Out of Office Assistant Replacement

D

dextr3k

Gawd
Joined
Aug 3, 2004
Messages
550
Hey, thought I'd ask around here.

My office currently has Out of Office assistant disabled, because there were security issues, enabling it increased our spam mail because all the mailboxes were autoreplying to spam, and thus confirming the authenticity of the email account. It is only enabled for the internal mails, and nothing external.

However, a year into this (we told everyone before, but....who reads emails from IT eh?) people started to want to use this option again, but since it was disabled, there were complaints.

So now the higher ups want to enable it again, or at least a comparable service/software. I have been tasked with finding alternatives and/or work-arounds for the spam. So I wanted to start here, anyone know of something that might help? Thanks!
 
We are running an Exchange server. So we are just using the spam filter that came along with that, along with the Outlook junk mail filter. So some spam do get thru, and just get sent into the junk folder.
 
It's probably time to look into a third party spam filtering solution, Barracudas are inexpensive and a good entry level device. The only thing is the yearly subscriptions if you want it kept up to date.
 
Right now its not a problem with the filter. It has been brought up, but the consensus was that, we are getting hit with 10k+ spams a day, we don't want to increase that amount. For now the spam filter is working as intended, so there is no reason to look into a 3rd party software.

So I'm kinda bound, I need a software solution that does what Out of Office assistant does, because I can't push for a spam filter.
 
The spam filter "works fine"- yet you have too much spam coming in that OOA repsonds to?
OOA is doing EXACTLY what it's intended to do. Heck- any other product out there would do exactly what OOA is doing right now. The problem is not OOA.

The problem is your spam.

Look into untangle (http://untangle.com). It's free. You can configure it like I do: transparent bridge mode means no router reconfigurations- you simply plop it in place and go. It's amazing it's actually free as well- only cost is getting an older computer to run it on.
The BEAUTY of it is that all the end-users have access to all their own spam quarantines, can manage all their own spam... No more bugging IT to release some emails.

I used to get tons of spam that IMF wouldn't touch- not just the text or HTML based- but the image ones. Untangle killed all of it (even the image-based) instantly.
Right now, I'm sitting at 4% clean and pass rate. That's how much spam we get. I take it down for even an HOUR and folks complain about the amount of spam getting through.
The majority of spam Untangle blocks is using its database of known bad IPs, URLs, etc, so it drops it right off the bat. The smaller majority (for me, probably 15% or so) it actually has to analyze.

The other good thing: It stops spam before it ever hits your server. Which means your server can stay busy doing other things than just filtering spam all day.
 
pigster said:
The problem seems to be poor spam filtering, not the Out of Office assistant. Improve the filtering and it'll work fine. Try Vamsoft's ORF http://www.vamsoft.com
Click to expand...

Do you use this software? I'm looking for good spam filters for a few clients, their pricing is nice.

And does it require redirecting anything?
 
k1pp3r said:
Do you use this software? I'm looking for good spam filters for a few clients, their pricing is nice.

And does it require redirecting anything?
Click to expand...

Been using it for a couple of years now. Works very well, installs as a SMTP sink, so it sees the spam before Exchange does. Extremely easy to setup and use, and the logging lets you see what you're blocking.
 
isn't the problem essentially that regardless of how much spam they get, it's still getting to the exchange server before being filtered? don't you need to block the spam before it gets to exchange? just a thought. i'm not sure how exchange handles that.
 
Right now, its apparent that we don't actually trust the spam filter fully. We don't just plop it in and let it loose. We actually filter out all the spam to another public folder. And we assign some people, be it receptionist or someone with free time, to just skim through the spam to make sure that nothing important gets missed, as we do get a lot of legitimate mass emails because we deal with big events and what not.

I will bring up the subject of a more powerful spam filter at the next meeting, however its not my decision to make. So with that out of the way, is there another system/software solution that will offer what OOA does, but with more rules and filter/customization?
 
dextr3k said:
I will bring up the subject of a more powerful spam filter at the next meeting, however its not my decision to make. So with that out of the way, is there another system/software solution that will offer what OOA does, but with more rules and filter/customization?
Click to expand...

Thats really a waste of manpower, why pay someone to sort through the emails that a spam filter can, let that person do something more productive

And you can get your out of office back
 
dextr3k said:
I will bring up the subject of a more powerful spam filter at the next meeting, however its not my decision to make. So with that out of the way, is there another system/software solution that will offer what OOA does, but with more rules and filter/customization?
Click to expand...

Specific examples? What rules are you talking about?
OOA by default doesn't keep sending the same response to the same people, either- which is great. Other stuff you usually have to manually set rules to prevent loopholes.

I highly suggest Untangle though. I have mine on a P3 with 1GB of RAM (FREE one I found laying in a closet- dont even need a monitor aside from initial install as it can be web-configured), and it runs great.
 
dextr3k said:
We are running an Exchange server. So we are just using the spam filter that came along with that, along with the Outlook junk mail filter. So some spam do get thru, and just get sent into the junk folder.
Click to expand...

