AVIRA MANAGED EMAIL SECURITY User manual

Avira Managed Email Security
-AMES -
User Guide
Version 1.0
www.avira.com

Avira GmbH Avira Managed Email Security - User Guide 2
1 Product information ...............................................................................................................3
1.1 Functionality........................................................................................................................3
1.2 Licensing AMES .................................................................................................................3
2 Getting started with AMES ...................................................................................................4
2.1 Adding a new domain to AMES .........................................................................................4
2.2 Configuring the DNS server................................................................................................4
2.3 Configuring security and firewall .......................................................................................5
2.4 Scanning outbound emails (optional)..................................................................................5
3 Changing settings for your AMES domains.........................................................................6
3.1 Logging in to AMES ...........................................................................................................6
3.2 Adding a new user to a domain...........................................................................................6
3.3 Adding a user alias ..............................................................................................................7
3.4 Configuring LDAP..............................................................................................................8
3.5 Changing mail delivery-options ..........................................................................................9
3.6 Customizing banners ...........................................................................................................9
3.7 Email filtering and statistics..............................................................................................11
4 Statistics and Reports ...........................................................................................................14
4.1 Looking at statistics...........................................................................................................14
4.2 Creating reports .................................................................................................................15
5 Support ..................................................................................................................................16

1 Product information
Avira GmbH Avira Managed Email Security - User Guide 3
1 Product information
Thank you for taking a look at the Avira Managed Email Security (AMES) manual.
This manual will help you get started with AMES, as well as customizing AMES to
your specific needs. You will have peace in your inbox in no time.
1.1 Functionality
Avira Managed Email Security (AMES) is a service dedicated to stopping spam or
viruses before they reach your company’s network. This is achieved by routing the
emails to our AMES server cluster. AMES then scans and delivers the malware-free
emails to your server.
The most accurate spam scanning technology
For intercepting spam, we use a combination of technologies proven to be
extremely effective. Since spammers and virus makers become more skilled every
day, we constantly test and implement new methods to keep our lead position in
email scanning, and you enjoy the benefits of this without any extra effort.
Configuring AMES
Because we stop spam and viruses "in the cloud", that is also the place where the
configuration is done.
You can log in to the AMES interface at https://ames.avira.com.
1.2 Licensing AMES
When you let your Avira Partner purchase a license for AMES, you need to choose
the number of users. These users correspond to the total number of people in your
organization, that are going to use AMES to filter emails.
AMES gives you total freedom to distribute these users across multiple domains,
create aliases for them, set filtering rules, etc. but always keep your license up to
date with the actual users. For more information, see the AMES terms and
conditions on our website.

2 Getting started with AMES
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2 Getting started with AMES
You'll find that once your Avira Partner has set up a license for your domain, the
rest of the configuration is surprisingly easy.
If you don't have an Avira Partner yet, please take a look at the Avira Partner
Locator on our website.
2.1 Adding a new domain to AMES
To add a new domain to AMES, please call your Avira Partner. He or she will then
register your details, request a license and add the domain to AMES. You will
receive an order confirmation email with details such as MX records.
One user will be created (see catch-all user) and the mail delivery will be set to
the currently used mail server. This means, you could go to the next step
without any further configuration and your mail flow will not be interrupted.
2.2 Configuring the DNS server
Normally this is something your partner does for you, but if for some reason you
need to do this yourself, we'll guide you in the process.
To activate the scanning and filtering of incoming emails, you have to change the
MX-settings in the DNS server for the domain. The correct records are in the
order confirmation, emailed to your partner.
Example of an email to your domain registrar:
Dear Registrar,
Please change the MX records of our domain www.demo.domain to:
10 mx1.c01.avira.com
20 mx2.c01.avira.com
Please make sure that our old MX records are completely removed.
Thanks in advance.
Kind regards,
Demo Customer
NOTE: Make sure there is no MX-record with a priority below 10; otherwise emails from
your organization will not be scanned and filtered by AMES.
NOTE: Depending on the Time-To-Live (TTL) settings of your MX records, it might take
up to 24 hours before DNS changes become active.
After directing the MX record to Avira, the managed service is active and will scan
and filter the emails. The filtered and scanned emails will be delivered to the
regular mailbox.

2 Getting started with AMES
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2.3 Configuring security and firewall
After DNS changes are complete and propagated correctly, make sure the receiving
mail server only accepts emails from the AMES server cluster mentioned in the
order confirmation. This can be done through settings in the firewall or mail
server itself.
2.4 Scanning outbound emails (optional)
You can also scan your domains’ outbound emails: point your outbound mail
server, or the mail client(s), to send through the mail server(s) mentioned in the
order confirmation.
NOTE: Depending on your network setup, you might also need to change your firewall
settings, to allow outbound traffic to the AMES SMTP server.

