Home
    
Spam Manager


Spam Manager 1.5 - FREE Email Utility

Free Challenge-Response based anti-spam tool for Notes Mail files

The Spam Manager for Notes is a Notes mail-file based anti-spam product. The tool is open design and uses several methods to detect spam, described below. The benefits of this anti-spam product are that;
  • It's FREE!
  • It first uses a series of checks to filter most spam (i.e. sender details, keywords, salutations etc). Email passing these checks is then handled using a challenge-response mechanism.
  • Users do not need to see email from unauthenticated internet addresses unless the sender has correctly replied to the 'challenge' email, which instantly removes almost all spam (as spam is usually sent from automated mailers).
  • Only native Notes is used in the product, and you can view the source code.
  • The Spam Manager consists of 8 design elements, which are small in size and can be installed into any Notes mail file (R6+).

Description

Email received from an internet address that is not in the users 'Allowed Senders' White List is delivered to the mail file and kept in a 'Possible Spam' folder. If the email passes a series of checks (see below), the sender is automatically (and immediately) sent a 'challenge' email with a random alphanumeric string, requesting that they reply with the first 3 characters of the string in the subject line. The user does not know this is happening. If the sender is using an invalid email address and the challenge email cannot be sent, the 'Non Delivery Report' will be suppressed.

If confirmation is not received from the sender after a configurable amount of time, the initial mail is deleted.

If confirmation is received from the sender, the challenge string is compared to that sent. If they match, the sender is automatically added to the White List, and the previously delivered mail is displayed unread (the user can set an option on how to handle the response email). If the challenge string does not match the response, the user can also configure what to do.

At any stage the user can select multiple existing emails and mark the senders as spam, or as valid. In this case they are added to the relevant lists.

At any stage the user can manually edit their White, Black and Grey lists, and other options (e.g. how long to keep unconfirmed mail).


Drawbacks

The only drawbacks we are aware of with this anti-spam method are;
  • If a user joins an automated mail list, they have to remember to include the sending email address in their White List, or check their Possible Spam folder.
  • In the situation where two people who have never sent email to each other before both have a challenge-response type anti-spam product, the user needs to view their Possible Spam folder occasionally to check there are no valid emails there. This problem can also be alleviated by the user choosing to add all internet addresses that they SEND to, to their White List, so that a reply is handled correctly.

Process

When mail is sent to a user using the Spam Manager, a "Before Mail Arrives' agent checks the senders address (any user defined mail rules will still work). If the email is from an internet address;
  • If the sender is in the White list of allowed senders, the email is delivered as normal.
  • If the sender is in the Black list of denied senders, the email is not delivered to the user, but deleted by the router before delivery.
  • If there is no record of the sender, the mail is stored (hidden) in the mail file and undergoes a series of checks. These are;

    - if the sender has a valid address.
    - if the senders domain matches the recipients domain and the sender is locatable in all available Directories.
    - if the senders address matches a 'Do No Challenge' address specified by the user, e.g. 'mailer-daemon'.
    - if the same address is used for the sender and recipient.
    - if the senders address matches the SMTPOriginator address.
    - if the Subject or Body contain one of the 'Do Not Challenge Words' specified by the user, e.g. 'cialis'. This also checks for numbers as vowels, e.g. 'cial1s'
    - if the Body contains one of the 'Do Not Challenge Start Words' specified by the user within the first x words, e.g. 'hi', 'hello', 'dear' etc. This check is performed because you would expect mail from an unknown source to begin with a greeting/salutation, but spam often doesn't.

    If the email passes these checks, a 'challenge email' is sent to the sender to confirm their email to the user. The subject and body of this email are configurable (see below). The challenge email contains a random 6 character alphanumeric string and the sender is asked to include the first 3 characters of this in the subject of their reply. The sender is added to the Grey (pending) List. If the sender is using an invalid email address and the challenge email cannot be sent, the product will suppress the 'Non Delivery Report' generated.

  • If the sender is already in the Grey List, the email is compared with the challenge string sent;

  • If the strings match, the sender is added to the White (allowed) List, moving them from the Grey List, and any pending messages are moved into the Inbox, All Documents and Mail Threads views as unread.
               OR
  • If the strings are a partial match, the user can configure what to do with it (treat as OK, treat as spam, or show the response for manual processing).
               OR
  • If the strings do not match or are non-existent, the email is added to the Possible Spam folder.

User Options

By using Actions, Spam Manager - Edit Profile, the user can;
  • Enable or Disable the Spam Manager.
  • Set text for their challenge email.
  • Edit their White, Black and Grey Lists.
  • Choose what email to challenge.
  • Choose how to handle response email.
  • Choose to automatically add all internet addresses that they SEND to to their White List.
  • Add all existing Internet addresses in their Mail File to their White List.
  • Add all existing Internet addresses in their Personal Address Book to their White List.
  • Choose to add possible spam to the 'Possible Spam' folder, so it is visible until being confirmed.
  • Configure how long to keep unconfirmed mail.

Finally, a scheduled agent deletes all non-confirmed & spam mail after x days as set in users profile.


Design Elements Required

Agents
SpamManager - Process Spam
SpamManager - Edit Profile
SpamManager - Mark As Valid
SpamManager - Mark As Spam
SpamManager - Spam Delete

Forms
(SpamRTCProfile)

Views
(SpamManagerHidden)

Folders
Possible Spam

"If you’re looking to stop Spam in its tracks, look no further. Spam Manager is simply the ‘best of breed’ challenge-response utility available for Notes. No other product, commercial or otherwise, comes close to delivering the rich feature set of Spam Manager. My compliments to IONET for developing such a simple, yet robust utility. - Dawson Rodriguez Jr., Executive VP & CIO, FDLIC, Abilene, TX USA.

"We had Spam Manager implemented within 15 minutes in our test mail file. Very easy to implement and very easy to use. Can easily be applied to virtually any of the mail templates or files. I have instantly eliminated 100% of spam to my mail box and by using the button to add addresses of existing senders in my mail file to the white list, people who I had already received mail from did not even have to respond to a challenge email. What more can you want in a free product" - Jonathan Thomsen, Director, Bill Buddy PTY Ltd, Queensland, Australia.

"Your program is marvellous." - Gary Ashford, CEO, EMSpec, Saratoga, USA.

Valid HTML 4.01 Transitional