When Melbourne-based Aged Care Software Group was hit by more than seven and a half million spam emails in one day, crashing the ISP server and threatening to send them out of business, Managing Director Ken Wragg realized it was time for a drastic security overhaul.

"We were having all sorts of trouble with our email at that stage. We weren't getting any email through in the end," Mr Wragg says.

"There was one day we had over seven and a half million spam emails and it took down our ISP. If you're not getting your own email, you're dead in the water. It was a matter of fix it or go out of business and we couldn't afford not to fix it."

Mr Wragg transformed the company's spam nightmare and improved its business prospects by installing a NetBox. With its unique pre-delivery filtering system, the Netbox blocks spam at the SMTP level. Spam isn't downloaded so it doesn't put pressure on the network.

"Everything is running like clockwork now," Mr Wragg says. "Implementing the Netbox is the greatest thing we've ever done."

The company

Aged Care Software is Australia's premier software supplier to the Aged Care sector. The company is dedicated to developing quality software solutions for the Aged Care sector. Staff have over 25 years experience in developing systems for Aged Care in Australia. The company has 500 clients across Australia and is dedicated to developing the highest quality range of products and services. These include payroll, rosters, resident billing, trust accounting, care plans and assessment.

The company spent more than two decades building up their reputation in the Aged Care sector. Spam threatened to destroy it and bring down the whole business.

The Problem

Aged Care Software had always hosted its own web server. But Mr Wragg found that spam was crashing the system and internet link daily, legitimate email wasn't getting through and they had no communication with their customers.

"A lot of our support requests and sales requests come through by email. If you're not getting support requests and you're not giving support in our game you're dead. Aged care is a small industry - everyone knows everyone and if you're not delivering, it gets around by word of mouth. After 20 years in aged care you don't want to destroy a reputation that took a hell of a lot of time to build," Mr Wragg says.

The company moved its server offsite, hoping to solve its problems. But the spam nightmare continued. Mr Wragg was still receiving 200 spam emails a day, even though a spam filter had been put in place.

"It was driving me nuts. I think every spammer on the planet had our details.

I had 200 spam emails a day and I had to look at each one. Who is that? Is that someone I want to talk to? It was absolutely crazy," Mr Wragg says.

The massive spam assault was not only causing frustration in the office it was costing the business money. Download costs were spiraling. Aged Care Software changed plans several times but was forking out an extra $400 a month in charges.

The company suffered two hacking attempts that if successful could have been catastrophic for the business.

"It would have been a disaster if they got in there and destroyed anything. We're a software development company with all of our source code on the servers," Mr Wragg says.

Then, when Mr Wragg thought his spam problems couldn't get any worse his email connection began to fail. For a month and a half the company was receiving virtually no email at all. After more than seven million spam emails bombarded the company in one day and crashed the ISP, Mr Wragg sought a permanent solution.

The Solution

Aged Care Software needed a spam filter that provided 100 percent protection from spam and 100 percent email and internet connectivity security. Mr Wragg looked at several options. Then he saw the Netbox in action at one of network integrator Systemcraft's clients. He was so impressed he ordered one.

Netbox Blue stood out because of its unique pre-delivery filtering system, which blocks an average of 95% of spam at the SMTP level. The filtering engine analyses the email characteristics before downloading it to a company's network. The engine performs a series of eight high level checks using a centralized database of real time feeds from Netbox Blue's global network of datacenters and honeypots.

Email that gets through these initial pre-delivery checks is then processed through the unique gateway filtering engine. At this level, Netbox Blue's technology analyses an array of attributes of the message including linked pages, image words, attachments (such as PDF) and known spam, hoax and phishing fingerprints to ensure only the cleanest of email is delivered onto a company's network. This, combined with the company's philosophy of zero false positives, ensures an unbeatable anti-spam product.

"We recommend the Netbox to all of our clients and have sold over a hundred already." Systemcraft Managing Director, Claudio Antonioli, says. "Our clients tell us that the Netbox is the best solution we have ever put in for them. It saves them countless hours clearing spam, gives them great security and reliable connection for the internet and email. It also allows us to provide them with secure remote support. They value this very highly."

"Our customers gain total peace of mind from their Netbox solution and we love the fact that it is so reliable," Mr Antonioli says. "It just works."

The Result

The Netbox has totally resolved Aged Care Software's spam crisis. Aged Care Software is still being hit by a whopping 5 million spam emails a month. But now almost 100 percent of spam is blocked at the SMTP level. The company has had no excess download charges and more importantly has enjoyed 100 percent email and internet connectivity.

Netbox Blue Chairman John Fison says the staggering number of spam emails bombarding Aged Care Software is not uncommon. Blocking spam at the SMTP level is now vital to prevent spam crashing a company's network and inflicting crippling download costs. Download costs can climb into the thousands if spam is downloaded first and then filtered.

"We are seeing dramatic increases in spam across the world. Our expectation from the global trends is that spam will only increase and we are pleased to offer our customers dynamic IP reputation black listing and real time zombie host detection systems along with our proven pre-delivery filtering technology," Mr Fison says.

The technology is world class, but for Aged Care Software Managing Director Ken Wragg it's the results that say it all.

"It's brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. I couldn't recommend anything more highly. For anyone else with spam problems, I'd say get a Netbox. We couldn't be without it," Mr Wragg says.