3 Changing settings for your AMES domains
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3 Changing settings for your AMES domains
3.1 Logging in to AMES
Please visit https://ames.avira.com, where you'll find the login screen:
Fill in your Login name, the Domain you want to access, and your Password.
These can all be found in the order confirmation your partner received. Then click
Login. You will see the AMES Service License Agreement (SLA), which you will
need to read and agree with, to continue.
3.2 Adding a new user to a domain
When AMES is configured for your domain, the users you provide have to operate
properly. If an email is sent to the email address [email protected], the user
test has to exist, or the email will bounce back to the sender.
catch-all user By default, AMES has one catch-all user. A catch-all user is convenient because it
receives emails for all users on your domain.
NOTE: Avira discourages the use of a "catch-all" setting. The best approach is to create a
separate user account in AMES for every user you have. The LDAP feature can reduce the
time spent on this task. See 3.4 Configuring LDAP.

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You can add a new user manually, in the Users tab.
Click Add to open the Add user to domain dialog:
Type the User name and Password for your new user.
If you'd like this user to be able to manage his/ her own domain settings trough
https://ames.avira.com, enable the Domain admin option.
You can apply the settings from an existing user, by selecting it from the drop-
down list Copy settings from.
When finished, click Save. You will be warned that the user is disabled by default.
This is done so you can review the settings before they take effect.
3.3 Adding a user alias
An alias can be used to assign multiple email addresses to one user.
If you'd like to create an alias, select the user from the User tab. The Services tab

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for the selected user opens:
Add one or more email addresses in the alias field (e.g. *@domain.demo). Insert
each of them on a new line, not separated by other characters.
Click Save on the bottom of the page when done.
WARNING: If you'd like to use a catch-all address, use the form mentioned in the image
above: *@domain.demo, but please note:
The use of a so-called catch-all setting, where every combination of characters in front of
the domain name is accepted as an email address (*@example.com), makes your
domain extra vulnerable to spam and viruses. This is why AMES enables advanced
greylisting for all catch-all users. This technique bounces emails from unknown senders
the first time, and will accept only the second or later attempt. Because a lot of spam
servers will not try to resend emails, greylisting significantly reduces the amount of
emails that must be filtered and scanned.
NOTE: Since the time it takes for the emails to be re-delivered depends on the sender's
mail server, thus delaying the email delivery, Avira discourages the use of a "catch-all"
setting. The best approach is to create a separate user account in AMES for every user you
have. The LDAP feature can really cut the time spent on this task.
3.4 Configuring LDAP
This setting is only available to Avira Partners, because of the possible
consequences of misconfiguration. Please contact your Avira partner for more
information.

3 Changing settings for your AMES domains
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3.5 Changing mail delivery-options
To change mail delivery settings, select a User and go to the Services tab.
Under Mail deliver options, you can choose between two methods:
• Activate SMTP Deliver.
Under SMTP Deliver server(s), you can add one or more servers to which
AMES will deliver the emails.
• Activate Mail forward.
Under Forward your e-mail to this address, you can type one or more email
addresses to which AMES will deliver emails.
Press Save when done.
3.6 Customizing banners
AMES allows you to append a custom message to the bottom of an outgoing or
incoming email.

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Adding a banner to incoming emails
You can add a user-specific banner to incoming emails. Select the User you'd like
to add a banner for and go to the Banner tab.
Then select a banner option under Mail banner/footer, write the banner text in
the text area if you chose Custom banner, and click Save.
Adding a banner to outgoing emails
You can add a domain-specific banner to outgoing emails. Select the Domain
you'd like to add a banner for and go to the Banner tab.
Then select a banner option under Mail banner, write the banner text in the text
area if you chose Custom banner, and click Save.

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3.7 Email filtering and statistics
AMES supports a variety of email filtering and analysis tools.
What to do with intercepted spam or viruses
By default, AMES sends all intercepted emails to quarantine, for filtering. You may
also choose a different behavior, such as to tag the email and then send it, or even
to remove it immediately.
Choose a User for which you'd like to configure the spam and virus handling and
click the Quarantine tab.
Select the action you want to apply to infected emails, spam emails or filtered
content:
• Under handle viruses: select Quarantine, if infected emails should be
quarantined for 14 days, then deleted; or select Remove, if infected emails
should be deleted immediately (default setting).
• Under handle spam: select Quarantine, if spam emails should be quarantined
for 30 days, then deleted (default setting); select Tag subject, to mark the
subject of spam emails with ******[SPAM]******* in your inbox; or select
Remove, if spam emails should be deleted immediately.
• Under content filter: select Quarantine, if filtered emails should be
quarantined for 30 days, then deleted (default setting); select Tag subject, to

