I know that SPAM is a topic near and dear to everyone with email but here are some observations from our network experience.
We had been using straight Domino filtering on SMTP (blacklists, block names, block hosts, etc.) but this did not stop enough SPAM. Some content filtering was also done by a third party AV-Anti-SPAM product at the Domino SMTP servers.
We then purchased an Anti-SPAM device to be placed in front of our Domino SMTP boxes.
These worked well and noticeably dropped SPAM being received.
These have been in place for almost a year now and we are satisfied with their function.
The Domino and AV filtering are still in place and do catch some additional items - though not nearly as much as without the additional devices.
Through various methods the amount of “attempts” and “blocks” have been tracked (as well as the amount of messages allowed through).
For quite a few months the percentages were:
Total Attempts
SPAM - Virus
Allowed In
100%
78%
22%
When the Netsky-Mydoom virus contest was going on the number of viruses was particularly high, but when that person was arrested in Germany we saw a drop back to the levels above.
Recently, within the past 4-6 weeks the number of SPAM attempts has increased significantly.
Where before we had allowed in about 22% of all mail attempts we are now down to about 10% - on weekdays.
On weekends we allow in only about 2% of all mail attempts.
The real numbers of emails allowed in has been more or less constant, just the SPAM attempts have increased.
Is this a typical experience, or are we a SPAM target?
Is this all just due to the holiday season or will this continue?
What a sad state of affairs this is if more than 90% of internet traffic is junk.
Sorry for the rant and thanks for any opinions or comments offered.