Cloud Edge uses Email Reputation (ER) technology to maximize protection. ER technology allows Cloud Edge to determine spam based on the reputation of the originating Mail Transfer Agent (MTA). With ER enabled, all inbound SMTP traffic is checked by the IP databases to see whether the originating IP address is clean or it has been blocked as a known spam vector.
Note: For Email Reputation Services to function properly, all address translation on inbound SMTP
traffic must occur after traffic passes through the Cloud Edge. If NAT or PAT takes place before
the inbound SMTP traffic reaches the Cloud Edge, Cloud Edge will always see the local address as
the originating MTA. ERS only blocks connections from suspect MTA public IP addresses, not
private or local addresses. Therefore, customers using Email Reputation Services should not
translate inbound SMTP connections before they are scanned by Cloud Edge.
- ERS Standard service (formerly known as Realtime Blackhole List or RBL+) is a database that tracks the reputation of about two billion IP addresses. IP addresses that have been consistently associated with the delivery of spam messages are added to the database and rarely removed.
- ERS Advanced service (formerly RBL + and Quick IP Lookup or QIL combined) is a DNS, query-based service similar to ERS Standard. At the core of this service is the standard reputation database, along with the dynamic reputation, real-time database. This service stops sources of spam while they are in the process of sending millions of messages.
When an IP address is found in either database, ERS “marks” the connection, and the Cloud Edge behaves according to your chosen configuration.