Email Filtering

What Is Email Filtering?

Email filtering is the process of allowing software to categorize incoming messages based on their content. Email filtering also applies to outgoing messages from a specific server to ensure that the content sent from a business address is appropriate. Email filters protect the user from sending or receiving spam and malicious content or from leaking sensitive information.

Email filtering can be deployed through an on-premises solution or a cloud-based service. A cloud-based email filter is a better option for remote working or dedicated because it allows for filtering no matter where the user is. For workers situated in a traditional office setting, an on-premises solution may be all the business needs.

How Does Email Filtering Work?

Email filtering evaluates whether a message is safe to be passed through to an inbox based on its content. Email filters use various methods to categorize messages, including:

• Spam filters that look for common trigger words that indicate spam messages
• Reputation-based filters that analyze a sender’s reputation
• Checking addresses against a safelist to see if they can be sent to the inbox
• Checking addresses against a blocklist to see if they need to be sent to the spam folder
• Anti-virus software that protects against viruses using both signature-based and non-signature-based technology
• Content analysis that analyzes the words, links, and images included in a message to see if it’s safe and relevant; this is often used to identify words or phrases that the user does or doesn’t want to see
• Checking to see if the recipient has opted-in to messages from the sender

What Can Email Filtering Tools Help You With?

• Anti-Spam – Preventing spam emails from being sent in your name and keeping spam out of your inbox
• Inbound Email Filtering – protecting your users from outside attacks by cybercriminals, including phishing scams, malware, ransomware, and more
• Outbound Email Filtering – maintaining your sender reputationby ensuring that the email content sent under your name is free of malicious content or spam and catching any hacked accounts before sensitive data is leaked
• Increasing Productivity – automating your email filtering process saves your team from wasting time weeding through emails
• Improving Email Deliverability Rates – If you use email filtering for outbound emails, your deliverability rates will increase because you’re monitoring the content coming from your account