The Network Box Mail Portal

NETWORK BOX NBRS-3 TECHNICAL WHITE PAPER

The Network Box Mail Portal
Background
Sun Tsu once wrote that 'the control of a large force is the same principle as the control of a few men: it is merely a question of dividing up their numbers'.
CONTENT The Network Box Mail Portal system addresses just that - control itself, and the delegation of that control. While the my.network-box.com web interface permits Background........................................1 the administrator to view and control the Mail policies of the organization, at the gateway, Mail Portal allows the administrator to delegate that control to Implementation................................2 end-users and put them in control of their own email (while still being restricted by overall company policy).Customisation..................................3 Network Box, as a managed service, has always been primarily managed Mail Portal Report...........................4 from the NOC (Network Operation Centre). This provides for centralized configuration, backup, monitoring and maintenance of the Network Box device. Mail Portal Web Interface..............6 However Network Box also permits for delegation of certain management functions (such as anti-spam, quarantine release, content filtering policies, etc) to Clustering..........................................7 the local administrator (via a web-based interface called "my.network-box.com"). Network Box Mail Portal contains patent-pending technology, and implements a Conclusion........................................7 "virtual per-user administrative interface", extending delegation of manageability and maintenance of the security gateway down to the per-user level. This is an NOVEMBER 2007 industry first.No part of this publication including text, examples, or illustrations may be reproduced, transmitted, The Mail Portal system allows end users in organizations using SMTP email or translated in any form or by any means, servers to have direct control of their quarantined emails for the first time. electronic, mechanical, manual, optical or otherwise, for any purpose, without prior written permission This means that in the event that an end user sees an email which has (in their of Network Box Corporation Limited. opinion) been incorrectly blocked as spam; they can, with no more effort than ticking a checkbox, and clicking a single button have that email released. Network Box Corporation Limited, Using the same very easy to understand report, they can also tick an additional 16th Floor, Metro Loft,38 Kwai Hei Street, Kwai Chung, checkbox, to request that the sender is white listed in the future.Kowloon, Hong KongTelephone: +852 2736-2083Fax: +852 2736-2778www.network-box.com
1 NETWORK BOX CORPORATION LIMITED, 16TH FLOOR METRO LOFT, 38 KWAI HEI STREET. KWAI CHUNG, KOWLOON, HONG KONG TELEPHONE: +852 2736-2083 FAX: +852 2736-2778NETWORK BOX NBRS-3 TECHNICAL WHITE PAPER

Implementation
Mail Portal delivers this functionality via two systems:
1. An email-based report. This is sent periodically (monthly, weekly, daily, or a custom-reporting period at a minimum hourly), to all users who had mail activity during the reporting period. It reports on traffic for that user through the Network Box, and allows click-to-release quarantine release and request for white listing.
2. A Web-based interface. This is accessible either via the email report, or via username + password, and shows the users email traffic on the box. The user can search for past email, and can release from quarantine and/or whitelist/blacklist (if so authorized).
To avoid the issue of the administrator having to maintain accounts for all his end-users, security is implemented via two mechanisms:
? The links in the email report contain secure encrypted security tokens. Possession of the email (and its tokens) permits the user to access his Mail Portal web interface without requiring a username or password. The secure tokens defend against users accessing each other's Mail Portals (as they are only known by the user holding the report and the Mail Portal system itself). Possessio... [download for more]