Review: SECNAP SpammerTrap

For: State of the art spam detection. Against: Lacks any other features. Verdict: SpammerTrap does not follow the rest of the convergence patterns we are seeing. It is dedicated to one function, anti-spam, and it does that very well.

The SpammerTrap appliance focuses in on spam by keeping more than 40 real-time blacklists and using four different sender reputation databases. This appliance also incorporates the use of heuristics and self-training, using Bayesian logic. Besides offering protection from spam, an email firewall with anti-virus is also incorporated.

This product was a simple install. The initial setup is done by connecting a keyboard and monitor to the device and entering network and IP information.

After completing initial configuration, the web-based GUI is accessed for some additional setup, including basic filtering information. The GUI uses a clean and simple tab-top navigation structure and is quite simple to use.

Policy for this appliance is straightforward. As the device only manages spam, most of the work takes place in the background and requires little input from the administrator. All it needs is basic information about the environment and it does the rest, including integrating into the already existing LDAP user directory.

Documentation is comprised of a quick-start card and user and administrator manuals.

The quick-start card is a single sheet of paper that gives a few steps to get the appliance up and running. The other manuals focus are more detailed and focused on configuration and getting the most out of the device. These manuals also contain many screen shots for further illustration of certain functions.

Customers receive a year of 24/7 support with the purchase of SpammerTrap. Support includes phone and email offerings, as well as access to a large support area on the website. This area includes a knowledge base, product FAQs and documentation.

At just under US$6,500, we find this product to be an average value for the money. This tool is the king of spam filters, but it has no other features to bring to the table. If full email content management is what you are looking for, this product is not for you.

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