Setting up an effective anti-spam system on your exchange server is not just something you do for the sake of it. There is a real business need to be addressed by implementing this type of security. Spam is a multi-faceted problem and has the potential to cost your business a great deal of money. However, having effective anti-spam solutions installed on your Exchange server will not just save you money, but it can also help you make money. How? Read on to find out.
1. Bandwidth
There is no denying that, as time goes by, you can encounter considerable spam. As the volume increases, so do your bandwidth requirements. Depending on your system configuration, there are a number of ways that anti-spam solutions can save you bandwidth. For example, if you route emails between your offices, dropping spam will have an immediate and quantifiable effect. Even when saving bandwidth is not directly possible, technologies like greylisting can make the spammer believe the email address used is invalid, thus reducing the amount of spam you receive as attackers move off to find new targets.
Another way in which an effective anti-spam solution for your exchange server can save you bandwidth is by preventing users from running malware that is contained in spam emails. These attacks are intended to hijack your system and make it part of the spammer’s botnet. If this happens, your bandwidth usage will spike as a result of your system sending out spam on behalf of the attacker.
2. Productivity
Exposing your users to an unrestricted deluge of spam can be very costly. The time it takes for them to sift through lots of spam to find their legitimate emails can absorb large amounts of company time. In addition, it also increases frustration levels that results in a loss of productivity.
3. Unnecessary downtime
There are various degrees of spam. Some spam tries to entice you to buy stuff, while others push you to follow a malicious link or install malware. With no anti-spam protection installed on your system, you are taking the risk that one of your users might fall victim to one of these attacks. When this happens you could find your network infected with malware, and this will require downtime while the administrator cleans up the infection. Obviously, downtimes are always very costly in terms of lost productivity and lost man-hours.
4. Loss of confidential information:
Somewhat similar to the unnecessary downtime above, a loss of confidential information is something you can expect if any of your users install email-borne malware. Such malware can have a variety of purposes. One common use is to steal confidential information. This can be accomplished by the malware listening in and stealing credentials as they are used on your network, or even by providing a backdoor that an attacker can use to gain access to your network.
5. Loss of confidence / customers:
Having a badly configured or ineffective anti-spam system can be just as bad as having no anti-spam protection at all. If your anti-spam system is prone to false positives, your users might fail to receive business critical emails. Senders of those emails will quickly lose confidence in your organization, feeling ignored and not realising that the problem is that their emails are simply not getting through.
Having a properly set up anti-spam system is essential for any business. Having no anti-spam functionality protecting your exchange server, or even having a bad one, can cost your business a lot of money, as well as result in a loss of customer trust. Taking the time to set up a proper and effective solution can indeed be very cost effective and provide your organization with a huge return on investment (ROI).
This guest post was provided by Emmanuel Carabott on behalf of GFI Software Ltd. GFI is a leading software developer that provides a single source for network administrators to address their network security, content security and messaging needs. Learn more about the benefits of using email anti-spam for Exchange Server.
All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
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