90% of this spoofing is identified at this level and delivery is refused.
Bug-Guard Level III - accepts the message and passes it through logic testing via a proprietary ruleset developed by HyperConX International. This artificial intellegence embedded within SpamAssasin tests the headers, body and subject lines for strings and trends that are known to spammers and a prediction is made via a spam score.
Bug-Guard Level IV - allows users to add to the protections provided above. From the Domain Control web hosting panel, under the "Email Filters" section of the Email Menu, users can add filters that will block certain domains, users or keywords from sending them email.
Bug-Guard Level V - is the final level of Bug-Guard's interaction with the email in question. So far we have blocked exploited servers and senders trying to spoof the email message and its origin. We have utilized artificial intellegence, logic and SpamAssasin to score the email. Now lets put that score to work using the full features of our custom version of SpamAssasin. Within Domain Control under "Email Menu" > "SpamAssassin" you will find many configuration options for our extended version of SpamAssasin. In short you can configure your accounts to have as much or as little SPAM as you desire. We figure that each customer will have their own specific needs so we put the final touches into your hands. More on the various configuration sets will follow.-top-
Q2. What would you consider the optimal settings for Bug-Guard?
There are a few optimal sets which all depend on how you want to do business. In our experience the most effective set is comprised of the following:
Section #1 (Where do you want the spam to go?): Inbox (don't block it) - This will send the message through to your inbox. Don't panic as section #4 below will explain why.
Section #2 (What score threshold do you wish to use?): 3.9 - This has proven the best score with the least amount of SPAM getting through and the least amount of HAM getting caught in quarantine.
Section #3 (Would you like to delete high scoring spam?): Yes! Delete SPAM scoring a 15 or greater. We never want to see it and don't want to use our bandwidth downloading it. Just delete it. You may even find that a score of 10 will serve you better, but we will let you grow confident in the artificial intellegence and scoring system first.
Section #4 (Do you wish to rewrite the subject of a spam email?): Yes! Use the default of *****SPAM***** or similar. This will add the *****SPAM***** tag to the beginning of the subject line. As promised this is how you use this function. In Outlook or some similar email client software create a folder named Junk Mail if there isn't one already. Now use the Rules Wizard or similar function and create a rule to scan email as it arrives and detect whether it has *****SPAM***** in the subject line. Tell the rule to place this in the Junk Mail folder automatically. This will leave your inbox free of this spam and should you ever come to find that you are missing an email you can check the Junk Mail folder for the HAM (a false-positive) that was inaccurately detected as SPAM.
Section #5 (How should the spam be delivered?): Use attachments. By using attachements the *****SPAM***** message will come through with all of the information included as to why the message was considered SPAM and not HAM. The email will include the original message as an attachment. Should the original message turn out to be HAM simply drag the message over to your inbox and it will retain its original state where you can reply to it just as you would have in the first place.
Sections #6-7 (Blacklist and Whitelist): The black/white lists are an additional way of reducing the amount of SPAM that gets to you either in your inbox or tagged as *****SPAM*****. These lists are checked before the final Bug-Guard outcomes. This means that scores will be completely ignored and either the email will be completely deleted or delivered to your inbox without prejudice. To allow an entire domain to email you directly simply add *@thedomain.com to the whitelist. Add this same to the blacklist and nobody from that domain will be able to email you. You can also use a specific email address such as tom@thedomain.com in either. BE VERY CAREFUL adding large ISP domains such as aol.com, yahoo.com and gmail.com. A large amount of SPAM and HAM both originate from these ISP services. -top-
