Spam has been a serious problem for email administrators and users for many years, growing from one in sixteen emails in 2002 to approximately three out of four emails in 2007. In fact, after five years of dealing with spam and throwing significant resources at the problem, over half of messaging decision-makers in mid-sized and large organizations may still view spam as a very serious problem according to a recent survey. Spam has evolved from a minor nuisance that made up a small subset of all internet email to a scourge that may now make up the majority of email sent around the world.
The fundamental challenge in solving the spam problem is that spammers are becoming more sophisticated in their approach to defeating conventional spam-blocking technologies. Savvy spammers continually figure out how to circumvent traditional spam-filtering technologies. As a result, even if a user has a spam filter, the user may spend a significant amount of time sifting through spam each day to find important emails.
Spam may be particularly annoying when the user has been away from their computer for a time. When the user returns to check email on the computer, the user may have to deal with all the spam that arrived during their absence. In addition to causing the user to waste time, spam buildup may make it more likely that the user overlooks an important email. What is needed, therefore, is a more effective approach to dealing with spam.