Outlook junk filtering updates cease 1 Nov
Microsoft have announced that from 1 Nov 2016, the junk mail definitions used by Outlook and Exchange to filter spam messages will no longer be updated. Filtering will still happen, it will just become less effective as time passes and the definitions aren’t updated to match what we see coming in via the internet.
There’s a more detailed write-up at Slipstick but essentially, junk email campaigns are so short-lived now the definitions from Microsoft take too long to arrive at your computer or server (or you could be cynical and suggest MS are more interested in selling online accounts).
Fortunately we have a couple of very good solutions available to provide bolt-on email filtering to existing mailboxes and servers. Very little change is required to allow them to intercept your incoming email, filter the junk and then pass on to you, exactly as before (but without all the time-wasting spam).
These cloud-based services are updated on-the-fly direct from the security teams, so are as reactive as possible. The advantage of an online system here is that it can see millions of email accounts and quickly spot spamming attempts, rapidly deploying blocks and cleaning up.
There are some useful additional services too – eg archiving, webmail, backup email service, etc. Please get in touch to discuss what we can help with. Costs are low, less than £1 a month – and can be a huge time-saver, as well as an additional security layer.
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