14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has revealed that users of Antigen have available a new Realtime Block List to integrate into their security solutions. The Redmond company has made it clear that it does not recommend a specific RBL over others, and that it is simply informing customers that an updated Spamhaus list is available. In this context, Andy Day, Microsoft CSS (Customer Service and Support), has informed that the project, designed to provide anti-spam protection for Internet networks, has replaced the old SBL-XBL list with the new ZEN list.
“So, what does this mean for you as an administrator of Antigen? If you’re already using Spamhaus as a RBL list in some way, you need to decide whether to use only the ZEN list, or a combination of the SBL, XBL and PBL lists. Really, if you are happy with blocking the content of all 3 lists, it makes sense to go with Spamhaus’ recommendation of using just the ZEN list. This will improve your lookup responses, as you’ll only need to make one lookup per mail, rather than a potentially 3 lookups (one per SBL, XBL and PBL list),” Day explains.
According to Spamhaus, the Realtime Block List is capable of bringing to Antigen all the SBL, XBL and PBL lists combined. In this regard, users will benefit from the added anti-spam protection delivered through the bundling of the Policy Block List (PBL), the Exploits Block List (XBL) and the Spamhaus Block List (SBL).
“You should delete any SBL-XBL list that you have enabled (sbl-xbl.spamhaus.org), since it is no longer in use. This is important to do; otherwise it can cause delays while Antigen is waiting for the corresponding RBL lookup to come back,” Day states. “Note that Spamhaus provides a free service to smaller customers only. Before using Spamhaus as a RBL service within Antigen, please check to see if you qualify for free usage on the Spamhaus DNSBL Usage page.”