MIMEsweeper for SMTP

This is a security and routing application for email systems. It protects them from spam, malware and DoS attacks, but its main feature is the ability to direct messaging traffic based on content, rather than the destination address.

Using content filters, the software can find messages that are inappropriate, indecent, threatening or potentially damaging to the organization and reroute them. Messages can also be handled according to the type or content of attachments.

MIMEsweeper is a powerful and complex filter and is aimed at larger organizations, which must meet increasingly stringent regulatory requirements.

In version 5.0, Clearswift has created a messaging infrastructure that makes all SMTP gateways accessible through one browser interface. Protection of the system has also been addressed by incorporating automatic updates for antivirus and spam filters and a throttling technology that chokes back any unexpected bursts of emailing activity which could be caused by spamming worms or DoS attacks.

The new architecture has made it easier to support a consistent, customizable policy definition system that allows automated policy replication across the email infrastructure. This creates a change once, replicate everywhere environment that makes life easier for administrators.

It also makes it simpler to delegate policy definition roles. The devolution of the policy-writing duties are assisted by making the Policy Editor snap-in, where the rules are defined, easier to use by the inclusion of a Task Pad containing helpful wizards to partially automate and guide the task.

Despite its complexities, MIMEsweeper is designed to be as easy to use as possible by the inclusion of wizards for common tasks. This makes installation and maintenance tasks easier, but these are still colossal tasks.

As befits such an ambitious package, the auditing and reporting tools range from being able to report top senders and recipients down to tracking an individual user's actions.