Everyone knows what spam is, and everyone hates it. Having spam in one’s personal mailbox is a big problem on its own, exposing you to a variety of dangers. The issues that spam brings include wasting time that you could have used for more productive things, spent instead on checking them out and then deleting and reporting them. Even though many email providers have made this process very simple and intuitive, if you have to deal with spam on a daily basis, try to calculate how much time you have lost that could have been better used. Apart from that, you could be at risk of malicious software that could do serious harm to your computer. In the worst case scenario, you could fall victim to identity theft and have money stolen from you.
The dangers posed by spam to a business are very similar to what an individual faces, but on a more advanced level and on a much bigger scale. Having spam in a business mailbox is a much more serious problem that definitely requires the intervention of professionals. If a business leaves spam for its employees to deal with by themselves, then the amount of time that will be wasted by all the employees on a day-to-day basis will be much more serious. Also, due to the fact that a company’s computers will likely be connected to some kind of local network, the installation of malicious software by a single employee could result in disastrous consequences for the entire company. Highly confidential information could be stolen, ransomware could be installed, and a variety of other destructive things could be inflicted on the company.
Several laws around the world protect people from unsolicited emails, especially when such emails contain harmful software or are fraudulent in nature. However, that has not stopped the flow of spam emails from locations around the world. With that in mind, it is easy to understand why businesses have been sourcing in-house solutions that they can utilise in order to prevent spam emails from arriving in the mailboxes of their employees.
How Anti-Spam Companies Work
When you hire an anti-spam company to take charge of removing spam from your business’s emails, the first thing they do is connect your email services to their server. In today’s world, it would be very cumbersome and unnecessary for anyone to begin installing software on the computer systems of every single employee, especially if you have a fairly large company. Instead they connect all the computer systems to a server where the necessary software will be installed and all configurations will be done to begin to take effect on individual computer systems around your company.
The software that will be installed will have been programmed with filtering details so that it recognises emails that contain any sort of virus or malware. These program definitions will have been input into the software and a quick scan of every incoming mail will be conducted to ensure that it is free of harmful software. Apart from blocking messages with viruses inside them, the company may also work with you to determine what a relevant email for your company looks like. This is in order to make it possible for emails that do not necessarily contain harmful software but are irrelevant to your business to be blocked. This will usually screen scam messages and the like.
The email that is blocked will not automatically be deleted, with the rationale being to avoid deleting any message that, while not necessarily relevant, might still contain useful information that ought not to be deleted outright. The blocked emails will usually be quarantined in a location on the server where they will be blocked from causing any harm, and where you or any of the employees that are assigned to the task will be able to sift through at some point in time to find if any message was blocked by mistake.
What to Look Out For
After making the decision that your business will benefit from having a professional solution to your spam problem, the next thing you will have to decide is exactly which company and software solution you want to implement.
The reputation and integrity of any company that you intend to contact are some of the fundamental considerations that you need to have at the back of your mind. The reason for this is that the reputation of the company will tell you whether all the promises and guarantees that it has made are being lived up to. You can check this online in several review websites. When it comes to integrity, this mostly concerns the data confidentiality policy of the company. Due to the fact that your company’s computer systems may be hooked up to their servers in order to facilitate the process of screening your emails, the content of your emails may be visible to them. Needless to say, you have to be completely certain of the company’s policy with regard to data confidentiality, especially if your business involves sensitive information.
Convenience is another thing that you want to have in any solution that you are implementing. Depending on the size of your company and the specifics of your contract with the company that is handling the spam solution, they might not be physically present to help you with the installation process. For this reason, it is important that whatever solution you are using can be installed by the IT department in your company, or by anyone else, if you don’t have one. The best solutions have very simple, intuitive installation processes.
Customer service is something that is essential with any product or service that you are purchasing. However, with something as important as the security of your business’s communications at stake, the importance is even heightened. Ensure that any company you hire has top-notch customer service channels.
