Changes to Whitelist and Blacklist Functionality

Yesterday (~10PM GMT) we rolled out our new whitelist and blacklist functionality. The new functions allow ExchangeDefender to apply whitelist rules in realtime and minimize the chances of a false positive.

While the entire ExchangeDefender network is SQL driven much of the functionality was not transaction based – we simply regenerated node configuration via SQL which allowed for quick provisioning and central management. Unfortunately, with as large and as diverse of a network as we operate, that also introduced latency in rule updates and gave us a hard time troubleshooting.

So what’s changed? Well, every time you send an email somewhere it is temporarily stored in a SQL database as a reverse whitelist entry. What this means is that we automatically whitelist the people you send mail to. When they respond, they will get through without being put through the extensive SPAM filtering process ExchangeDefender uses. And because the process is SQL driven that recipient is “trusted” in near realtime.

I hope you like this feature.

Note: It took a better part of overnight to switch over to the new process. As result, some previously trusted messages (ie: Yahoo Groups) that are on several blacklists would have ended up in your SPAM quarantine. Our global trusts for our partners (Yahoo, AOL, MSN, Hotmail) were programmed in overnight so all should be well now. If its not, please email support@ownwebnow.com and we’ll address it immediately.