Spam Filter Services

The week of April 14th, 2008 saw a flood of spam phishing emails cascade into the inboxes of students at Louisiana State University. This electronic attempt to fraudulently acquire private information through the guise of legitimacy claimed to be originating from Hancock Bank. With the address online@hancockbankq.com, the sender assumed the identity of the financial institution. The email requested its recipients to participate in a survey with the potential of receiving a $500 prize. Its authenticity was strengthened by providing a link to access the survey which leads to the home page of Hancockbankq.com. The bank confirmed the spam phishing attacks and warned its clients that their emails always include the full name of the recipient and never request personal information. Regardless, many were duped into providing their full name, address, Social Security number, credit card security code and PIN. This threat can be significantly mitigated with the implementation of an enterprise-class anti-SPAM firewall such as the Barracuda Spam Firewall, the leading anti-spam appliances manufactured by Barracuda networks or through the use of a hosted anti-spam email protection service.While officials have cited the attack as spam, it remains to be determined how the spammer accessed the university’s email database. Companies can protect their email from spam by blocking junk mail using Perimetec’s hosted Barracuda anti-spam mail protection service. Experts caution against using university email addresses on Facebook or MySpace and suggest that doing so may increase users’ vulnerability and decrease their spam control. Perimetec Solutions, in collaboration with Barracuda Networks, provides corporate networks with Email and Internet security products and services they need by eliminating phishing attacks, data theft and viruses at affordable prices.