(Note that I no longer work for IronPort - but I did, and was even the
SE for NZ for a while, so...)
On Mon, Feb 1, 2010 at 1:23 PM, Brett Healy
I think what you are referring to is "Cisco->IronPort->SenderBase->ReturnPath"
IronPort sell the hardware/subscription that use the list and bypass the list. SenderBase runs the reputation list ReturnPath runs Bonded Sender and people pay to by pass the list and the hardware (even if its spam) , those caught are spamming apparently face fines.
Umm.. no. IronPort (now Cisco) sells anti-spam appliances, and corresponding services/licenses that go along with that hardware. One of those services is SenderBase, which is IronPort's Reputation system. At the end of the day, SenderBase is basically just a combined RBL, which takes data from over 100 different "sources', and munges them into a single number between -10.0 and +10.0. IronPort customers can then choose to block connections coming from a hosts with a reputation below a specific level (normally -3.0 to -2.0 for people in NZ). The "sources" they use range from public blacklists, through to domain age, ownership (both IP and domain), reverse loopups, spam traps (IronPort owns SpamCop), statistics reported back by owner IronPorts, commercial black/whitelists, and many other things. ReturnPath does indeed run Bonded Sender, after they bought it from IronPort back in 2005. ReturnPath and Bonded Sender are now completely independent from IronPort, however I believe their Bonded Sender list is still used as one of those >100 sources that IronPort uses to give an IP a reputation. The fact that you are on Bonded Sender will give you a slight "positive" as far as reputation goes. eg, if you might otherwise have had a reputation of +4, then if you're listed on Bonded Sender you might be +4.5 (It's not that simplistic, but hopefully you get the idea)
The cheapest way to get unlisted is just wait (30mins to 7days depending on traffic)
Actually that's pretty much the _only_ way to increase your reputation. An IronPort customer can raise a support call to IronPort who will be able to see why a host has a low reputation, and whilst they will be able to fix some of the (very rare) obvious errors such as hosts marked as a dynamic IP when they are not, they generally can NOT increase the reputation of an IP.
The quickest way is to sign up for ReturnPath and pay min 1000NZD (yearly subscription)
If you're signing up for ReturnPath as a short-term solution to getting yourself unlisted as a spammer, you're going about things completely wrong. Not only will it most likely not work, odds are that they will not even accept your subscription.
The most expensive way is buying IronPort hardware, 2-4k NZD (then yearly subscriptions of around 1-2k NZD)
This will give you _zero_ benefit. Other than the ability to contact Ironport support directly (rather than through the IronPort customer who is blocking your mail), absolutely NO preference is given to IronPort customers when it comes to reputation calculations. Zero. None. Not even a +0.1
If this all sounds like blackmail that's because it is, its a con and everyone is getting played.
Be definition, nothing on the IronPort side comes even close to blackmail - no matter how much money you throw their way they will not change your ability to get mail through. ReturnPath also isn't blackmail, simply because they only work in terms of positives, not negatives. Not being on Bonded Sender will not reduce your reputation in any way. Joining their Bonded Sender program _may_ increase your IronPort reputation a little, but it's in no way a guarantee that you'll be unblocked - and anyone that tells you otherwise is either misinformed, or lying. As far as the best way to stop yourself getting blocked by IronPort Reputation, it's actually quite easy - Don't send spam! Once you take out the concepts that most anti-spam products use such as dynamic IP lists/etc, the vast majority of the factors used to calculate your reputation are based on the volume of spam seen, both by other IronPorts as well as various spamtraps. Bonded Sender itself isn't a bad concept for the right type of company. Bonded Sender allows you to say "I promise I won't send spam", and then put your money where your mouth is! If you send spam, they charge you a fee for each spam. Bonded Sender isn't at all intended for ISPs, because we all know that all ISPs _will_ send spam at some stage. It's designed for marketing companies and corporates, who may send out large volumes of mail which is spam-ish in nature (newsletters, opt-in advertising, statements, etc), but which isn't spam. Many email companies use their lists to weight anti-spam software towards or away from a particular message being spam. Hotmail, Yahoo, many large ISPs/cable companies, IronPort (to the extent mentioned above), and many more. Scott