We all know spam is a huge problem. One that small businesses need to address.
While spam can take many forms from news group postings to blog comments; most folks see the spam they receive through email as the worst.
I know government is fixing the problem as we speak; after all, CAN SPAM was enacted in 2005 and was supposed to correct all our issues. Not sure what the heck the government is getting involved with spam for but since it is doing such a fantastic job of riding the Internet of spam I guess our tax dollars are really paying big dividends.
For those of us in the real-world (everyone outside of Washington, DC), we still have to fight for our lives to keep our email servers from choking on the never-ending onslaught of spam.
While at the same time, trying not to lose important emails from vendors or customers!
So how bad is the problem?
Recent studies indicate that about 90% of ALL email traffic in the USA is spam (http://www.messagelabs.com/resources/press/49913)
Spam is not merely an inconvenience.
Most spam now a days comes laden with virus, malware and phishing attacks – this is NASTY stuff to say the least.
If you are like most small businesses you are running an Exchange server and probably addressing your spam issues using some type of anti-spam software running on your Exchange server.
Here are 5-reasons why this approach is costing you too much money.
- It bogs down your server. Back before we wizened up and got all anti-virus software off of our customers servers we constantly saw servers being brought to their knees trying to keep up with the processing power necessary to handle anti-spam checks.
- Spam clogs your bandwidth With most Internet traffic being email and most email being spam you don’t need an abacus to figure out that your Internet bandwidth is mostly spam.
- Anti-Spam hogs the rest of your bandwidth The process of checking email generates loads of traffic above and beyond what the original spam caused. Checking blacklists, doing reverse lookups, downloading new algorithms all chew up what is left of your bandwidth.
- When things go wrong you have to pay to get them fixed If you are running your own anti-virus software (even the free stuff which is pretty much worthless) I am sure you have had it hiccup and stop filtering email or prevent email from being delivered all together. Chances are you had to call your ‘IT guy’ to fix this and got a hefty bill in the process.
- Updates and ‘fine-tuning’ nickle-and-dime you To keep your anti-virus software running smoothly you have to continually renew it AND pay your ‘IT guy’ to fine tune it; add domains to the white list, block new threats as they arise, etc.
All in all, your anti-spam solution can be eating a hole in your pocket and you don’t even know it. This is a risky proposition at best.
Good Networking!
Eric Hobbs
Technology Associates
ehobbs@technologyassociates.net
919-459-0109 – Direct
Things to Think About…
- A Better Approach. Use a managed anti-spam service to knock out your spam. The costs are fixed and it completely avoids the problems noted above.
- The BEST approach Make your current IT vendor handle it! If they are a real managed services provider they will jump at the chance to correct this problem and save you money. Heck it is better for them to NOT have to monkey with your anti-spam application (unless they are a break-fix firm in which case they can’t wait until the next time it hiccups!)
- Want a quick fix? Be sure to check out the article 9 Things You Can Do To Significantly Reduce Spam, it is a quick read and highlights several easy things you can do to help cut down on the amount of spam you get.
