Spam mail can be annoying and while nearly everyone is aware of the usual scams that you may find in your inbox, some of these spam emails can be far more malicious than meets the eye.
Think about it for a second, spam emails have been around for decades now with no end of them in sight, why? The simple answer is that it is still profitable for the scammers. You may not fall for the Nigerian prince scam or anything as obvious as that, but they have gotten far more sophisticated over time.
They can include attachments that can seize control of your entire network system and ransom the information back to you, or phish your information while appearing to be completely legitimate. For example, one of the oldest and simplest types of attack called the homograph attack is still present and very much effective.
For example, in a rudimentary example of a homograph attack Google would be spelled as G00gle, while this seems obvious in this example, in reality, it can be far more subtle and appear completely genuine. Spam emails exploit your lack of attention more than anything, and this is why having a tool to check the validity of every email that you receive can be the difference between a steady-flowing operation and being forced to pay off a huge ransom.
How Do Anti-Spam Tools Help?
Anti-spam tools have lots of different ways to help you deal with spam and infected mail. For example, they can blacklist known sources of spam such as IPs and email addresses. Alternatively, you can enable whitelisting instead which only allows traffic from pre-approved sources.
Some of them have machine learning or AI capabilities that helps detect patterns that may be malicious. They can also check domains to see if the source is known to be trusted or unverified which can also help in spam detection. In essence, a lot of these tools have a wide range of features to detect and combat spam and all of them work in different ways, some are better suited for personal use while others are best used on an enterprise-wide level. We will be covering all of those types so you can find the best one for you.
The Best Anti-Spam Tools
1. MailWasher – FREE TOOL
Mailwasher is an anti-spam tool that is compatible with all email accounts and programs. It is a simple and efficient tool that doesn’t have any flashy unnecessary features, it is simple and straight to the point. If you want to get rid of spam mail, MailWasher makes it as simple as selecting the mail you want gone and deleting it.
This way you get rid of any unnecessary mail before it even reaches your computer. You also have a preview function that will let you quickly check any email without opening it to prevent anything malicious from downloading on your computer instead, the potentially malicious emails are flagged in a red color while the green ones are deemed safe.
MailWasher is fully free to use for one email address, making it ideal for personal use. There however is a pro version starting at $49.95 with advanced features such as multiple email coverage, technical support 24/7, mobile syncing, and more.
2. Trustifi Inbound Shield
Trustifi leverages cutting-edge machine learning and AI to quickly and precisely filter any and all threats that may come your way. The Trustifi Inbound Shield is based in the cloud meaning that installing it is a breeze and you don’t need any special reconfiguration to integrate it within your current system.
It is also important to note that Trustifi takes all of its actions before the mail actually reaches your inbox. They are instead filtered and processed while they are inbound, making sure that anything harmful doesn’t come even remotely close to you. It offers a variety of protective features such as malicious content scanning, checking the domain of the sender to see if it is falsified, filtering requests for money transfers or confidential information, and many more.
This way of filtering is lightning fast and thanks to machine learning and AI capabilities, can also even detect zero-day attacks. You can contact Trustifi directly to get a quote or to try out the demo.
3. TitanHQ Email Security
Email Security is a tool that is designed to work with Microsoft 365. You don’t need any technical expertise to install it and it simply connects to your Microsoft 365 account and is automatically enabled. The minimum amount of email addresses that Email Security covers is 25 so keep in mind that it is not intended for personal use.
It helps you fend off phishing attacks, spear-phishing attacks, and zero-day threats. It achieves this by leveraging AI to process all of your incoming mail which is then evaluated to see if it is a threat or not. Email Security offers a free 14-day free trial and a 30-minute demo. If you wish to purchase it you can get a free quote from Email Security with no obligations.
4. ORF Fusion
ORF is designed in such a way that blends various technologies into an all-in-one system that leverages layered protection. It has 23 layers of protection through which a potential bit of malicious mail has to pass each and every time.
This allows for a smoothly flowing operation that filters out spam while giving you no false positives. Furthermore, it is very configurable which means that your business organization can uniquely custom tailor any specifications it may require. Lastly, technical support is always available free of charge, even while still planning and evaluating the purchase. ORF offers a 42-day fully functional free trial and starts at $80 for 10 users per year, for further information please contact them directly for a quote.
5. Hornetsecurity
Hornetsecurity’s Email Spam Filter and Malware Protection Service guarantees 99.9% virus and spam detection rates, as well as offers protection against phishing attacks and DDoS attacks. This is achieved by using multiple layers of spam filtration, making sure that your defense is as thorough as possible.
