Re: Outsourcing spam filtering and secuirty

["Roger A. Grimes" <rogerg () cox net>]

I'm not sure how to define widely, but it isn't rare.

One of the best I've ever used for spam and antivirus (there isn't any
product or company I've seen that beats them) is www.messagelabs.com.

Absolutely the best spam blocker and anti-virus blocker.

But anytime you hand over your MX record and processes (anti-spam,
anti-virus, etc.) you are tied to two things:

1.  Their functionality...what you see is what you get.  Want a new
feature....want to customize something...maybe you can maybe you can't.  Get
in line and wait.

2.  Have a problem...call their tech people....waiting....waiting...okay,
problem fixed a day later.

Not to mention the additional cost.

So, it's a trade off.  Pay extra money...but the service probably works
better than anything you can design.  But the trade off is you're limited in
what you can change or customize in the future (it's their app and service),
and if a problem comes up...you're a small fish in a pond.  But if they do
what you are looking for well...it's much less headache overall.

For example, I love www.messagelabs.com (nope, I'm not a paid
advertiser)....their service is pretty fantastic...best out there...but I
have to remember the other two problems listed above.

Roger

****************************************************************************
****
*Roger A. Grimes, Computer Security Consultant
*CPA, MCSE (NT/2000), CNE (3/4), A+
*email: rogerg () cox net
*cell: 757-615-3355
*Author of Malicious Mobile Code:  Virus Protection for Windows by O'Reilly
*http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/malmobcode
*Author of upcoming Honeypots for Windows (Apress)
****************************************************************************
*****

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tony Brisco" <tony_brisco () yahoo com>
To: <security-basics () securityfocus com>
Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2003 11:22 PM
Subject: Outsourcing spam filtering and secuirty


> Hi,
>
> Is trusting third party with the corporation's MX
> records for spam filtering purposes is widely used ?
> Accepted ?  And how secure ?
>
> I appreciate in advance your comments and suggestions.
>
> Tony Brisco
>
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Captus Networks 
Are you prepared for the next Sobig & Blaster? 
 - Instantly Stop DoS/DDoS Attacks, Worms & Port Scans 
 - Precisely Define and Implement Network Security 
 - Automatically Control P2P, IM and Spam Traffic 
FIND OUT NOW -  FREE Vulnerability Assessment Toolkit 
http://www.captusnetworks.com/ads/42.htm
----------------------------------------------------------------------------