Of the many anti-spam methods being touted, only disposable e-mails promise to show users where their spam's really coming from. One company has added some tweaks of its own.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Managing Editor [July 7, 2004]

Software from Henderson, NC-based EGramPlus is designed, first and foremost, to be easy to use. From the broad, theoretical concept of the algorithm to the hands-on GUI, it's easy to see not only whether it's working, but also how it works.

The concept is simply this: never use your actual e-mail address ever again.

Instead, you take your "real" e-mail address, such as me@whenu.com, and you add prefixes, giving you addresses like ebay.me@whenu.com, friends.me@whenu.com, giving you a sort of "alias" e-mail address that you can delete if it gathers too much spam.

It's important to do so, because the software adds a sender to the trusted sender list the first time they use an accurate "alias" e-mail.

The EGramPlus server, which sits in front of the ISP's SMTP server, screens all e-mail, and blocks anything not sent to a pre-defined address (including e-mail sent to the original address). EGramPlus provides the server side software for free, and clients for internal use (such as testing and training).

There is no theoretical limit to the number of "alias"addresses any individual can have (most restrict users to between 10 and about 500 addresses).

You can personalize any of two messages, one to blocked senders and another to unknown senders.

You can right click on a message you have received to add the sender to a block list or a trusted sender list, and you can also right click to create a new "alias" e-mail address.

Most operations are done in one or two clicks, on screens that have very little clutter. On the address management screen (right) you can easily view all of the aliases currently in use and those that have been retired.

It all adds up to a powerful tool, and it makes sense for ISPs of any size.

Lynn Huffman, marketing manager for EGramPlus, says the program is especially effective against directory harvest attacks. "Current harvest attacks don't use the format x.name, with a period, so they will not work against EGramPlus."

She also points out that ISPs want to move away from storing spam on their servers. "Many anti-spam programs store spam in a quarantine folder. Our software just rejects spam instead."

The product is priced per e-mail, not per subscriber. Although we point out that some households would need to buy several copies of the software, Huffman points out that families on one account would gain new freedom. "You could expand a smithfamily@ address and have, for example, john.smithfamily@ and jane.smithfamily@," she notes.

Perhaps the best endorsement of the software is that the company uses it. The e-mail Huffman used to contact us had the prefix ispplanet.

The company is only one of several disposable e-mail software providers, and ISPs interested in this product should also look at others, such as Gennux and MyPrivacyPolicy.

Pricing and availability
The product is available now directly from EGramPlus.

ISPs can refer customers to the EGramPlus website, which will bill the ISP's customer and provide a commission that starts at a generous 40 percent; or the ISP can purchase clients in volume. Volume prices start at $19.95 but provide significant volume discounts immediately, reaching $10 per client for a purchase of 1,000 licenses.

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