[c-nsp] OT: How do you fight spam in your enterprise? I needhelp

[Ted Mittelstaedt]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: cisco-nsp-bounces at puck.nether.net
> [mailto:cisco-nsp-bounces at puck.nether.net]On Behalf Of Pablo Almido
> Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2007 9:15 PM
> To: cisco-nsp at puck.nether.net
> Subject: Re: [c-nsp] OT: How do you fight spam in your enterprise? I
> needhelp
> 
> 
> You could buy appliances from Cisco  "Ironport". I heard that the
> largest ISP's in the world use it.

I don't believe that is true.  The largest e-mail handing ISP in
the world is AOL and I know they use a custom-written in-house
solution.  The top postmaster there has written and spoken many
times about anti-spam measures.

>From a cost standpoint for the largest ISP's it would be cheaper to
hire a programmer to write a spam solution than to pay a software
company the licensing fee for a commercial product.

The expensive commercial spamfiltering solutions only make sense
for mid-tier ISPs, that is, the ISPs that have networks too big
for a single admin to do everything, but are not large enough to
be capitalized to the extent that they can hire a programming team
to just chase spam.  They have enough money to pay a commercial
firm to do it, but not enough money to hire a warm body and
put them on staff to do it.

Keep in mind also that ISPs like AOL also file lawsuits - chasing
spammers is a profit center for them.  Thus the need for inhouse
staff for expert testimoney and working with law enforcement and
such.

Ted