Johannesburg, 15 Jul 2003
Telkom Internet has come to the rescue of its customers terrified by virus-infested or unwanted e-mails through the introduction of free anti-virus and spam filtering tools to restrict their delivery.
The tools come in handy as Internet users the world over battle the spam mail pestilence, which includes chain letters, get-rich-quick schemes, win-a-return-international flight ticket or an all-expenses-paid trip to an overseas destination.
Telkom Internet operates a blocking system through qmail scanner, which provides plug-in anti-virus and anti-spam capabilities to the Telkom Internet mail system.
This is based on the Open-Source Clam virus scanner and the Open Anti-Virus database, with virus definitions being automatically updated every 12 hours from the global threat database, or manually at any time if a new threat is identified.
"Telkom Internet does not quarantine or attempt to disinfect any message found to have a viral payload. If the sender is identifiable, a non-delivery message detailing the reason will be returned. If the sender ID is false, the message will be suppressed," said Craig Medefindt, Product Specialist for Value-Added Services with Telkom Business Integration Services.
Telkom Internet started virus-filtering trials in November 2002, with initial tests stopping 35 000 viruses in the first two weeks. This increased to 90 000 in March 2003, and 124 000 in April.
In its bid to combat spam mail, Telkom Internet provides the user with methods of identifying and re-directing spam - a generic term for any unnecessary, unsolicited and irrelevant communications to e-mail addresses - using a filtering system called SpamAssassin.
The SpamAssassin filtering system checks the content of each message received using constantly updated spam identification rules which pinpoint features associated with spam mail.
The filter will assign a score to the message, with the default value for the spam set at level six. "If any message accumulates a spam filter score above six, it is 99% likely to be a spam message," said Medefindt.
Messages filtered in accordance with the rules set by the user will default into a spam folder, which you can access via the webmail interface. The messages will remain there for a period of 21 days after which they will be automatically deleted. These messages will never be downloaded to your inbox, though messages on your spam folder count as part of your message storage quota.
Myers said initial trials had shown that SpamAssassin was effective in stopping spam messages.
"After registering a new alias with about 20 `sign-here for info sites`, I got about 50 spam messages a day, of which I actually see one or two a week that make my inbox. And they are usually just one-line messages without enough content to detect properly," said Medefindt.
Medefindt said no action is taken on any message unless a user has specifically requested so, with available options including the addition of spam tags to subject lines, spam headers for automatic handling by another mail client, or to redirect spam mail to a spam folder on the mail server to prevent it from being downloaded on any connection.
Other features include the ability to alter the spam identifier threshold (ie change the sensitivity of the spam detector), the ability to set a white list (always receive message) or a black list (always mark as spam).
The white list is used to ensure that messages that may have been identified as spam are always received, while the black one makes certain that messages that the spam filter cannot detect are put into the user`s spam folder.
Spam filtering is currently disabled on users` mail accounts, and can only be activated by logging on to the spam preferences link located on the top right of Telkom Internet webmail site http://webmail.telkomsa.net.
Users with e-mail addresses or login usernames @intekom.co.za can gain access to this service via: http://webmail.intekom.co.za.
Users requiring assistance in setting up this valuable tool should call its technical service centre on 08600 08700 for assistance.
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