New York Internet
offers customized email hosting services that allow you
or your business to conduct your email activity safely
and reliably. We have leveraged our collective expertise
to implement mission-critical fail-safe email system that
will allow your employees to check and send mail from
all over the world. Multiple platforms are supported by
our infrastructure.
NYI's Email service includes industry-leading features
such as:
virus protection
user-based authentication
advanced spam-identification tactics such as header and
text analysis
blacklist implementation
smtp throttling
extensive web mail capabilities
web-based email administration
New York Internet runs Qmail - the fastest growing MTA
- as its SMTP server. There are various reasons why Qmail
is the superior option. They include security, reliability,
simplicity, and fine performance.
Qmail works on practically any UNIX systems: AIX, *BSD,
HPUX, Irix, Linux, Solaris. Its security features include:
clear
separation between addresses, files, and programs
minimization
of setuid and root code
five-way trust partitioning--security in depth
optional logging of one-way message hashes, entire message
contents, etc.
According
to Dan Bernstein, the creator of Qmail, his program has
gained popularity in the Unix community because of its:
Security.
Qmail doesn't let intruders into your machine
Reliability. Qmail never loses mail.
Speed. Qmail delivers your mail much more quickly than
Sendmail, without compromising reliability.
Low memory use. Qmail can handle dozens of simultaneous
deliveries on an old 16MB 486.
User-controlled mailing lists.
Virtual hosts made easy. Qmail pioneered multiple-domain
support.
Straightforward administration. Qmail works with a minimum
of fuss.
Flexible program deliveries. Qmail provides a powerful
interface for external mail processors.
Variable Envelope Return Paths. This feature provides
100% automatic bounce handling for mailing lists of any
size.
Two general forms of authentication are available for
sending out mail: user-based authentication, which requires
users to check their mail before sending mail out, which
then essentially authenticates their IP, static or dynamic,
for a pre-defined amount of time. This method of authentication
is much more meaningful and secure than host-based authentication,
which allows mail to be sent through the mail server based
solely on a range of IPs that may or may not accurately
reflect legitimate users on the system. User-based authentication
dramatically cuts the abilities of different types of
espionage ranging from spamming through your server, to
sending out unauthorized emails on your behalf.
New York Internet uses Clam Antivirus, a powerful anti-virus
scanner for Unix. It supports AMaViS, compressed files,
uses the virus database from OpenAntivirus.org, and includes
a program for auto-updating. The scanner is multithreaded,
written in C, and POSIX compliant.
Your servers can enjoy the advanced features of throttling
via tarpitting is in respect to any users ability, legitimate
or otherwise, to overutilize the system to. Essentially,
it allows the mail server to pace itself in respect to
outgoing mail, not only making it less attractive to malicious
spammers, but allowing a higher level of reliability for
users all around. It is intended for large or high-volume
mail servers, especially ISPs, but is also suitable for
small/home servers where potential mail abuse exists.
Together with the TMDA technology, New York Internet offers
a number of filtering methods to combat spam. Once enabled,
they identify spam messages and tag them as spam. You
will still receive every message intended for your address,
but you will be able to easily set filters within your
email program to either move the suspected spam message
into a special folder, awaiting your scrutiny, or simply
move it to the trash.
Spam is uncovered using several methods. One of them is
header analysis, that spots messages where the spammers
try to mask their identities. Another one is text analysis,
that recognizes the typical spammers' style. The other
ones include support of public blacklists (mail-abuse.org,
ordb.org, etc.) and the spam-tracking database - Vipul's
Razor which works by taking a signature of spam messages.
From our tests, we have found our filters to be very effective,
recognizing over 92% of all incoming spam messages as
such. This rating is very high, and will be very effective
in helping you manage your mailbox. |
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Yahoo estimates that more than 40 percent of all e-mail
traffic is now made up of spam, and some industry experts
have expressed concerns that the levels may get so high
that e-mail becomes unusable as a communications tool.
At NYI, we have been feverishly testing different ways
to effectively win the war against SPAM hands down. We
have implemented complex filters, blacklists, Spamcop,
and antivirus scanners that search for key phrases, email
address, open relay servers, and other indicators of spam,
only to get even more frustrated with false postives as
well as Sams that are able to fish through our net. Now,
we can honestly state, that with the current SPAM technology
being utilized today (05/03), the spam war has been officially
won, and you can return to the days when an email was
an email.
TMDA is an OSI
certified software application designed to significantly
reduce the amount of SPAM/UCE (junk-mail) you receive.
As a SPAM filter, TMDA combines a "whitelist"
(for known/trusted senders), a "blacklist" (for
undesired senders), and a cryptographically enhanced confirmation
system (for unknown, but legitimate senders). TMDA strives
to be more effective, yet less time-consuming than traditional
filters.
TMDA also supports special-purpose addresses called "tagged
addresses" which increases the transparency of the
process for unknown senders by allowing them to safely
circumvent the whitelist.
TMDA is also a local mail delivery agent, with a flexible
filtering language that allows fine-grained control over
how incoming and outgoing mail is delivered and sent.
With TMDA, unrestricted access to your mailbox can no
longer be assumed, a premise which spammers rely heavily
upon.
The way TMDA thwarts incoming junk-mail is simple yet
extremely effective. You maintain a "whitelist"
of trusted contacts which are allowed directly into your
mailbox. Messages from unknown senders are held in a pending
queue until they respond to a one-time confirmation request
sent by TMDA. Once they respond to the confirmation, their
original message is deemed legitimate and is delivered
to you. TMDA then adds their address to your whitelist
so they won't have to confirm future messages.
This methodology has the advantage of being very selective
about what it allows in, while at the same time permitting
legitimate, but previously unknown senders to reach you.
TMDA's functionality is based upon the following assumptions
about the current Internet infrastructure:
You cannot keep your email address secret from spammers.
Content-based
filters can't distinguish spam from legitimate mail with
sufficient accuracy.
To maintain economies of scale, bulk-mailing is generally:
- an impersonal process where the recipient is not distinguished
- a one-way communication channel (from spammer to victim)
Spam
will not cease until it becomes prohibitively expensive
for spammers to operate.
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