Proofpoint spam and virus filtering service explained

Proofpoint. Here's a brief overview of their services:

Email Protection: Proofpoint offers advanced email security solutions that protect against threats delivered via email. They use technologies like machine learning, encryption, and threat intelligence to detect and block malicious emails before they reach the inbox.

The service will keep you informed of any messages caught, so you can monitor its effectiveness, and release/approve any messages that may have been flagged as spam erroneously (this rarely happens in my experience).

Here is an explanation of how the end-user digest works and how you can manage the service when required.

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The End User Digest in Proofpoint is an email summary sent to users that lists the emails which have been caught by Proofpoint's filtering system and quarantined. This digest serves as a tool for end-users to manage their email quarantine without having to contact their IT department. Here's how it typically works and what it includes:

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Quarantine Notification:

Users receive a periodic digest (daily, by default, or as configured by the admin) that shows all the emails that have been quarantined since the last digest.

The digest lists emails that were identified as spam, bulk mail, phishing attempts, or messages containing viruses or other malware.

User Actions:

Users can typically take action directly from the digest, such as releasing an email from quarantine to their inbox if they believe it was mistakenly quarantined (false positive).

They can also mark messages as 'Not Spam' if they're legitimate, which can help in tuning the Proofpoint filters.

Some digests allow users to block or blacklist senders to prevent future emails from the same source.

Search Quarantine:

Users can also search their personal quarantine to find specific emails.

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Safe and Blocked Senders:

The digest often provides the option to manage safe and blocked senders lists, allowing users to easily add or remove addresses.

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Reporting Messages:

If the user identifies a message in their inbox that should have been quarantined, they can report it to Proofpoint for analysis, helping to improve the effectiveness of the filtering. The best method to improve the filter's effectiveness, is to forward any unwanted messages, that are obvious spam, to fn@proofpoint.com (fn stands for "false negative"). 

The End User Digest is designed to empower users to handle the majority of spam and quarantine issues on their own, reducing the workload on IT departments and improving email security by educating users about the threats. It's also a feedback mechanism for the Proofpoint filtering system, as user actions can be used to refine the effectiveness of the threat detection algorithms.

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