Security Magazine logo
search
cart
facebook twitter linkedin youtube
  • Sign In
  • Create Account
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
Security Magazine logo
  • NEWS
    • Security Newswire
    • Technologies & Solutions
  • MANAGEMENT
    • Leadership Management
    • Enterprise Services
    • Security Education & Training
    • Logical Security
    • Security & Business Resilience
    • Profiles in Excellence
  • PHYSICAL
    • Access Management
    • Fire & Life Safety
    • Identity Management
    • Physical Security
    • Video Surveillance
    • Case Studies (Physical)
  • CYBER
    • Cybersecurity News
    • More
  • BLOG
  • COLUMNS
    • Cyber Tactics
    • Leadership & Management
    • Security Talk
    • Career Intelligence
    • Leader to Leader
    • Cybersecurity Education & Training
  • EXCLUSIVES
    • Annual Guarding Report
    • Most Influential People in Security
    • The Security Benchmark Report
    • Top Guard and Security Officer Companies
    • Top Cybersecurity Leaders
    • Women in Security
  • SECTORS
    • Arenas / Stadiums / Leagues / Entertainment
    • Banking/Finance/Insurance
    • Construction, Real Estate, Property Management
    • Education: K-12
    • Education: University
    • Government: Federal, State and Local
    • Hospitality & Casinos
    • Hospitals & Medical Centers
    • Infrastructure:Electric,Gas & Water
    • Ports: Sea, Land, & Air
    • Retail/Restaurants/Convenience
    • Transportation/Logistics/Supply Chain/Distribution/ Warehousing
  • EVENTS
    • Industry Events
    • Webinars
    • Solutions by Sector
    • Security 500 Conference
  • MEDIA
    • Videos
      • Cybersecurity & Geopolitical Discussion
      • Ask Me Anything (AMA) Series
    • Podcasts
    • Polls
    • Photo Galleries
  • MORE
    • Call for Entries
    • Classifieds & Job Listings
    • Continuing Education
    • Newsletter
    • Sponsor Insights
    • Store
    • White Papers
  • EMAG
    • eMagazine
    • This Month's Content
    • Advertise
  • SIGN UP!

Retail Security: Spam FightR

January 1, 2005
Circuit City fought back against spammers with a service that better handles directory harvest attacks.
Richmond, Va.-based Circuit City Stores Inc. operates more than 600 Superstores and five mall-based stores in the U.S. Like many major companies, Circuit City was experiencing an ever-increasing amount of spam directed at its corporate e-mail users.

Chris Burroughs, director of desktop and voice services for the company, recalled how her e-mail had increased to more than 250 spam e-mails a day within the past year. She was spending excessive amounts of time manually examining and deleting such unsolicited advertisements from her e-mail inbox and yet she still found herself accidentally deleting important messages.

"I would get 50 valid e-mails and 250 spam e-mails every day," Burroughs explained. "And I was worried about the same thing happening to other people in our company."

The Problem

Then the complaints from end users began to increase. She would receive offensive e-mails from spammers herself, and then receive them again from concerned employees asking her how she was trying to stop them. "We decided we had to solve the spam issue before it got out of control."

Responsible for the company’s corporate e-mail system, Burroughs first tried an in-house solution, manually writing agents that would block specific domains, but quickly found this approach was a losing battle. Employees would forward spam to the company’s human resources department, and HR would then send them to Burroughs, who would block the offending sites. This manual approach soon became an endless chase.

In evaluating alternative anti-spam solutions, Burroughs decided to give anti-spam and anti-virus managed services from Redwood City, Calif-based e-mail security firm Postini a try.

"At first we were hesitant about pointing our mail exchange records to Postini," said Burroughs, "but we thought a 30-day trial period would at least show us how big of a problem we had and what our return on investment on an anti-spam solution should be." The trial process was easy to implement, and Burroughs decided to test the service with a few executive users, including the CIO. She also sent an e-mail to the entire company inviting participation, and got 250 users to try the service.

The trial was so successful at eliminating spam from employee inboxes that Burroughs was able to roll out the service across the entire company.

The results

Burroughs said that one of the greatest benefits from the service stemmed from its ability to prevent directory harvest attacks. DHAs are designed to net spammers’ lists of valid e-mail addresses at specific companies, to which they can then send additional spam or sell to other spammers. Spammers and other unscrupulous list brokers harvest addresses by sending thousands (or even hundreds of thousands) of messages to multiple addresses such as johndoe@circuitcity.com, or jdoe@circuitcity.com. Spammers track all of the addresses that do not bounce back or generate errors, and consider these as valid addresses.

Directory harvest attacks also have a very damaging side effect: consuming enormous amounts of e-mail server resources while e-mail servers try to cope with DHA probes.

The software company’s preemptive technology at the SMTP connection level prevents directory harvest probes from ever reaching Circuit City servers. "We made Postini our first line of defense to prevent directory harvest attacks from overloading our servers," said Burroughs.

Burroughs warned that everyone should be aware of DHAs. "Everyone’s going to get a directory harvest attack at some time," she said.

