Symantec Brightmail Antispam Architecture Overview - Symantec BRIGHTMAIL - SYM ANTISPAM AND Installation Manual

Symantec Brightmail AntiSpam Overview

Symantec Brightmail AntiSpam Architecture Overview

Using Brightmail AntiSpam, you set up a powerful message filtering system that protects
your customers and your network through an approach that is centralized and automated,
but also provides customizable, open features that you can tailor for your system. The net
effect of this highly scalable structure is to unburden your customers of unwanted email.
As spam messages traverse the Internet, they pass through Symantec's worldwide Probe
Network , an extensive array of email addresses. The Probe Network includes over two
TM
million probe accounts that attract the latest spam, based upon up-to-date research into
spamming methodologies. The Probe Network sends possible spam emails in real time to
the Brightmail Logistics and Operations Center (BLOC ) for evaluation. If the message is
TM
verified as spam, the BLOC issues AntiSpam Filters to Brightmail Scanners on your
system that isolate similar messages.
The BLOC consists of several centers working cooperatively on three continents,
comprising a round-the-clock protection network that spans the globe. Sophisticated
automatic tools, assisted and monitored by BLOC Technicians, evaluate mail for new
variations of spam, then issue filters to identify and capture similar messages. The BLOC
continuously provides updated filters to Brightmail Servers on your system. BLOC
Technicians play an important role in confirming the identification of possible spam. This
combination of automation and human intervention allows Symantec Brightmail
AntiSpam to adapt in real time to ever-changing spamming techniques, giving it
unparalleled flexibility and accuracy as a spam filter.
Most of the filters that the BLOC creates are designed to thwart specific spam attacks. A
spam attack can contain thousands of identical or similar messages. By targeting filters
against specific attacks, the BLOC keeps Symantec's false positive rate extremely low
(less than 1 in 1 million).
Symantec also employs a carefully designed set of heuristic filters, which target patterns
common in spam and add a proactive element to our spam-fighting arsenal. Commonly
available heuristic filters can lead to large increases in false positives because of the
problems inherent in a pattern-matching approach. Symantec Brightmail AntiSpam
heuristic filters are carefully designed and tested to prevent large increases in false
positives.
Installation Guide 3