Posted: 20th Aug, 2003 By: MarkJ
UK ISP Freedom2Surf has today announced the introduction of an open-source based anti-SPAM (junk e-mail) system, which can apparently block 80% of unsolicited bulk e-mail:
FREEDOM2SURF INTRODUCES OPEN SOURCE SPAM FILTERING
Freedom2Surf, (http://www.freedom2surf.net) the UK's leading independent ISP, has today announced that it has implemented a new spam filtering system. The solution has been developed in-house and is based on collaborative open source systems in an effort to prevent people from sending unsolicited bulk email to Freedom2Surf customers.
Freedom2Surf's filtering service rejects messages based on the IP addresses of known spam sources and is built around four global anti-spam systems. These include Spamhaus, which maintains a list of the world's top 200 spammers and detects their movement from ISP to ISP. Freedom2Surf has also integrated with the Open Relay Database and Monkeys, both organisations maintain databases allowing the company to block email sent from insecure Internet servers (Open Proxy's) which are mostly used to distribute spam and viruses. The fourth component of the system is SPEWS, which maintains a list of ISPs around the world that allow their networks to be used to distribute bulk emails.
The spam filtering service is free to Freedom2Surf customers as part of their dial-up and broadband packages. Freedom2Surf has tested the system with great results - more than 80 per cent of unsolicited bulk emails are currently being blocked on a daily basis.
"Freedom2Surf's spam filtering service rejects messages based on the known IP addresses of spam sources, meaning that the privacy of our customers is protected because private emails are not viewed or filtered," explains Chris Panayis, Managing Director of Freedom2Surf. "The service stops the most heavy spam abusers from getting through to people's inboxes, even the spammers that frequently hop from ISP to ISP to evade detection."
Panayis believes ISPs have an important role to play in the fight against spam. "The ISP industry has a responsibility to help protect their customers from being exposed to and having to deal with spam on a day-to-day basis. The system we've introduced has been relatively easy to develop and proven to be highly effective. We would urge other ISPs who have not already done so, to partner with anti-spam organisations to develop similar spam filtering systems."