Exchange must have anti-spam filtering installed.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-228393	EX16-MB-000490	SV-228393r879653_rule		Medium

Description
Originators of spam messages are constantly changing their techniques in order to defeat spam countermeasures; therefore, spam software must be constantly updated to address the changing threat. A manual update procedure is labor intensive and does not scale well in an enterprise environment. This risk may be mitigated by using an automatic update capability. Spam protection mechanisms include, for example, signature definitions, rule sets, and algorithms. Exchange 2016 provides both anti-spam and anti-malware protection out of the box. The Exchange 2016 anti-spam and anti-malware product capabilities are limited but still provide some protection.

Description

Originators of spam messages are constantly changing their techniques in order to defeat spam countermeasures; therefore, spam software must be constantly updated to address the changing threat. A manual update procedure is labor intensive and does not scale well in an enterprise environment. This risk may be mitigated by using an automatic update capability. Spam protection mechanisms include, for example, signature definitions, rule sets, and algorithms. Exchange 2016 provides both anti-spam and anti-malware protection out of the box. The Exchange 2016 anti-spam and anti-malware product capabilities are limited but still provide some protection.

STIG	Date
Microsoft Exchange 2016 Mailbox Server Security Technical Implementation Guide	2023-09-13

Details

Check Text ( C-30626r496975_chk )
Review the Email Domain Security Plan (EDSP). Note: If using another DoD-approved antispam product for email or a DoD-approved email gateway spamming device, such as Enterprise Email Security Gateway (EEMSG), this is not applicable (NA). Open the Exchange Management Shell and enter the following command: Get-ContentFilterConfig \| Format-Table Name,Enabled If no value is returned, this is a finding.

Check Text ( C-30626r496975_chk )

Review the Email Domain Security Plan (EDSP).

Note: If using another DoD-approved antispam product for email or a DoD-approved email gateway spamming device, such as Enterprise Email Security Gateway (EEMSG), this is not applicable (NA).

Open the Exchange Management Shell and enter the following command:

Get-ContentFilterConfig | Format-Table Name,Enabled

If no value is returned, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-30611r496976_fix)
Update the EDSP with the anti-spam mechanism used. Install the AntiSpam module. Open the Exchange Management Shell and enter the following command: & $env:ExchangeInstallPath\Scripts\Install-AntiSpamAgents.ps1