Anti-Spam Tool Kit [With CDROM]

How do you stop SPAM? There are four main techniques: blacklist subscription,server-based, client-based, gateway-based. Each of these is completely covered, not only as a "do this" approach, but with an explanation of what each approach is trying to do. In addition, the CD included with the book, instead of having a bunch of mostly useless stuff, includes several anti-spam software packages that the authors have found useful in protecting their own organizations from SPAM. These are being distributed under the GNU license, so you are free to use them on your own system. Excellent book!

I've never been interested in viruses, worms, or spam. All three represent the lowest end of malware, with spam occupying a particularly disdainful place in the computer security hierarchy. I wasn't very excited when a review copy of "Anti-Spam Tool Kit" (ASTK) arrived in the mail, but I found myself drawn in by the value of the content and tools it described. I highly recommend anyone tasked with fighting spam read ASTK.This book is the first to follow in the genre defined by "Anti-Hacker Tool Kit." While AHTK examined tools used by intruders and defenders, ASTK focuses on tools and techniques to counter unwanted email. AHTK has slightly more coverage of Windows than UNIX applications; ASTK spends more time on Windows, especially with client configurations. As a desktop FreeBSD user, I still found plenty of helpful information.Since I'm not directly responsible for enterprise anti-spam defenses, ASTK's comparison of the many block lists was particularly enlightening. Prior to reading ch 5 I knew of many lists but not their particular capabilities. I found the coverage of SpamAssassin in chs 6-8 fairly thorough. Ch 14's overview of email and headers very helpful. I had not heard of server-based greylisting until reading ch 15.I found a few of the authors' comments odd. On p. 250 they claim "most organizations do not run UNIX-based email solutions." I find this difficult to believe, but no proof for the statement is given. Figure 2.2 in ch 2 shows a mail sender using POP/POP-SSL/IMAP/IMAP-SSL to send email. At least using Mozilla and Firefox on UNIX, I connect to my ISP's SMTP server to send email and then retrieve it with POP or IMAP. In ch 3 the authors advocate IPv6 because it makes "a spammer's identity known and verified even if he or she doesn't want it to be." IPv6 should not change many, or any, spammer tactics. Spammers aren't forging TCP sessions with IPv4 now; they forge information (headers, etc.) transferred within application layer data. I believe some of these weird comments could have been addressed by more diligent technical editing.Overall, I found ASTK enlightening and practical. The authors give enough details on various server- and client-side tools to make implementation (at least on a trial basis) possible. I look forward to other tool-related books in the "Anti-Hacker" series.

This book goes a long way in sounding the eath nell against SPAM! I can't believe the coverage of tools and lots of opensource. Great job!

This book provides so many spam clients, I'm not sure I've digeted all of it yet. I espesially like the coverage of the Windows clients espesially the open source ones. Well worth the price just for this information.

I've been looking for a book that could really provide me with real life examples on how to stop SPAM at my company's corporate office. We've tried many software suites that have either been too aggressive, too passive, or too complicated to setup. This book compared many open sourced projects that save us a lot of money and time. The book is exactly what we needed. The authors are incredibly knowledgeable, have an easy-to-read writing style, and the examples are easy to follow.