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mark the subject of filtered emails with ******[CF]******* in your inbox;
or select Remove, if filtered emails should be deleted immediately.
Press Save to save the settings.
Managing the quarantine
To open the quarantine, select a User then go to the Quarantine tab.
AMES has three different quarantines, for different types of filtering. The basic
principles of operation are the same.
Virus
quarantine
Here you will find all emails with virus signatures. You can either select emails to
remove, or to release. Emails older than 14 days will be removed automatically.
WARNING: If you doubt whether a specific email contains a virus, do not release it. The
virus filtering in AMES is almost never wrong.
Spam
quarantine
The spam quarantine is where all spam is stored. You can completely rely on AMES
default settings, but if needed, you can customize them.
NOTE: If you set the spam filter too high, your spam quarantine could also intercept ham.
'Ham' is email falsely identified as spam. If you get ham in your quarantine, or receive
emails falsely tagged as spam in your email client, you might want to check the Advanced
settings of the SpamFilter.
To release emails from the quarantine, click Release, which will deliver only the
selected email, or Release and remember as Not Spam, which releases the email
and will no longer recognize emails from this sender as spam. Note, that this last
option will reduce the effectiveness of the spam filtering.
You can also choose to delete specific emails, or delete all messages in the
quarantine. AMES will automatically delete spam after 30 days.
Content
Filter
quarantine
In the ContentFilter quarantine you will find all blocked emails, based on size,
attachment or your own customized rules. You can choose between releasing or
deleting these messages. AMES will automatically delete content-blocked emails
after 30 days.
Adjusting the filters
If you'd like to adjust the spam-filter and/or content-filter, please select a User, go

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to the Services tab and click on Advanced settings for the filter you'd like to
adjust.
SpamFilter On the Advanced settings page, click ProTAG: Here you can set the blocking level
for the spam control. The default setting is Normal. You can either choose less or
more severe spam blocking by changing the level.
NOTE: For organizations with a normal rate of spam we recommend the Normal level.
As a result of setting the SpamFilter to Severe or Very severe, legitimate email with
spam properties might be blocked. That is why we advise that you monitor your Spam
quarantine on a regular basis, and generate a spam report on a daily basis.
Content
Filter
In the ContentFilter settings, you can set attachment rules or custom rules:
•Attachments: You can click in the first column of the extenstions list, to
block certain file types. The list contains the following recommendations:
- block: block this type of attachments.
- block if unsure: if you are not sure whether you want to allow this kind of
attachment, we recommend that you block it.
- do not block: attachments accepted by default; you can block them if you want.
•Custom: You can create your own rules to block or allow emails, by using the
following filters:
- subject contains: allows or blocks emails containing a certain subject.
- message contains: allows or blocks emails containing a certain string.
- message size larger than: blocks emails exceeding a maximum message size
in Kb.

4 Statistics and Reports
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4 Statistics and Reports
4.1 Looking at statistics
The Statistics tab displays various statistics, regarding the quantity of emails that
Avira has processed for you.
This tab is available per user and per domain, showing statistics for either of them.
The information about the processed emails is divided into incoming, outgoing, not
scanned, virus, spam and content filter (CF) intercepted emails.
You can change the time range of the statistics, using the select period menu:
yesterday, current month, last month, current year, or the previous year.
You will also find a report on the top 10 viruses that have been intercepted by
Avira, and a list of the top 25 senders and recipients of emails.

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4.2 Creating reports
To schedule a report, select a User then click the Report tab.
Enable Virus notification, to be notified whenever a virus is intercepted.
Enable Spam quarantine to receive a daily summary on spam, according to the
settings you make under Reporting options:
•Report language
•Report address
•Report Times
•Blacklist
•Obvious Spam
•Sort by
•Charset block
When done press Save.
NOTE: We advise that you let AMES generate a report on a daily basis, especially when
you have just started using AMES or if you use severe filtering settings for spam.
If you would like to release emails listed in the spam report email, you can use the
Whitelist Options: Release Only , Safe Sender, Safe Domain.

5 Support
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5 Support
Support service All necessary information on our comprehensive support service can be obtained
from our website http://www.avira.com.
FAQs Please also read the FAQ section on our website.
Your questions may already have been asked and answered by other users in this
section.
Please contact your Avira Partner - they will be more than willing to help you with
any further questions regarding Avira products.
Contact
Address Avira GmbH
Lindauer Strasse 21
D-88069 Tettnang
Germany
Internet You can find further information about us and our products at the following address:
http://www.avira.com

Avira GmbH
Lindauer Str. 21
88069 Tettnang
Germany
Telephone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
www.avira.com
© 2011Avira GmbH. All rights reserved.
All named products and company names are registered trademarks of the respective company.
Our General Terms and Conditions of Business and the End-user License Agreement
can be found in the Internet. www.avira.com.
E&OE. Technical information as of February 2011.