These add-ins, mostly for Microsoft Exchange Server, control the content of incoming and outgoing messages with a variety of techniques:
- Filtering attachments
- Filtering junk mail
- Filtering for objectionable content
Some are direct add-ins for Exchange Server; others operate externally on Internet mail going into and out of the server. Many combine content control with virus scanning, archiving and related functions.
The whole idea of monitoring e-mail for "objectionable" content makes me nervous. I think a clear, enforceable corporate e-mail policy and ongoing user education comprise the best approach to ensuring proper use of e-mail. However, the market apparently disagrees, or there wouldn't be such a growing number of products in this area. On the other hand, filtering for obvious spam and undesired attachment types (like the .vbs files propagated by the ILOVEYOU virus), is a feature that every organization can put to good use.
The tools listed below are server tools; for personal junk mail filtering and content control, see Rules to filter junk mail - Other Tools.
Microsoft released its Microsoft Exchange Intelligent Message Filter for Exchange 2003 in May of 2004. Several vendors are planning products to complement Microsoft's offering.
To add disclaimers to outgoing email, see Disclaimer and Signature Tools
Tools
CodeTwo Exchange Rules Pro goes beyond standard transport rules on Microsoft Exchange 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010 or 2007 and lets you fully control mail flow, filter messages as well as add signatures and branding to your business emails. It gives you everything Exchange offers plus a lot of advanced features Exchange is missing, which admins consider a must-have in their daily work. Quickly create email forwarding rules for groups, set up auto-responders, filter or block incoming and outgoing messages, control email contents, rewrite sender's addresses, tag messages, add signatures and disclaimers, and more. | |
Data Publisher add-in provides a means to bring your Outlook contents such as mails, appointments, tasks or contacts to SharePoint lists, where these can be shared with other users. This process can be performed manually, or automatically and is achieved without using any scripts or programming, with complete seamless experience to the users. In other words, Data Publisher extends your Microsoft Outlook to effectively act as a content provider for your enterprise SharePoint repository. It can be adapted to feed data to SharePoint lists for various purposes, such as for issue tracking, timesheets, projects or contact managements. | |
Anti-spam, disclaimers (with variables), archiving Internet mail, Internet mail usage reports. Includes a POP downloader and personalized server-based autoreplies that can include attachments and tracking numbers. Can archive to an ODBC database. Current version includes Overall improved anti-spam technology, an additional anti-spam engine called SpamRazer along with improved performance and a real-time dashboard. GFI MailEssentials now supports GFI Directory, enabling administrators to manage users just like they would with Active Directory when installed in a DMZ. | |
Protects against email viruses and other threats with multiple virus engines, content and attachment quarantine, HTML script analysis, recognition of common HTML mail exploits, and other features. Uses the Exchange Virus Scanning API to check both internal and external messages. An available freeware version includes one anti-virus scanner and performs basic keyword content analysis. | |
Performs anti-virus and content scanning of traffic between Exchange and the Internet. Can also perform automatic compression. | |
ORF integrates with Exchange and the IIS SMTP Service to filter email using domain and URL blacklists (DNSBLs and SURBLs). It also supports Attachment Filtering, with the option to quarantine, reject, or neutralize using attachment replacement; Greylisting (an aggressive, but efficient anti-spam technique); Reverse DNS-based sender validation; Keyword Blacklist (supports regular expressions); HELO Blacklist with standard conformance check; email Character Set Blacklist; Honeypot/Spamtrap support. Version 6.7 | |
Email security software for Exchange featuring world-class antivirus, antispam, and a powerful, granular attachment filter. | |
Sits between Exchange Server and the Internet to scan messages for viruses, attachments and unwanted subject lines and add a disclaimer to outgoing messages. Also handles scheduled ETRN and statistics and can keep a copy of every message sent. Can detect attachments in rich-text messages, remove rich-text or HTML formatting, block messages in different languages, block spam based on a spam DNS database, |
More Information
- Anti-virus Tools -- Some of these also include attachment filtering.
- Automatic Messaging Processing Tools
- Compression Tools
- Mail Tools
- XADM How to Filter Junk Mail in Exchange 2000
- Quarantining Malicious Outlook Attachments -- procmail script fragment for blocking messages containing potentially dangerous attachments
- Using Real-Time Blackhole Lists For Filtering Email
Articles on using event sinks in Exchange 2000 to perform file scans and add disclaimers. Note the fine print -- these techniques don't work when Outlook is the client:
- HOW TO Register a Transport Event Sink for the SMTP Service in Exchange 2000 Server -- sample checks for .vbs file attachments
- HOW TO Add a Disclaimer to Outgoing SMTP Messages in VB
- HOW TO Add a Disclaimer to Outgoing SMTP Messages in VBScript
