Spam Blocker Information

The Cybermagic of Whitelists


Before we start getting deep into the meat of this article it's important to explain some standard terminology to make sure the rest of this article makes sense.

  • An IP address is a number which identifies your location on the Internet.

  • A blacklist is a list of IP addresses which your antispam software uses to block incoming spam.

  • A whitelist is the exact opposite of a blacklist.

A whitelist is a predefined list of IP addresses that are allowed to send email to and receive email from each other. Blacklists exclude known and suspected spammers. Whitelists can be used to exclude everyone except known IP addresses. Think of it like this. A whitelist is a like having a phonebook which is owned by a small group of people who only wish to speak directly to each other. They don't want just anybody ringing them. Not only that but the entire group need to approve new phone numbers before they appear in this exclusive phonebook.

To send email to a whitelist you must be approved by the owner of the whitelist. This is a lot like the double optin systems used by legimiate ezines and mailing list owners. Whitelists are the nightclub bouncers of the virtual world - if you ain't on the list you ain't getting in. Simple but very effective.

A real world example of a whitelist would be if two companies wanted to exchange email only with each other. These companies could implement a whitelist that contained the IP address for just the two email servers that want to send email to each other. That would mean that any email coming from an IP address not on the whitelist would be returned to sender. For companies they can ensure that employees are only dealing with work related email and not chatting with their friends.

The benefits of whitelists are many but proper management of the whitelists is equally important. Misuse of whitelists will only lead to more headaches for everyone involved with missing email, irate customers and IT departments doing overtime just being the tip of the iceberg.

This article was provided courtesy of Spam-site.com which reviews and tests spam blockers for the business and end user.


MORE RESOURCES:

Earthlink and the devil's spam filter
Macworld, CA - Sep 3, 2008
by Christopher Breen, Macworld.com Earthlink’s spamBlocker is the tool of the devil if it’s not configured properly. Let’s suppose you’ve sent me a message ...


Duplicate email arrives once an hour for up to 96 hours
TechRepublic, KY - Aug 28, 2008
3) Watchguard Spamblocker - if it was the spam filter causing timeouts we'd see one or two duplicates...not NINETY-SIX. Having elimintated everything, I am ...


Pain Inflicted by a Slow Computer
eCoustics.com (press release) - Sep 3, 2008
For many people the idea of maintaining a computer consists of installing virus protection and maybe a spam blocker but the truth is this does not guarantee ...


Olympics and Intel Developer Forum
Macworld, CA - Aug 27, 2008
In the early part of the show, I don my cranky-pants to rail against Earthlink’s spamBlocker technology, which includes a Challenge and Response “feature. ...


Earthlink Cable Modem Service
BroadbandReports.com, NY - Aug 30, 2008
The installer program put a lot of junk on my system, such as a search toolbar, spam blocker, popup blocker, etc. I don't need any of those things so I ...


International Nepal Solidarity Network

COCAP press release
International Nepal Solidarity Network, Nepal - Aug 20, 2008
We use a spam blocker that filters comments with certain words. If you cannot post a comment, please send it to the webmaster. Also, comments with more than ...


RICHARD OSBORNE: E-mail, voice mail, cell phones make life easy ...
The Morning Journal, OH - Aug 10, 2008
Even with a "spam blocker" (now there's a term we can live without), for example, I would guesstimate that more than 75 percent of the e-mail I receive is ...

Spam-Blocker - Google News

home | site map
© 2006