MX Logic watches the quarantine

Spam-blocking systems can rid individual users’ accounts of objectionable e-mail that would violate corporate policies. However, when users have access to the quarantine, what happens if they violate those policies by pulling objectionable material back into their inbox?

MX Logic is a provider of hosted spam- and virus-blocking services. Last week, the company introduced Quarantine Release Reports, to notify administrators and others in an enterprise about the e-mail that users are pulling out of the quarantine.

On a very benign level, this system can help IT staff to more carefully tune its spam filters so that false positives are reduced. For example, if users are continually removing legitimate business e-mail from the quarantine, steps can be taken to refine the spam filtration so that these messages no longer get trapped.

However, if some users continually remove messages from the quarantine that are clearly objectionable, administrators or others can be alerted about the breach of corporate policies.

The value of a tool like this rests in its ability to do the follow-up necessary to ensure that users are adhering to corporate policies. While implementing a spam-blocking system that provides end-user access to the quarantine is an excellent first step in protecting an enterprise from having objectionable content e-mailed into, within or out of an enterprise, such a system does not fully protect an enterprise if users decide to remove objectionable content from the quarantine.

I think that MX Logic has created a very useful addition to its product line, particularly for enterprises that are sensitive to liability issues. It will be interesting to see to what extent their customers implement this feature and how many additional vendors of spam-blocking systems add a feature like this.