Spam Protection Service

Want to know more? Then read on...

How will it affect me?
The filtering service assesses incoming email, identifies suspected Spam or Adult mail messages and holds them in a message store; email that passes these tests is delivered directly to your mailbox. Each day the CAlligate servers will send you a Digest of all held Spam and Adult mails addressed to you. You can then select from this digest any emails you wish to receive.

What do I need to do then?
Read your daily digest, and follow the Message Retrieval Instructions... that's all.

How long is mail held?
Any mail that is not requested from a Digest is deleted from the system after 21 days.

How does it work?
The filtering service uses advanced pattern matching and adaptive heuristics to perform numerous tests on each message for telltale "spam signatures". These tests calculate a Spam or Adult "probability factor" score which is then used in addition to the pattern matching techniques to identify unsolicited messages.

As well as this the service also records or "fingerprints" all known spam addresses and the IP addresses of the sending servers and uses these "fingerprints" to slow down connections from these addresses.

Whitelisting
The service is self learning but can also be taught. Initially you may find that some messages are identified as spam when in fact they are not. Often messages from Lists or friends that use "colourful language" can be incorrectly categorised however this is simple to put right. All you need to do when replying to a Digest is to tell the service that this is a trusted sender and then all future mail from that sender will be passed directly to your mailbox. This means you can "white list" a sender if you always want to receive mail from them regardless of the content. The service maintains individual "whitelists" for each user so is very configurable.

Do I have to wait until someone sends me a mail message before I can whitelist an address?
No, you can send a message with the
Subject Line: allow::someone@somewhere.com
addressed to: request@digest2.cali.co.uk (or request@digest3.cali.co.uk, depending on your domain settings)
You will be sent a confirmation message, and once you reply to it the address someone@somewhere.com will be added to your whitelist.

Alternatively we can issue you with a "secret whitelisting word". If you send an email to everyone in your address list with this secret whitelisting word in the title, and ask them to reply to the message without changing the title, they will automatically get added to your whitelist when you receive the reply.

How good is the service at assessing Spam and Adult mail?
In our trials we have found that this service is stopping over 95% of unsolicited mail which in turn saves you time and bandwidth.

Can I request a Digest?
Although Digests will be sent daily, you can also request them at any time by sending an email, with the
Subject Line: Send Digest
addressed to: request@digest2.cali.co.uk (or request@digest3.cali.co.uk, depending on your domain settings) You might find it helpful to set up this address in your Address book.

Do I have to have my mail filtered?
No, this is an optional service, and your mail will only be filtered if you decide to subscribe to the service.

Can I subscribe to the service for only one or two of my mailboxes, or do I have to have the filter working for all my mailboxes?
You can choose which mailboxes you want the service to run on. By default we'll apply the service to all of your mailboxes. If you later decide that you don't want a particular mailbox filtered, simply tell us and we will remove it from that mailbox.

My domain has around 80 mailboxes. What will it cost me for this service?
The cost is £36 + VAT per annum, regardless of the number of mailboxes in your domain.

I have two domains that are aliased together. How much will it cost me to join the service?
It will cost £36 + VAT per annum for each domain name.

Example of a Daily Spam Digest email: