E-Mail Security Services for Small Business and Individuals
December 29, 2003
By Larry Seltzer

A good number of Internet Service Providers offer decent security features, still many still don't. If your ISP doesn't block viruses or filter spam, or if your unhappy with their services, you have more options than you might think.



Changing ISPs to one with better service isn't necessarily an easy thing for many individuals and small businesses. If you're a cable modem customer you probably can't just take your business to some other cable company. And almost certainly, you'd have to change your e-mail address, a major hassle.

Of course, it's possible to run local spam filtering software, but who needs another program hogging memory on their system and slowing it down? For example, I run Norton Antispam and my performance is about as fast Manny Ramirez running out a grounder to second. I'm about fed up with how slow it is.

During a recent eSeminar, Ziff Davis Media's online teleconferences, I advocated for the managed-service approach to enterprise spam filtering. (You can still listen to this conference and view the presentations here.)

Services like Postini and Frontbridge offer advantages for enterprises. These services can do a better job than most at filtering spam because they get to see a lot of it, and a lot of ham (legitimate mail) as well. Most of them scan mail for viruses and worms with at least one scanning technology. They can queue your mail for you if your own servers go down. Last, but not least, an inherent feature of their architecture can keep the spam and viruses off your network completely.

There are also similar spam services geared towards individuals and small businesses too. I've found four. Two are very inexpensive, and in a blast from the dotcom era, one of them is free. Unlike changing your ISP, you don't have to change your e-mail address. The service becomes the client for your ISP mail, and you retrieve your filtered mail from the service.

I reviewed AlienCamel (the name is an anagram of Clean Email) for PC Magazine a few months ago. The service worked pretty well, and even though it's geared towards individuals it has a lot of the same advantages as the enterprise products, plus some unique advantages.

Like the enterprise products, AlienCamel scans for viruses, although you should definitely scan locally for extra security. Like the big guys, AlienCamel gets to see a lot more spam than any product running on a desktop can. And because the mail is filtered before you get to it, you don't waste Internet bandwidth and disk space on spam and viruses.

AlienCamel also gives you the option of using IMAP for your mail client, even if your ISP only offers POP3. If you're unfamiliar with IMAP, it basically allows you to have server-side folders and synchronize them with your host-side mail client.

However, there's a big problem for many people with IMAP: Symantec's desktop security products, such as Norton Antivirus, only scan POP3 mail. Even though AlienCamel scans for viruses, you still need to run your own local antivirus protection. So be warned: if you run Norton Antivirus, you'll have to use AlienCamel in POP3 mode (I believe POP3 support is part of the IMAP spec).

Since my review, AlienCamel has added a number of enhancements. They now have full Web-mail access to the account, which is great for when you're on the road. They now support disposable addresses, which are throwaway addresses that forward mail to your real account; so if the address starts to receive spam you can simply delete it. The other changes are a bit esoteric. AlienCamel costs $15.99 for 6 months.

Next page: Fusemail, OnlyMyEmail and Mailshell...

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