Hornetsecurity also has additional features such as data traffic encryption, securing your information while it is being processed, automatic link tracking for incoming and outgoing emails to prevent any malicious URLs, and many more. If you wish to purchase the Email Spam Filter and Malware Protection Service, you will have to contact Hornetsecurity for a quote.
6. SPAMfighter
SPAMfighter lets you protect yourself from any spam mail near-instantly. The setup is quick and hassle-free requiring no extra knowledge. You don’t need to maintain it in any way, you just need to safely rely on its instant spam and phishing protection.
It protects your mail in numerous ways such as rejecting potential spam or malicious content before it even reaches your mail server. Alternatively, you can redirect it to a designated mailbox for spam if you so wish. SPAMfighter offers a fully functional 30-day free trial.
After the trial expires you have two options, you can go for the free version that has limited features but in general, will still protect you up to one email. The second option is to purchase SPAMfighter PRO which costs $29.00 and includes any and all potential upgrades as well as technical support.
7. ESET Protect Mail Plus
ESET PROTECT Mail Plus is a spam prevention tool that helps you keep your inbox clean in several different ways. Its protective capacity is multilayered with advanced threat defense to the extent that it even protects against zero-day threats.
This is possible by leveraging machine learning alongside adaptive scanning, in-depth behavioral analysis, and cloud sandboxing. In essence, ESET is great at expecting the unexpected and being one step above the curve when it comes to any malicious emails.
Even if a new vector of attack for emails is discovered, the algorithms within ESET will be able to adaptively adjust to detect them as an anomaly and eliminate it. ESET is compatible with Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and Linux. It is also easy to install and set up, as well as intuitive to use since it offers a clear, unified view of all of the important metrics which you need to be monitoring such as threats, quarantined items, etc. ESET offers a 30-day free trial and an interactive demo that requires no installation. If you wish to purchase the full product, there are four different versions for you to consider, the ESET Protect Advanced, ESET Protect Complete, ESET Protect Elite, and ESET Protect MDR. If you wish to find out more about these and get a quote, please contact ESET directly.
8. SpamSieve
SpamSieve is a MacOS tool that uses Bayesian spam filtering to achieve high levels of accuracy in its spam prevention capabilities. What Bayesian means essentially is that it is able to learn over time, adapting to your mail specifically. It will be able to learn to tell the difference between your usual emails which you should be receiving and the spam which is unusual for your inbox.
You also have the capacity to create a whitelist and a blacklist to further optimize your inbox, making sure that you only receive emails from sources that you want. SpamSieve can also decrypt the phishing emails that any cyber attackers may try to slip past your defenses, always keeping you secure. It respects your privacy and processes all of the information on your personal machine, making sure that your information doesn’t get sent off anywhere.
SpamSieve offers a free 30-day trial that you can download on its website. Furthermore, if you wish to purchase the full product, pricing starts at $30.00 on their website.
9. MX Guarddog
MX Guarddog intercepts all of the mail coming in, filters it, and then forwards it to your inbox, making sure that you only receive the mail that you would desire to have. You don’t need to install any software or make any changes to your email client, you get protection from spam, phishing attacks, malware attacks, and viruses with ease.
If you wish to check if the service is working properly, you can check the quarantine reports to see all of the mail that has been filtered. It also encrypts all of your messages in transit making sure that no third parties can interfere or snoop around your sensitive information.
MX Guarddog offers a 30-day free trial that requires no credit card, no contract, and no calls. MX Guarddog has a token system where a token is $0.25 each which is also the monthly cost of covering for an email address.
10. Zerospam
Zerospam is an anti-spam service that is based on Amazon AWS Cloud. It eliminates up to 99.98% of your spam before it even reaches your inbox. The protection it offers is also viable against malware, ransomware, viruses, trojans, and phishing attacks.
The way this works is by using advanced machine learning technology that automatically self-improves it’s detecting and blocking capabilities. Zerospam offers a free 30-day trial and pricing starts at monthly payments of €5 for the Smart version, €10 for the Top version, and €20 for the premium version.
Summary
We have covered a lot of ground here, there are many varieties when it comes to spam-prevention tools ranging from personal use to very advanced business-wide assets and investments. There isn’t a single best tool to fight spam with universally, instead, there is only the tool that will offer the most useful features to you personally. Since only you know your unique needs, we tried to cover as much ground here so you can make an informed decision about which one is the best for you.