Major New Version: MailShield Server

Now in its fourth generation, MailShield Server has two distinct feature sets: Pro 4.2 and Standard 4.0.

The Pro feature set is a database-backed anti-spam and anti-relay application that can record all SMTP transactions, and offers both administrator-level and end-user filtering controls. The Standard feature set is built on MailShield Server 3.2's platform, and adds new, more powerful spam protection.

MailShield Server 4.2 Pro is available for Windows, Linux and Solaris. MailShield Server 4.0 Standard is available for Windows and Solaris.

New Pro Features for Administrators

• Flexible Data Recording. MailShield Server's Pro feature set uses a SQL database that can record every SMTP session and email message that passes through your mail server. For those who log all inbound email, MailShield Server Pro provides a complete and searchable audit trail of messages received by your organization—troubleshooting inbound issues is a snap. At a glance, you'll see the number of incoming connections, the volume of email messages received, and the percentage of inbound mail flagged as spam.
  
  MailShield may also be set to selectively record data, or simply process and forward the mail it receives. Record all your email, just incoming, or have MailShield process and forward your mail—it's your choice.
  

  MailShield's SQL database is scalable for organizations of any size, and a nearly unlimited number of addresses may be protected and monitored. In addition, if mail is recorded, accidentally deleted or filtered emails may be redelivered to their intended recipients from the SQL database.

• Per-Recipient Address Handling. Administrators can specify how MailShield Server Pro handles inbound email to every recipient email address. Messages to valid addresses can be protected by MailShield's anti-spam filters, while messages to all others—for example, "dictionary attack" addresses that spammers make up—can be rejected outright. This reduces the load on your network and ensures that your mail server is available for legitimate mail.
  
  Per-recipient address handling also enables MailShield Server to "learn" what mail is undesirable, so less spam gets through to your protected recipients. Administrators may designate certain recipient addresses as "spamtraps," and use spam sent to those addresses to train MailShield's Bayesian analyzer. Recipients may review their message quarantine and report "false positives" to improve the accuracy of spam filtering.
  

• MailShield Clustering. Several MailShield servers may be configured as a cluster, providing fallback and scalability.
  

• Mailshell Spam Recognition System (MSRS). The previous version of MailShield Server included the popular SpamAssassin open-source filtering engine, and this latest release adds Mailshell Inc.'s widely lauded Spam Recognition System (MSRS) to MailShield Server's anti-spam arsenal. MSRS filters email using more than a million algorithms and rules, and then assigns a spam score to every message; messages that score above the administrator- or user-defined threshold are quarantined for further evaluation.

• Redesigned Administrator Web Interface. The Pro feature set includes a completely redesigned graphical user interface, for easier navigation and configuration of all of MailShield Server's features.

New Pro Features for End Users

• User Web Interface. The Pro feature set of MailShield Server gives your organization a greater level of flexibility than ever before: end-user anti-spam controls. The new password-protected Web interface allows individual users to manage their own spam filter without administrative assistance. After logging in, users can see how MailShield has handled their mail: accepted, flagged as spam, or quarantined for further review. If users identify quarantined messages that are in fact acceptable (i.e., "false positives"), they can instruct MailShield to complete the delivery process of that mail and add the address to their list of good senders with a single click.

• Individual Spam Settings. End users may customize the threshold at which their incoming mail is marked as spam, using the MSRS "spam score." Users can also configure MailShield Server to flag spam with a subject line prefix (e.g., "[spam]"); allow flagged mail to pass through to their inbox; or quarantine flagged mail within the MailShield interface.

• White and Black Lists. Users may designate "good" and "bad" senders, so email from valid contacts always gets through and that from known spammers is always flagged. MailShield can automatically add to its whitelist addresses the user sends mail to in order to ensure replies never get filtered.

MailShield Server 4.0 Standard is an anti-spam application for organizations that simply require incoming email to be blocked or passed through (i.e., that don't require data recording or end-user controls). It's available now for Windows and Solaris.

The Standard feature set builds on MailShield Server 3.2 by adding MailShell Inc.'s powerful Spam Recognition System (MSRS). MSRS filters email using more than one million algorithms and rules, and then assigns a spam score to every message; messages that score above the administrator-defined threshold may routed to the intended recipient (with an optional subject line prefix), discarded, redirected to another email address, or redirected to another mail server.