The explosion of electronic communications over the past few decades makes corporate spam filters a must for any email system. Business spam filters should accomplish just what their title suggests, which is to filter out any unneeded or potentially damaging email. However, if you don't know how to apply these filters, they will not work correctly. Even if your company outsources its email security, it's important to obtain spam filters education and training. Without a proper corporate spam filtering knowledge base, you're at the total mercy of the outsourcing company to protect your systems.

Spam blockers and filter training can come in several forms. There are the traditional online tutorials that can guide you through the basics. Should you or your company need more in-depth information, online courses can walk you through the process of setting up a spam filter. However, before you initiate this procedure, there a few items to consider:

1. Review the spam protection guides available online.

2. Enroll in anti-spam solutions training courses.

3. Examine the operating system-specific corporate spam filter information.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Evaluate the business email filters primers to understand the basics

As with any topic, understanding the basics will provide you with a good knowledge on which to build. Whether your company has web or local email, each has their own unique issues and it's prudent to understand how they work.

I recommend: Study the web-based filtering primer from Secure Server. Purchase the business spam filter guide compiled by Springerlink.

Take an online corporate spam protection course

Online courses can walk you through the entire process of setting up a spam filter. These courses feature information on how to maintain and update filters in the future. Online classes are probably the most efficient way to obtain spam filters education and training.

I recommend: Preview the managing spam filters training at Lynda to determine if you want to sign for the entire course. Contact the training professionals at Harker for information about their spam filtering management classes.

Choose the corporate spam filter that fits your company's technology

There is no single spam filter that'll work for every company. That's why you need to review each type available and match it with your company's operating system and email software. The more you know about each type of email spam filter, the better purchase or process decision you can make for the company.

I recommend: Assess the Linux spam filter guide if your company runs a Linux operating system on its server. Review the comprehensive construction and installation guide from Giga Monkeys. Should your company use Microsoft Outlook, you should examine the email filter guide from SpamBayes.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  You need to monitor the corporate spam blocking after installation because sometimes the filter will block legitimate emails. Don't simply install the filter and assume it'll work correctly or you may end up with lost or misplaced emails.

Spam, or unwanted email, is one of the biggest problems facing Internet users today. And the problem is often magnified at a small business where your Web site and email address may be public, or because you have employees who also are inundated with spam.

Though it's difficult to completely eliminate spam, you can dramatically lessen the amount of spam you receive in your inbox if you:

1. Carefully control how you give out your email address
2. Use junk mail controls already built into your email software
3. Install additional anti-spam tools from outside providers
4. Use common sense when providing your email address to outsiders or responding to offers

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Use the spam filter in your email application

Most popular email applications such as Outlook, Entourage and Eudora let you use a built-in spam filter to shunt unwanted email into a special 'junk' folder. Get familiar with your email application's spam filtering capabilities or install any of a number of third party products (below) that work with common email programs.

I recommend: Spamihilator works with almost every email client available. Spam Sieve works with many Macintosh email client applications.

Include anti-spam in your Internet security software

Don't stop with software that blocks viruses. Get a system that helps control spam as well.

I recommend: Internet security software for small business from Symantec covers all the bases, including anti-spam.

Use a server-based spam filtering service

Services that stop spam before it ever reaches your computer can be effective. These services include 'white lists' and 'black lists' to block senders and work with your existing email address.

I recommend: Spam Cop and Spam Arrest are both effective and well-regarded solutions, among others.

Surf anonymously

Never post your email address to forums, blogs, news groups or guest books unless it is absolutely necessary. If you must leave an email address, use a fake one or create an alternate email account that you can use just for this purpose.

I recommend: Services that provide 'disposable' or 'one time use' addresses that expire after a short period of time include Spam Gourmet and Trash Mail.

Don't open spam messages or attempt to unsubscribe from unknown lists

Images, attachments and offers to unsubscribe from mailing lists are common methods that spammers often use to verify that you have received their email and that your address is real.

I recommend: Simply delete any spam that you receive instead of opening it or trying to unsubscribe. Use these helpful spam tactics.

Disguise your email address on your Web site or email signature

Don't use the mailto link on your Web page(s). Instead use an image that displays your address without a link or conceal your address by removing the @ sign: myname(at)mydomain.com. Do the same with your email signature at the bottom of your email.

I recommend: Hide-email-script.com provides a free script for concealing your address in mailto links.

Change your email address

If you're already receiving tons of spam, retire your old address and create a new one. See the tips on choosing a new email address below. To guard against future spam, check with your mail service about filters or safe lists to 'whitelist' email senders of which you approve.

I recommend: Google's Gmail service has a nice tutorial on how to switch your email address.

Choose email addresses carefully

Avoid common or easy to guess user names such as webmaster@, info@, joe@, mary@, etc. Using your own unique domain name instead of common ones like Hotmail or Yahoo also helps.

I recommend: Find where to get a unique domain name at this list of inexpensive third party email account providers.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Avoid forwarding emails and 'urban legends' that specifically ask you to forward the message to other people.
• •  NEVER provide your login info when receiving emails that appear to come from financial institutions such as banks, credit card companies, eBay, PayPal, etc., that ask you for such information.
• •  If you want to fight back, you can report spam violators by sending a copy of the email with header info to: spam@uce.gov.

Everybody gets them, but no one really wants them. It's the junk email, or spam mail, that fills your Inbox. The choices in spam filters seem endless, so knowing what you need in a good spam filter is important. Spam filters are usually complex software that use things like filtering, spam scores, tokens and other tactics to stop that junk mail before it gets to your Inbox. Learn the spam filter key terms so you can use them to help you avoid unwanted emails.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Server side and client side

Server side refers to the web-based spam blocker software components, while client side is the individual's email system. Both are used to come up with key spam words to filter out junk or spam mail.

I recommend: Secure Server defines server- and client-side filtering through its extensive spam blocker explanation.

IP address

The IP address is basically each individual computer's calling card. Email can be traced to a physical computer through this number. Spammers often try to get around spam blocks by using different computers and IP addresses.

I recommend: SpamCop.net is a spam blocker with information related to IP addresses in their definition of their spam blocking system.

Filtering

Filtering is defined as a computerized sorting of emails. Potential spam mail is filtered out using several different methods, including spam scoring and token counts.

I recommend: Greencomputer Innovation, Ltd. defines filtering, with extensive explanation of what goes into flagging spam email.

Blocked list and allowed list

The blocked list, or black list, is simply a list of email addresses that are not allowed through the spam blocker to the end client. The allowed list, sometimes called the white list, is the list of email addresses a client has approved for all future emails.

I recommend: WiseGeek explains how spam filters work.

Tokens

A token is defined as a word or group of letters or numbers. Each email is made up of many tokens, which which the spam blocker examines. Tokens are compared to spam lists and used to determine if the email may be spam.

I recommend: The Ohio State University anti-spam service defines tokens and how they relate to anti-spam software.

Spam score

The spam score is made up of a number of factors a spam blocker looks for like talk of money, urgent matters and other popular spam phrases. Each phrase is designated by a point number and all points are added up to determine how likely the email is spam or junk.

I recommend: MailChimp gives several examples of spam score and how the scoring is broken down.