By Pte John Wellfare
BOMBARDMENT of DRN accounts with junk e-mail has prompted the ADF to invest in software to help stem the flow.

Junk e-mail, known as "spam", accounts for 14 per cent of the 300,000 e-mails entering the DRN every day, part of a worldwide epidemic that has led to the introduction of anti-spamming laws in many countries and the release of software products to counter the problem.

The manager of network security operations for the DRN, Lt-Col Michael Woods, said the spam filter began initial trials on the system on April 5, with the need for as much participation from users as possible.

"What we have done, from [April 5] onwards, people will have their e-mails delivered, but if the filters determine that it's spam it'll come with a heading warning saying 'warning - spam' and the rest of the subject header, or 'warning - possible spam' and you can take various actions," he said.

"Basically, if you get a spam you delete it and after a month you'll stop receiving it, or you can [forward the e-mail] to spam@defence.gov.au and we will stop you receiving it straight away."

Lt-Col Woods said there was a possibility that the spam filter could get it wrong, making it important for members to check even the e-mails that come with the spam warning.

"If you look at the message and you discover that it's not spam, you can forward it to notspam@defence.gov.au and we will ensure that you keep receiving messages from that source."

After the six-week trial period, e-mails identified as spam will automatically be blocked from entering the DRN.

Lt-Col Woods said the spam filter did not only rely on users to identify sources of spam, but constantly built on its extensive database of known sources.

"[To indicate] just how dynamic the spam problem is - virus patterns get downloaded according to the threat, but usually once a week you get a new pattern for the virus scanning. The e-mail patterns [for spam prevention] get downloaded every three hours, so that gives you some indication of the extent of the problem.

"The thing to stress is that no solution will be 100 per cent effective, but we're reasonably confident that this will reduce the vast majority."

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