On Sat, 26 Feb 2005 19:04:26 -0600, Claydon, Tom <Tom.Claydon@dobsontelco.net> wrote:
We are considering filtering outbound SMTP traffic from our ISP customers, except from our own mail servers, to help reduce the amount of spam originating from our network. How successful/unsucessful has implementing outbound SMTP filtering done in stopping or slowing down spam from your network?
At Portland State University, we saw a huge reduction in outgoing spam when we blocked port 25, even with liberal exceptions for everyone who said they wanted one. According to SenderBase, the mail volume from our /16 dropped by half (5.3 to 5.0) . I don't think there was any significant drop in legitimate email. There have been a few problems with ISPs that don't accept submission or SMTPS, but the support burden for that is way less than responding to all those spam complaints, and way less than the burden if our campus had been widely blacklisted (and I think we must have been pretty close.) ---David Burns