Effective spam protection - "grey lists" (greylisting)

Spam is the scourge of the 21st century. Spam is almost impossible to protect and get rid of.

Spammers harass users on the Internet, violating all kinds of rules of network etiquette and privacy. Developers are fighting the current situation by introducing new technologies.

One of them is greylisting. Read more about how "grey lists" work.

What is greylisting in simple words

Greylisting is a method of protecting incoming messages at the SMTP protocol level from unwanted spam traffic. When someone sends you an email, your mail server automatically temporarily refuses to deliver it. This is provided to check whether the sender is a real mail server or a spammer.

The name "greylisting" arose as a counterbalance to the "black" and "white" lists in the messaging.

When greylisting, if the sender is legitimate, he will automatically try to send the letter again after a while - until the message is accepted by the subscriber's server. As a rule, spammers do not make repeated attempts to send, which is what impersonates.

Pros and cons of greylisting in messaging

Unfortunately, like any other modern technology, greylisting is not a panacea for spam. However, using this filter, you can achieve a reduction in the number of "garbage" messages up to 90%.

Advantages of the technology:

1. Minimum resource requirements. It does not require significant computing resources to perform sender legitimacy checks. This allows you to reduce the load on the mail server.
2. Ease of deployment. Greylisting can be easily implemented and configured on the mail server, and usually, the technology does not require special programs or complex settings.

In general, greylisting is a useful tool in the fight against spam. But, like any technology, it has limitations and features that must be taken into account for optimal results.

Disadvantages of "Grey Lists":

1. Delayed delivery of letters. Temporary rejection of letters leads to some delay in their delivery: from 15 to 30 minutes. For legitimate senders, this will not be a problem, but in some situations (for example, when waiting for an important letter) it can be unpleasant.
2. Possible loss of letters. In rare cases, when the sender does not attempt to re-deliver the email, or when the recipient's mail server does not correctly handle the greylisting, the message is lost.
3. Dependent on system configuration. The effectiveness of the filter depends on the proper configuration and appropriate retry times. Incorrect settings can affect the delivery of legitimate emails or degrade the effectiveness of anti-spam protection.

If you don't want your messaging to fall into spam or are afraid of a high probability of not being audited by the "grey list", choose a proven licensed communication provider that guarantees the delivery of messages anywhere in the world.

Contact the Decision Telecom team now - together we will find the right solution for your business.