When Your Email Filter Fails to Deliver
Email filtering is not just a nice-to-have feature—it’s a critical component of any organization’s security infrastructure. With email-borne threats accounting for 80% of security breaches in the past year, the stakes couldn’t be higher.
One of our clients learned this lesson the hard way after migrating from an on-premise solution to a cloud-based system in 2022. Previously they had been using an on-premise Barracuda appliance with Cyren pre-filtering which worked fine for their email communications. But they wanted the benefits of cloud so they decided to migrate to Barracuda’s cloud offering.
What seemed like a simple upgrade turned into a daily headache. The migration required changing their MX record to point directly to Barracuda, effectively bypassing the Cyren pre-filtering they had been using. The result? A huge increase in manual work for their IT staff, spending 1-2 hours daily managing allow/block lists.
IP addresses play a big role in email security especially in spam detection methods like Greylisting. Spammers change their IP addresses frequently to evade filters so it’s essential for security tools to identify and block emails from unknown IP addresses to boost detection rates and prevent legitimate domains from getting blacklisted.
“Our team was spending more time managing email filters than on strategic IT projects. It was unsustainable.” – Client IT Director.
What is Email Filtering and Why Does It Matter
For those asking what is email filtering, it’s the process of sorting, prioritizing and organizing incoming emails while blocking unwanted messages like spam, phishing and malware. When done correctly it should operate in the background and require minimal human intervention. Email filtering ensures only legitimate emails reach the user’s mailbox and maintain the integrity and efficiency of email communication.
Unfortunately our client was experiencing the opposite. They were dealing with increased manual work and two major issues:
More spam was slipping through their defenses, failing to prevent spam effectively
Legitimate emails were being incorrectly blocked
According to recent research, commercial spam accounts for 37% of email threats, while scams represent another 32%. With these threats bypassing their filters, the client’s productivity and security were both compromised.
In an attempt to resolve these issues, they briefly implemented SonicWall as an alternative solution. While initially effective, it soon began blocking trusted emails, creating even more manual intervention requirements.
Advanced Email Security Features
In the ever evolving world of cyber threats advanced email security features are a must for protecting organizational communications. These features go beyond basic spam filtering to provide total protection against sophisticated attacks.
Advanced Threat Protection: Using machine learning and AI this feature identifies and neutralizes advanced threats like phishing, ransomware and zero-day exploits. It analyzes patterns and behavior to detect harmful messages before they hit the user’s mailbox.
Email Encryption: To protect sensitive information email encryption ensures only authorized recipients can access the content. This is critical for confidentiality and data breaches.
Data Loss Prevention (DLP): DLP tools monitor outbound email traffic to prevent accidental or intentional leakage of sensitive information. By setting rules and policies organizations can ensure critical data is secure.
Email Authentication: This feature verifies the authenticity of incoming emails reducing the risk of spoofing and phishing attacks. Techniques like SPF, DKIM and DMARC confirm emails are from legitimate sources.
Advanced Spam Filtering: Using AI and machine learning advanced spam filters can more accurately distinguish between legitimate emails and spam. This reduces the chance of spam emails cluttering the inbox and important communications being missed.
By integrating these advanced email security features organizations can boost their defenses against a wide range of cyber threats and have a safer and more efficient email environment.
How Data443’s Spam Filter Services Transformed Business Operations
After analyzing the client’s situation, we recognized that they needed a solution that would:
Reduce the manual workload associated with email management
Ensure legitimate emails reached their intended recipients
Effectively filter out spam and malicious content
Integrate smoothly with their existing email infrastructure
Additionally, outbound email filtering is crucial in preventing the delivery of potentially harmful messages from local users to outside organizations, thereby protecting sensitive information.
Our team at Data443 proposed two potential deployment options for our spam filter services:
Option 1: MX-Based Filtering (We Host)
This approach would require the client to point their MX record to Data443, allowing us to filter all emails before delivery. The solution included automated pricing and tagging, similar to their previous experience with Mail2World.
Option 2: In-House Deployment (They Host & Query Us)
With this option, the client would maintain their MX record pointing to Barracuda while running our engine locally and querying our systems for filtering decisions.
