How It Works

Most email protection software uses a list of rules to identify spam and phishing. But spammers are always inventing new ways to thwart those rules. So how does Cloudmark Desktop know what is spam or phishing and what is not? Our network of over a million spam fighers tells us!

The Cloudmark Global Threat Network consists of over a million email users, all sending feedback to Cloudmark about which messages are spam or phishing and which ones are legitimate. This information helps everyone in the network.

When a user clicks the Block Spam or Block Phish buttons, Cloudmark compares this feedback with feedback from other users. If other users in the network also consider the message to be spam or fraud, then similar messages are automatically blocked in the future, for all users in the network.

Likewise, if a user drags a message out of the Spam folder or clicks the Unblock button, Cloudmark compares this feedback with that of other users. If they agree, the message is unblocked throughout the Cloudmark network.

Cloudmark Global Threat Network

Diagram: How it Works

But not all users in the network are equal. When you use Cloudmark Desktop, you earn a rating that indicates your effectiveness as a spam fighter. Highly-rated users have more influence in the network than low-rated users, protecting the accuracy of Cloudmark Desktop for all users.

  1. Unknown email

    An email message arrives at your computer.

  2. Email fingerprint

    Cloudmark Desktop calculates the message's "fingerprints" and sends the message fingerprints to Cloudmark.

  3. Community

    Cloudmark compares the message's fingerprints with those of messages that other users have blocked as spam or phishing.

  4. Good Email

    If the message's fingerprints do not match any known spam or phishing fingerprints, Cloudmark delivers the message to your Inbox.

  5. Bad Email

    If the message's fingerprints match those of messages already known to be spam or phishing, Cloudmark moves it to your spam folder.