What is MailArmory?

MailArmory filters and blocks both unsolicited email (spam) and email viruses, with future support for filtering attachments and content. It aggressively filters up to 99.7% of all spam, as well as known email viruses, destined for your email box. MailArmory can save you time and your company money by eliminating spam and protecting your computer from email viruses, which typically take up large amounts of system and human resources.

What is spam?

Also known as Unsolicited Commercial or Bulk Email (UCE or UBE), spam is a word adopted by the Internet community to describe mass-message postings via email, which can take the form of announcements or advertisements. If you didn't ask for it, didn't sign up on a mailing list related to it or didn't leave your email address on a web form asking for more information about it, it's probably spam. This method of advertising costs the sender very little yet consumes time and resources for both Internet Service Providers and their customers. It has been estimated that last year spam potentially cost American companies $8.9 billion in lost productivity, bandwidth consumption, technical support and other technical resources [Ferris Research, 2003].

What is a virus?

A virus is a disguised or hidden piece of programming code that is installed on a computer without the owner's knowledge. Viruses usually cause unexpected, undesirable or even destructive events to the receiver's computer. Viruses can display messages, cause programs to act in unexpected ways, delete or alter files, change system or boot records in ways that require costly repairs or even find sensitive information and send it back to the creator of the virus. The most common ways a virus can gain access to a computer are as an email attachment, as a download, on removable media such as disks or through vulnerable services. Nowadays almost all viruses have the capacity for replication and propagation. This in most often seen with email viruses that send copies of themselves to all entries in the email address book from an infected computer.

Why should I get MailArmory?

Email filtering can virtually eliminate the frustration of dealing with junk mail and email viruses, letting you concentrate on what is relevant in your mailbox. Large companies can actually see a great cost savings when filtering spam before they receive or process mail from the world.

What is the process for setting up MailArmory for my domain?

After you have decided to sign up for MailArmory one of our sales representatives will ask you for a little information about your domain as well as a few questions to allow us to create the initial configuration. Once we have configured MailArmory to accept mail for your domain and you have made any configuration customizations you will need to have your DNS records changed to point mail to our servers.

It is that easy.

How do I sign up?

Follow the steps on our Services page or call us at 1-866-MAILARMORY (1-866-624-5276) and talk to one of our sales representatives.

How does MailArmory stop spam?

MailArmory is a group of servers that act similar to an incoming mail proxy to receive, score and filter messages based on user and administrator configurable settings before either delivering the clean messages on to the customer mail server or holding the messages in the MailArmory Captured Mail system. When a message is received the entire message is processed by a complex set of analysis tools to determine how much each message looks like spam and is assigned a score accordingly. Some attributes of a message contribute towards a positive MailArmory score, while other contribute towards a negative, calculated into a final score for the message. Based on how the individual user has configured their MailArmory settings, the score a message receives will determine how that message is processed.

How does MailArmory stop viruses?

If you have virus filtering enabled, every message that comes through the MailArmory servers is matched against an extensive and constantly updated database of known viruses. If a message is flagged as a virus it is blocked and stored in our Captured Mail system. Since MailArmory only has access to scan for viruses propagated via email it is recommended you maintain anti-virus software on your local machine as well.

What is the Captured Mailbox?

The Captured Mailbox is a separate holding area on the MailArmory system that contains all messages that have been filtered from normal mail. The Captured Mailbox can be accessed by logging into the MailArmory web site.

The Captured Mailbox interface shows details on each message - including information stating why the message was blocked, the score it received, as well as the sender, subject, and date for each message. The user can also choose to view the contents of a message in the Captured Mailbox to determine if they are wanted. If by some chance a message is legitimate, the user can choose to release the message, which will simply deliver it to their regular inbox. If the message is legitimate AND all mail from that particular sender should be accepted in the future, the user can also choose to always accept the message. This will cause the message to be moved to their regular inbox and will also add that email address to their personal accept list. Lastly, they can choose to "trash" the message, which will move it into the Trash folder where it will be auto-deleted after 2 days or it can be deleted manually. If nothing is done with the Captured Mail, messages will automatically be moved to the Trash folder after a period of time determined by the user.

How can I utilize MailArmory for my domain or group of domains?

MailArmory is an excellent choice to filter any domain in the world no matter where the domain is hosted or where the mail is served. Just fill out the form on the Services page with information about your domain and how mail is handled. Someone will contact you within 24 business hours to help you complete the configuration.

Is there a way for me to manage a large number of domains easily?

Yes. MailArmory allows one or more administrators to manage multiple domains. An administrator only needs one login to handle all domains for a given site. Other administrators may also be added. An administrator must have an email address that the MailArmory system recognizes as a deliverable mailbox where it can retrieve a password.

Can I check to see how much unwanted email is being filtered?

Yes. All users and administrators have access to statistics based on the scope of their access. Users have access to total volume and percentages related to messages received, captured and delivered for their address. Administrators in addition have access to a list of billable and none billable addresses that have received messages plus a summary for each domain they control. The captured mail interface also gives a summary of this information for a quick understanding of how effective MailArmory has been.

What configuration is available?

MailArmory was designed to allow for extensive user and administrator configuration control. Users have the ability to decide individually whether or not to filter for spam or viruses, filter aggression, how long to store messages in the Captured Mailbox, and are able to maintain personal accept and reject lists. Administrators have the ability to configure the authorization method, address resolution, final destination server, and accept and reject lists for the entire domain. The administrator can also override the settings for the domain users, can access the individual accounts and can assign additional administrators. Together this allows administrators and users to have nearly full control over all aspects of their accounts.