Email Filtering Techniques
Effective email filtering methods are crucial to protect against unwanted emails and cyber threats. These methods use various techniques to identify and block malicious content before it hits the user’s mailbox.
Bayesian Filtering: This method uses statistical methods and machine learning to analyze email content and determine the likelihood of it being spam. By learning from previous emails Bayesian filters can adapt and improve their accuracy over time.
Keyword Filtering: By scanning emails for specific keywords or phrases commonly associated with spam or malicious content, keyword filtering can block unwanted messages. This is simple but can be fine tuned to reduce false positives.
URL Filtering: This method examines the URLs within emails to identify links to known malicious websites. By blocking emails with suspicious URLs URL filtering prevents phishing attacks and malware spread.
Attachment Filtering: By analyzing email attachments for potentially harmful content attachment filtering can block emails with malicious files. This is critical to prevent ransomware and other malware infections.
Behavioral Analysis: This advanced method monitors the behavior of emails and their senders to detect anomalies that may indicate a cyber threat. By understanding normal email traffic patterns behavioral analysis can identify and block unusual or suspicious activity.
These email filtering methods when used together provide a robust defense against spam emails and cyber threats and ensures only legitimate communications reach the user’s mailbox.
The Power of MX-Based Email Filtering for Enterprise Security
After evaluating both options the client chose our MX-based email filtering solution where we would host and manage their email flow. This was based on several factors:
Fully managed service would eliminate daily manual intervention
Our advanced filtering algorithms would provide better protection against spam
Automated tagging would simplify email processing
Our solution’s accuracy would prevent legitimate emails from being blocked
What does an email filter do in a modern business environment? When properly implemented, it should intelligently separate legitimate communications from unwanted or dangerous messages while requiring minimal human oversight. Our MX-based solution achieves this through a multi-layered approach to email security.
Secure Email Gateway and Email Filters
A Secure Email Gateway (SEG) is a vital component of any comprehensive email security strategy. Positioned between the internet and the mail server, an SEG filters out unwanted emails and protects against cyber threats before they can reach the user’s mailbox.
SEG Features: A Secure Email Gateway offers a range of advanced security features, including:
- Advanced Threat Protection: Detects and blocks sophisticated threats like phishing and ransomware.
- Email Encryption: Protects sensitive information in transit.
- Data Loss Prevention: Monitors outbound email traffic to prevent data leakage.
- Email Authentication: Verifies incoming emails to prevent spoofing and phishing.
- Advanced Spam Filtering: Uses AI and machine learning to block spam emails.
Choosing the Right Email and Outbound Email Filtering Solution for Your Business
Selecting an email filtering solution requires understanding your organization’s specific needs and challenges. For our client, the primary concerns were reducing manual workload and improving filtering accuracy.
The implementation process was straightforward:
The client updated their MX records to point to Data443’s servers
Our team configured the filtering parameters based on their requirements
We established automated tagging and categorization rules
The system was tested to ensure proper delivery of legitimate emails
Within days of implementation, the client began experiencing significant benefits from our solution.
Implementing an Email Security Solution to Stop Phishing Attacks
The results of implementing our email security solution were immediate and substantial:
Less manual intervention: IT staff gained 1-2 hours daily they previously spent on email filtering
More productivity: With fewer email filtering issues to address the team could focus on strategic initiatives
Improved security: Our advanced filtering blocked more spam and malicious content
Smooth email flow: Legitimate emails delivered without being blockedAutomated processes: The tagging and categorization system streamlined email management
Automation: The tagging and categorization system made email management easy
“Data443’s solution has changed our email security. We’ve got our time back and better protection.” – Client IT Director
Email Security in the Future
With 80% of organizations experiencing at least 2 email related security breaches per year, having the right email filter is more critical than ever. Our client’s journey shows how the right solution can not only improve security but also get back time and resources.
By using Data443’s MX-based email filtering solution the client got the perfect balance of security and efficiency. Their experience proves that with the right partner organizations can overcome email security challenges without sacrificing productivity.
If your organization is struggling with similar email filtering challenges contact Data443 today to learn how our solutions can help you get better security with less effort.
Want to learn more about how Data443 can optimize your email security? Contact our team today for a personalized consultation.