Keep unwanted mail away with Email filtering

Email filtering is the processing of e-mail to organize it, according to specified criteria. Most often this refers to the automatic processing of incoming messages, but the term also applies to the intervention of human Intelligence in addition to anti-spam techniques, and to outgoing emails as well as those being received.

Email filtering software takes emails as input. For its output, it might pass the message (though unchanged) for delivery to the user's mailbox, redirect the message for delivery elsewhere, or even throw the message away. Some mail filters are able to edit messages during processing.

Common uses for mail filters include removal of spam and of computer viruses. A less common use is to inspect outgoing e-mail at some companies to ensure that employees comply with appropriate laws. Users might also employ a mail filter to prioritize messages, and to sort them into folders based on subject matter or other criteria.

Advantages:

1. Defend against inbound threats

2. Prevent data leakage through emails

3. Encrypt sensitive information

4. Help in analyzing messaging infrastructure.


References: Wikipedia
Inputs from Gerry Tucker. Director- Sales, APAC Proofpoint systems

Say Good Bye to Data Leakage--

A recent survey of top security professionals carried out by a leading Consultancy firm revealed some scary but realistic statistics:

1 in 3 companies investigated a breach of confidential data last year.

1 in 4 companies experienced an “embarrassing” leak of confidential information.

1 in 5 emails contains a legal, financial or regulatory risk.

If you are like most corporations, you are finding yourself in the midst of an information explosion. Sensitive data is no longer controlled under lock and key in data centres or file cabinets. Sensitive data is everywhere. This data is an easy prey to leakage which will hamper the competitive advantage that you may have in the market.

This is where Data Leak Prevention (DLP) technology/products come to your rescue.

What is DLP?

DLP is nothing but the use of various techniques to prevent critical data from unnecessarily leaving the organization. DLP products can be defined as:

“Products that, based on central policies, identify, monitor, and protect data at rest, in motion, and in use, through deep content analysis.”

Some of the most common techniques used in these products to detect and prevent unauthorized extrusion of data are:

1. Rule bases/ Regular expressions

2. Database fingerprinting

3. Exact File Matching

4. Partial Document Matching

5. Statistical Analysis

6. Conceptual/Lexicon

7. Predefined Categorization.

What are the main features to look out for in a DLP solution?

In this day and age, it is impossible to expect your employees to be fully cognizant and ready to comply with all data protection compliance rules. Hence look for a DLP technology that can:

1. Protect sensitive data without slowing down your business or frustrating employees trying to do their job.

2. Meet data protection compliance guidelines through the ability to encrypt, redact, block or quarantine sensitive data before it damages your business.

3. Real time performance

4. Virtually zero false-positive rates.