In the world of digital marketing and email communication spam is always a problem. A recent case study showed us the importance of longer rule expiration values in spam detection systems. Let’s see how changing from 2 to 8 days made a big difference.
The Case Study
We saw a weird pattern with a spam rule set in late July. For almost 7.5 days there was almost no activity – only about 40 spam emails.
Then on the 8th day we saw a huge spike of over 4,000 spam emails in 9 hours!
Key Notes:
Delayed Attack: The spammer waited for an extended period before launching the big attack.
Volume: 4,150 transactions in 9 hours.
Timing: Just before the previous 2 day rule would have expired.
Why the 8-Day Rule Matters
This is why we extended our rule expiration from 2 to 8 days. If we were still on the 2 day rule this big spam attack would have gone undetected.
Spammer Tactics: This is a tactic spammers use. They keep effective spam patterns in their back pocket and wait for the right moment to strike. This allows them to potentially bypass shorter term detection rules and get the most out of their campaigns.
Takeaways
Monitoring: Longer rule expiration is key to catching delayed high volume attacks.
Adaptive: Spam detection tools must adapt to more patient and strategic spammers.
Data: Review spam patterns and timing regularly to gain insights to improve detection.
As data and email security professionals we must stay one step ahead of the spammers.
This case study is a reminder of the importance of long term adaptive spam detection. By extending our rule expiration we’ve made it much harder for spammers to hit us with big attacks.