[Gllug] [ADVERT] Messagelabs-like service: test sites sought

[Martin A. Brooks]

Hi

As some of you know, I've been doing an awful lot of work with anti-junk 
mail systems and I'm now getting close to the point where I am able to 
start a Messagelabs-like service for filtering mail.

I'm looking for people or companies who would be interested in trying 
out this service, initially there will be no fees whatsoever.

I realise that any of you considering this will have a number of 
questions, so I humbly present a metaFAQ to try to answer some of them 
in advance.  If you have any other questions, do feel free to get in touch.

Thanks

Martin A. Brooks

--------------------- METAFAQ -------------------------------------
Q. Will I have to make major changes to my mail system to try this?
A. It depends on your mail system, but almost certainly not.

Q. I want to try your service, but what happens if there's a problem?
A. Firstly, I eat my own dogfood.  Secondly you can have mail fall back 
to your regular mail server by having a lower priority MX record 
pointing at it.  Some spammers target the lowest priority MX host, 
though, so you'd also add a third lower priority host pointing back at 
the service again.

Q. Can you filter mail before I pick it up from my ISP?
A. No, the system works at the SMTP level, you must have control over 
your own MX records to be able to use the service.

Q. I don't want to delete any of my incoming mail!  Why would you 
service help me?
A. The service provides several different methods of getting rid of 
junk, not all of them involve rejecting (deleting) mail, greylisting for 
example.

Q. If I try the service but hate it, you'll make it difficult for me to 
get control of my mail back, right?
A. Wrong.  Your MX records are under your control, to stop using the 
service, just point your MX record back to your regular mail server.

Q. I don't want viruses filtered out.
A. Okay, no problem. This can be set per-domain.

Q. I don't want spam filtered out.
A. Okay, no problem. This can be set per-domain.

Q. I don't want my mail greylisted.
A. Okay, no problem. This can be set per-domain.

Q. (All of the above 3.)
A. There'd be little point you trying this service out, then :)

Q. I have multiple domains which all collapse onto the same mail server, 
can your system handle that?
A. Yes.

Q. Are there any limits on the number of users per domain?
A. No.

Q. How can I see how much spam and malware has been blocked?
A. You'll be able to view per-domain reports, updated every 15 minutes, 
depending on server load.

Q. Can I have access to the raw data used to make the reports?
A. Yes, but not in real time (yet).

Q. You would be able to read all my mail, why should I trust you?
A. Internet email has always been rightly likened to postcards - anyone 
who handles it in transit can read it. This service changes nothing 
there, with the exception of using encrypted mail sessions wherever 
possible.  If you have super secret stuff you don't want other people to 
be reading then you either don't send email via the public internet, or 
you route it over a VPN, or you use cryptography. This system in no way 
reduces your privacy.

Email processed is not stored once successfully delivered.  Certain 
aspects of each email are stored for the purposes of generating reports, 
this does not include the message body, nor any attachments.
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