A hosted spam filtering service is a cloud-based service – rather than a hardware device or on-premises software installation – that is available on demand and that has minimal maintenance overheads. Many businesses prefer to use hosted spam filtering services because of their flexibility and scalability, and because they allow businesses to retain control over spam filtering policies without capital expense.
Although hardware and software spam filtering solutions are still available, a cloud-based hosted spam filtering service is a natural progression to the costly and high maintenance overheads of the two alternatives. It is much simpler and more cost-effective to connect to a service provider via the cloud than install, maintain, and update hardware and software solutions.
Furthermore, as the filtering process takes place at the service provider´s data center rather than in the business´s infrastructure, the demand for CPU resources is reduced at the business end, and more filtering mechanisms can be incorporated into the process at the service provider´s end – resulting in more effective filtering without negatively affecting network performance.
How a Cloud-Based Spam Filtering Service Works
To connect to a cloud-based spam filtering service, all businesses have to do is subscribe to the service and then redirect their mail exchange (MX) record to the service. The process takes just a few minutes to set up and configure, after which software and filter updates are the responsibility of the service provider. All the business has to do is schedule reports to meet monitoring requirements.
Most cloud-based spam filtering services integrate with management directories such as Active Directory so existing email filtering policies are automatically applied. If new policies need to be created, or existing policies amended, this can be done via a user-friendly, web-based administration portal that manages all domains and departments from one place and eliminates the need for per-device agents.
From the single-view dashboard, administrators can whitelist approved senders and blacklist senders they want to block. Spam confidence levels can be applied by user, group, domain, or universally, and exceptions applied where necessary. Administrators can also monitor real-time activity on the mail server or order on demand quarantine reports as required.
The Benefits of a Hosted Spam Filtering Service
Other than the benefits already mentioned, a hosted spam filtering service provides flexibility and scalability. Businesses can subscribe to the service, and increase or decrease the number of users the service protects as the business expands or contracts. The scenario in which a business is locked into a service contract no longer applies, so it will save money by not paying for resources it is not using.
A hosted spam filtering service also enables a business to better protect its users and network from threats such as phishing, malware, and ransomware more effectively. This is because the nature of email-borne threats is constantly evolving, and businesses using a hosted spam filtering service are able to respond quicker to new threats than if they were relying on hardware or software solutions.
However, not all hosted spam filtering services are the same. It is recommended businesses take advantage of free trails wherever they are available in order to evaluate the benefits of the service in their own environments, and to ensure the service is low maintenance and easy to manage. For this reason, we would like to invite you to take a free trial of SpamTitan Cloud.
Your Invitation to Try SpamTitan Cloud for Free
SpamTitan Cloud is an industry leader in the delivery of a hosted spam filtering service for business. Our solution to combat spam, malware, and ransomware has been specifically designed with ease of use in mind, while maximizing the effectiveness of our service. Many of the features that will better protect your network run in the background, so all you have to decide is whether to want to maintain your existing email filtering policies, or use our user-friendly administration portal to create new ones.
To find out more about our hosted spam filtering service, do not hesitate to contact us. Our team of Sales technicians will be happy to discuss your current solutions for filtering email, answer any questions you have about SpamTitan Cloud and guide you through the registration process for starting your free trial today.