You aren't really answering the question. Assuming you are using IMF, how have you set it up? Are you using connection filtering with an RBL or two? Did you make the registry changes so you get the IMF updates independent of when you do your server updates? Are you using some kind of tool like IMF Archive Manager to monitor what is being filtered?

You aren't giving a clear answer as to the size of your environment, and no doubt, the ultimate solution will be somewhat dependent on the size of your user base. Pigster & TechieSooner are both right.. Out of Office assistant isn't your problem.

Since it sounds like your superiors won't invest in the proper technology to deal with the problem, I'd suggest putting ClarkConnect in front of your Exchange server. I am doing this for a few non-profit clients, and ClarkConnect combined with IMF (when it is properly configured by someone who knows what they are doing) is a very effective combo. Set CC to passthrough and it will scan for viruses, spam, etc. It will also scan those messages with the spam embedded in graphic files.
 
mps said:
Set CC to passthrough and it will scan for viruses, spam, etc. It will also scan those messages with the spam embedded in graphic files.
Click to expand...

Untangle does same things for FREE ;)

I'm a huge advocate for it- I have found NOTHING better- even the commercial products. It's just amazing it's free.
 
Not to argue with you TechieSooner, but you are incorrect about the cost of CC. The community edition of CC is free, and that is all you need for passthrough spam/virus protection for Exchange. Like Untangle, you only really need to pay for CC for certain specific features like multiWAN or managed IPSec. This would not be one of them.

I've tried Untange & wasn't all that impressed. I just felt CC was better, and it didn't give me anything I wasn't already getting with CC. Just a personal preference, nothing more. Regardless, I think that between the both of us, we have given the OP a few things to consider.
 
Sorry, the reason I'm not AS specific as I want to be with my answers about spam filter is that I'm actually not too sure myself. I know we are running a FireBox firewall, not sure if it does spam as well. I would need to check more.

As for legitmate mass emails, I am in the non-profit sector, so we do a lot of mass emails for events and announcements to gov't and private sector contacts, both going out and coming in. As for the spam person, its just when the receptionist has free time, she will sift through the spam, its actually not a high priority.

Our user base is about 150 people/computers, and a locally hosted Exchange server. I guess I should know more about my own network eh? Seems like a more powerful spam filter would be the way to go in this case. I was considering a rules set where the OOA would respond ONLY to inbox, and not everything its hit with, aka junk mail box.
 
dextr3k said:
Sorry, the reason I'm not AS specific as I want to be with my answers about spam filter is that I'm actually not too sure myself. I know we are running a FireBox firewall, not sure if it does spam as well. I would need to check more.

As for legitmate mass emails, I am in the non-profit sector, so we do a lot of mass emails for events and announcements to gov't and private sector contacts, both going out and coming in. As for the spam person, its just when the receptionist has free time, she will sift through the spam, its actually not a high priority.

Our user base is about 150 people/computers, and a locally hosted Exchange server. I guess I should know more about my own network eh? Seems like a more powerful spam filter would be the way to go in this case. I was considering a rules set where the OOA would respond ONLY to inbox, and not everything its hit with, aka junk mail box.
Click to expand...

Dude, I don't want to burst your bubble, but you really need to get a better grip on your network. It is going to be really hard for you to get a handle on this problem if you don't even know the specifics of your infrastructure. A number of people have responded to your questions, but we can't give you decent suggestions when you can't give us specifics.

Firebox units do have spam capability, but you need to purchase it separately. I'd be willing to bet you don't have it.
 
I thank everyone for the help. I do know I need to learn more about my network, but specific circumstances made me in charge of the research even though I'm not the one that set up the network. So I know what exists and what doesnt exist, but not the specifics of what we are using. I will look deeper into what we are using as our spam filter =)
 
OK then, after diving around in my network, I take back my words.

We are running GFI MailEssentials spam filter. After reading up on it, they claim to be the #1 anti-spam filter, hehehe. So we have anti-phishing, custom and DNS blacklists, Bayesian Analysis, the whole works. I ran the monitor for a bit and it seems to be accurate. So far the monitor has 496k mail processed in the past 2 weeks.

Of course Outlook has its own little builtin filter too, and I have noticed some spam do slip through. So in order to not increase spam amount, OOA needs to be configured so that it somehow only replies to inbox, and not junk mail, is that possible?
 
Is the filter sending the mail to the junk folder or to a general quarantine folder?
 
Its deleting all mail that is being sent to users that do not exist. For users that do exist, its sending to a general quaratine folder for review, as mentioned before.
 
mps said:
I'd suggest putting ClarkConnect in front of your Exchange server. I am doing this for a few non-profit clients, and ClarkConnect combined with IMF (when it is properly configured by someone who knows what they are doing) is a very effective combo. Set CC to passthrough and it will scan for viruses, spam, etc. It will also scan those messages with the spam embedded in graphic files.
Click to expand...

Hey, do you have any links on configuring CC for pass through or transparent bridge mode? I'm playing around with it now, would like to see how it compares to Astaro and Untangle in the office here . . .
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top