Email How It Works

Securely manage email from any web browser or device of your choice!

With Host Orlando hosted email services, you can access your mail when, how, and anywhere you need to. No licenses to keep track of or mail servers to manage.

EASY, ON YOUR DESKTOP

Works with your favorite desktop software like Outlook®, Thunderbird®, Entourage®, or any POP/IMAP client.

You can also upgrade to Hosted Exchange for a seamless integration between desktop, webmail and mobile device for mail, calendars, contacts, and more.

ON THE WEB

Manage Email, share Calendars and access your Company Directory from any web connection with Host Orlando Webmail.

Access all the benefits of a desktop program without being tied to the desktop. Log into Host Orlando Email from your desktop, laptop, or mobile phone, and get instant access to email, calendars, contacts, tasks, and notes.

Calendars

All the bells and whistles of a business-class calendar application. Create and manage multiple personal and shared calendars, set reminders and recurrences, and color-code entries for at-a-glance viewing.

Contacts

Create multiple personal or shared contact lists; add photos, multiple phone numbers and email addresses, mailing addresses, and notes to entries. Import your existing contact lists from other programs.

Tasks

Standalone task manager right in your inbox. Create multiple task lists featuring individual action items laid out with completion dates, notes area for task details, and tasks even change color to remind you of due dates.

Notes

Record important information in an easy to use text interface tied directly to your inbox stamped with time/date and title for easy retrieval.

ON YOUR MOBILE DEVICE

Login to your Host Orlando Email account from any smartphone or mobile device using our optimized mobile site.

Mobile Site

Webmail mobile gives you access to:

  • Mail and folders
  • Contacts
  • Calendar
  • Tasks
  • Notes

POP & IMAP Access

You can access your Host Orlando Email account via POP or IMAP on practically any smartphone or mobile device, using your device’s native email application.

VIRUS PROTECTION

Approximately 2% of all incoming email messages are viruses. Rackspace Email & Apps leads the email hosting industry with strong, multi-stage, server-level virus detection. Our antivirus protection begins with several important pre-scanning stages, followed by a continuously updated virus scanning stage. More than 100,000 virus-infected emails are blocked by our systems every day. During new virus outbreaks, this number can spike to over 1 million per day. The virus scanning system has been designed to handle these extreme spikes for extended periods of time, scanning every single email without mail delivery delays.

Email Antivirus Process

Our antivirus system scans all inbound and outbound emails using a multi-stage process. The process is broken down into the following four stages:

Stage 1: Restricted Attachments

Virus protection starts with scanning messages for dangerous types of file attachments. Dangerous files are those that can execute code, which can be used by malicious persons to spread viruses or do harm to your computer. Restricted file types include, but are not limited to, program files (.exe, .com), script files (.bas, .vbs, .js), and shortcuts to files (.lnk, .pif). When an email is sent or received that contains a restricted file attachment, the email is rejected and the sender receives a "bounced" email notification informing them of the restriction.

Stage 2: Normalization

This stage of the email antivirus process searches for email formatting vulnerabilities that can be used by viruses to hide from virus scanners. If any vulnerability is found, our system corrects the formatting of the message so that it can be thoroughly scanned for viruses. This is called "normalizing" the message, and most notably this process protects against all known Microsoft Outlook security threats.

Stage 3: Decompression

Next, if the email contains any compressed attachments such as zip files, the compressed attachments are temporarily unzipped so that the contents can be scanned for viruses. Many of today's viruses use compression as a way to sneak their way past virus scanners, sometimes even compressing themselves in several layers to try to hide from scanners. If an attachment cannot be decompressed, such as might be the case with password protected zip files, the original file is scanned for virus signatures that occur within compressed attachments.

Stage 4: Virus Scan

After the above preprocessing is complete, an email antivirus scanner is used to scan the email and all of its uncompressed attachments. Everything is scanned to ensure maximum protection against new virus threats. ClamAV (www.clamav.net) is the current scanner of choice, although our system was designed to be able to plug-in any virus scanner on the market, should the need to do so arise. Updated virus definitions are automatically pushed to our system. This gives our customers protection from new viruses within minutes. Virus definitions are updated hourly. In contrast, most desktop and server anti-virus programs are configured to check for new virus signatures only once per day.

Virus protection is included at no additional cost with all Host Orlando Email and Microsoft Hosted Exchange accounts.

SPAM FILTERING

We estimate that over 95% of all email traffic is spam. Spam is not only a distraction; it can serve as a vector for viruses, malware, and phishing attacks. The proliferation of spam has led to millions of dollars in lost productivity and additional infrastructure costs for businesses and service providers. Businesses that maintain in-house email servers are fighting a losing battle against spam because spammer tactics are constantly evolving. To defeat spam, the defensive technology and techniques must stay one step ahead of the rapidly changing threat.

Multi-layerd Email Spam Filtering

Our email spam filtering system is a continuously updated, multi-layered process that eliminates 98% of all spam with near zero false positives.

Layer 1: The Gateway Scan

As soon as an email arrives, the sending IP address is compared to an aggregated spam blacklist compiled from multiple spammer tracking systems. Our gateway servers also analyze the email message in the context of other arriving mail. If a large number of emails are coming simultaneously from a single IP or are addressed to random addresses that do not exist in our system, it could signify a spam attack and the email will be blocked. If the sending address is from a domain in our system but the mailbox does not exist, the email will be blocked. This last case is called "spoofing" and it is the reason you may have received spam from your own email address or domain.

Layer 2: Cloudmark&*reg; Scan

All email is scanned by Cloudmark's industry leading spam detection software. Cloudmark uses Advanced Message Fingerprinting™ to detect spam, phishing, and viruses. Instead of relying on a spam blacklist, Advanced Message Fingerprinting examines algorithm patterns that expose spam across all languages and character formats. These patterns are updated every 60 seconds based on worldwide feedback loops and the latest spammer tactics.

Layer 3: The Message Sniffer Scan

Email is then scanned with Message Sniffer from ARM Research Labs. Message Sniffer relies on pattern recognition and machine learning technology to detect spam and malware. It searches the entire message for spam, virus, and malware features including unusual headers, structural artifacts, message source behaviors, obfuscation techniques, email and URL targets, binary and image signatures, unusual code fragments, and even coding styles.

Spam filtering is included at no additional cost with all Host Orlando Email and Microsoft Exchange accounts.

EMAIL PRICING VIEW FEATURES