Message Sniffer FAQ

What is Message Sniffer?

Message Sniffer is a powerful Email Scanning Engine that captures more than 95% of spam when implemented in a managed environment. The software is owned and managed by AppRiver and licensed to a large number of ISP, corporations and other anti-spam companies.

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Who Uses Message Sniffer?

Deployed since 2002 in AppRiver's complete outsourced email protection service, the software is currently used in more than 40,000 businesses and institutions worldwide. It is designed for high-availability production systems and virtually eliminates client-side software or configuration changes.

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What are the Benefits of Message Sniffer?

The proprietary spam detection engine has the ability to run approximately 70,000 signature test against an email in under 5 milliseconds. It is maintained and updated by in-house rule-techs 24x7x365 and was described as having "...speed-spam and virus capture rates second to none in the security industry" in a September 2006 Frost & Sullivan Report on Pattern Recognition (Technical Insights).

In addition, continual system enhancements are delivered at no extra cost to users. Most new features and enhancements are delivered automatically, which results in low maintenance installation, lowered administration costs, and higher reliability.

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How does it Work?

Message Sniffer uses advanced pattern recognition technology and a regularly updated "rules" database to accurately identify spam. The system joins together human and autonomous machine elements to produce and refine filtering rules.

Rules are created through a collaboration of automated systems (Rule-Bots) and people (Rule-Techs) to continually update the Message Sniffer "rules" database, which is downloaded by clients and integrated into their email environment as they choose. The machines and humans check each others work, share new information, and learn from one another's successes and failures. The entire system evolves rapidly and retains what it learns as it moves forward.

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Does it Integrate with Other Products?

Yes, it is designed for easy integration into a broad range of existing email platforms and spam elimination products. It is compatible with Windows, Linux and BSD operating systems and integrates easily with most email server or spam filtering platforms. Updates can be downloaded manually or automatically scheduled by user-side utilities.

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Can I test email content on my own system with Message Sniffer?

Yes, if you have a question about emails that don"t seem to be getting through, you can test to see what Message Sniffer is catching. The log file shows matches for the emails you scanned. It then shows the rules that match the file you scanned. If the log file shows clean then nothing matched.

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Will Message Sniffer reduce my daily workload of analyzing the spam trap?

Yes, the software is perfect for this task - particularly if you share your spam trap data with us. All we need is POP3 account information and some details on how your spam trap was formed so that we can properly classify it in our SPHUD (Spam Processing Heads Up Display). Email us at support@armresearch.com to get a spamtrap set up.

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How Much does it Cost?

Message Sniffer is currently available at an annual subscription rate of $495 per year, including rule base and software updates. Pricing for OEM and SDK use is determined based on client needs. Renewals are also available at an annual rate.

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Can I try Message Sniffer?

Absolutely. In fact, we suggest that clients try Message Sniffer free for 30 days before making a purchase. Sign up now to begin your trial.