Challenge Response Spam Filters Explained

As the flood of spam increases end users are looking for new and more efficient solutions to block spam. In turn software developers are knocking themselves out trying to come up with the killer app that will stop spam forever.

For several years now companies have been focusing on faster and smarter software to be installed on your PC or on your servers that will detect spam through increasingly more complex algorithms. The ingenuity behind these products can't be argued with. The problem was that as the spam filters became better so did the quality of the bulk email software used by the spammers. The battle to fight spam was spiralling out of control.

There's an old scientific principle called Occams Razor. It simply means that all things being equal the most simple solution is often the best one.

Somebody somewhere realized that there was a simple solution to the vast majority of spam. Spammers email millions of people each day. This is an automated process that they can't possibly monitor manually. Enter challenge response spam email filtering.

When using a challenge response system each email address must be authorized to deliver email to you. You can either authorize these email addresses manually by adding them to your challenge response whitelist or the challenge response email server can take care of that for you.

The process is simple but incredibly efficient.

Spammer sends email

Challenge response email server doesn't recognize address so issues a challenge email that must be phyiscally answered by a real human.

Challenge answer = yes = sender is authorized to send you email

Challenge answer = no = senders email address is added to blacklist and all future email from them is automatically blocked.

Challenge repsonse spam filters demand that a real person reply to the challenge email. Spammers who generate millions of emails a day simply don't have the time to do this and are therefore blocked from sending you any future junk email.

Using a challenge response system initially can be extra work but after 30 days you'll see a dramatic reduction in the amount of email you receive from spammers. Our challenge response system is currently showing 11,000 blocked pieces of spam in the last *5 months*. Those are hard figures to argue with.

Need a spam blocker? Check out Spam-Site.com for spam filter reviews and spam related information.

---

How You Can Avoid The New Dangers Of Spam

Until recently, spam has been an annoyance, a definite load... Read More

Stop Intrusive Pop-up Ads and Regain Control of Your Online Experience!

Stop intrusive pop-up ads and regain control of your online... Read More

Invasion of the Email Snatchers

They're sneaky. And stealthy. They're quiet and mostly unobtrusive, but... Read More

The Cybermagic of Whitelists

Before we start getting deep into the meat of this... Read More

Challenge Response Spam Filters Explained

As the flood of spam increases end users are looking... Read More

Is Your Website Blacklisted?

A blacklist, as the name implies, is a list of... Read More

How To Identify Spam

Most of us have opened our email program and found,... Read More

BUSTED: Anti Spam Forces Bankrupt Super-Spammer Scott Richter

Microsoft scores one for the good guysScott Richter, the self-proclaimed... Read More

How Spammers Fool Bayesian Filters - And How to Stop Them

Effectively stopping spam over the long-term requires much more than... Read More

The Vanishing Mail

Am I Just Being Paranoid Or Are The Robots Out... Read More

How to Write a Privacy Policy

A Privacy Policy can be defined as the policy under... Read More

I Love Spam!

What's the big deal? All you read on the internet... Read More

Managing Spam in 2005

In 1998, nearly 10% of all email traffic on the... Read More

How to Fight Back BEFORE Youre Falsely Accused of Spam

A friend of mine received a chilling email message from... Read More

Of Spam and Sandboxes

About a month ago I had the privilege of giving... Read More

Internet Tip of the Week: Outsourcing

It's no secret that the US economy has slowed down,... Read More

Demand for Spam? It exists

Do you like spam? No, I'm not kidding. Everybody knows... Read More

Customers Demand Internet Privacy

... and you'd better sit up and take notice! Customers... Read More

Spamicide: Man Spammed to Death While Checking His E-mail

Death by spam is now possible with a new device... Read More

Six Tips to Get Rid of Spam Email

1. Ignore Spam EmailDo not open an unsolicited email. Spammers... Read More

Spam The Spammer - Will It Work?

Spam is everywhere. It's the "in-box lunch meat" nobody likes,... Read More

Spammer Stole My Email Address?

Do you get bounced, or rejected emails sent by someone... Read More

How Spammers Fool Rule-based and Signature-Based Spam Filters

Effectively stopping spam over the long-term requires much more than... Read More

How Can I Stop Getting Spam?

Are you getting too much spam? We all are, but... Read More

The Fastest Delete Finger in the Midwest!

There are hundreds of thousands of people who are trying... Read More

Stuffing the Spammers!

I'm really, truly fed up with spam. Every day when... Read More

Are You A Spam Zombie?

Over the past few years you've all become familiar with... Read More

How to Avoid Spam Complaints in Your Emails

Spam filters are responsible for deleting a high percentage of... Read More

How Spammers Fool Whitelists - And How to Stop Them

Effectively stopping spam over the long-term requires much more than... Read More

20 Words That Kill - At Least When It Comes to Spam Filters

Spam, spam, spam. It's terrible not only for those of... Read More

How To Analyze A Rip-Off Scheme

This review is taken DIRECTLY from a piece of "junk... Read More

Email Chain Letters - Harmless Fun or Not?

I'm sure I'm not the only person on the planet... Read More

Spam eMails Are Not Just Annoying - They Are A Main Distributor Of Viruses

Why is someone from India, Africa, or elsewhere writing you... Read More