By signing up with the managed e-mail security service, Circuit City can now prevent directory harvest attacks and denial of service attacks on its e-mail system.

Burroughs also mentioned that end user management capabilities stand out as a major benefit.

"We barely know the Postini service is running," said Burroughs . "It’s easy. It works. What else could we ask for?"

"Everyone in the company thinks our IT department is great for eliminating spam even though we really didn’t have to spend much time and effort once we’d found Postini," she concluded. "All we had to do was point our MX records to Postini’s service and figure out our e-mail policy rules. People throughout the company are now much happier with our e-mail service."

Share This Story

Looking for a reprint of this article?
From high-res PDFs to custom plaques, order your copy today!

Recommended Content

JOIN TODAY
To unlock your recommendations.

Already have an account? Sign In

  • Security's Top Cybersecurity Leaders 2024

    Security's Top Cybersecurity Leaders 2024

    Security magazine's Top Cybersecurity Leaders 2024 award...
    Cybersecurity
    By: Security Staff
  • cyber brain

    The intersection of cybersecurity and artificial intelligence

    Artificial intelligence (AI) is a valuable cybersecurity...
    Security Leadership and Management
    By: Pam Nigro
  • artificial intelligence AI graphic

    Assessing the pros and cons of AI for cybersecurity

    Artificial intelligence (AI) has significant implications...
    Cybersecurity Education & Training
    By: Charles Denyer
Manage My Account
  • Security eNewsletter & Other eNews Alerts
  • eMagazine Subscriptions
  • Manage My Preferences
  • Online Registration
  • Mobile App
  • Subscription Customer Service

More Videos

Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content is a special paid section where industry companies provide high quality, objective, non-commercial content around topics of interest to the Security audience. All Sponsored Content is supplied by the advertising company and any opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily reflect the views of Security or its parent company, BNP Media. Interested in participating in our Sponsored Content section? Contact your local rep!

close
  • Sureview screen
    Sponsored bySureView Systems

    The Evolution of Automation in the Command Center

  • Crisis Response Team
    Sponsored byEverbridge

    Automate or Fall Behind – Crisis Response at the Speed of Risk

  • Perimeter security
    Sponsored byAMAROK

    Why Property Security is the New Competitive Advantage

Popular Stories

Rendered computer with keyboard

16B Login Credentials Exposed in World’s Largest Data Breach

Verizon on phone screen

61M Records Listed for Sale Online, Allegedly Belong to Verizon

Security’s 2025 Women in Security

Security’s 2025 Women in Security

Red spiderweb

From Retail to Insurance, Scattered Spider Changes Targets

blurry multicolored text on black screen

PowerSchool Education Technology Company Announces Data Breach

Events

August 7, 2025

Threats to the Energy Sector: Implications for Corporate and National Security

The energy sector has found itself in the crosshairs of virtually every bad actor on the global stage.

August 27, 2025

Risk Mitigation as a Competitive Edge

In today’s volatile environment, a robust risk management strategy isn’t just a requirement—it’s a foundation for organizational resilience. From cyber threats to climate disruptions, the ability to anticipate, withstand, and adapt to disruption is becoming a hallmark of industry leaders.

View All Submit An Event

Products

Security Culture: A How-to Guide for Improving Security Culture and Dealing with People Risk in Your Organisation

Security Culture: A How-to Guide for Improving Security Culture and Dealing with People Risk in Your Organisation

See More Products

Related Articles

  • Spammers Defy Bill Gates’ Death-of-Spam Prophecy And Get Creative With Social Networking

    See More
  • Study Finds Service Providers Struggling to Deal with Spam Sent from Their Own Networks

    See More
  • Study says Gaming Applications Increase Spam and Phishing in Social Networks

    See More

Related Products

See More Products
  • Hospitality-Security.gif

    Hospitality Security: Managing Security in Today's Hotel, Lodging, Entertainment, and Tourism Environment

  • security culture.webp

    Security Culture: A How-to Guide for Improving Security Culture and Dealing with People Risk in Your Organisation

  • 9780367259044.jpg

    Understanding Homeland Security: Foundations of Security Policy

See More Products
×

Sign-up to receive top management & result-driven techniques in the industry.

Join over 20,000+ industry leaders who receive our premium content.

SIGN UP TODAY!
  • RESOURCES
    • Advertise
    • Contact Us
    • Store
    • Want More
  • SIGN UP TODAY
    • Create Account
    • eMagazine
    • eNewsletter
    • Customer Service
    • Manage Preferences
  • SERVICES
    • Marketing Services
    • Reprints
    • Market Research
    • List Rental
    • Survey/Respondent Access
  • STAY CONNECTED
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
    • X (Twitter)
  • PRIVACY
    • PRIVACY POLICY
    • TERMS & CONDITIONS
    • DO NOT SELL MY PERSONAL INFORMATION
    • PRIVACY REQUEST
    • ACCESSIBILITY

Copyright ©2025. All Rights Reserved BNP Media.

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing