Introduction
For over a decade, the New Team of Weapons and Tactics traditionally provided a managed email account to every member who joined the organization. This was a functional necessity during our tenure with the Google Apps cloud service to facilitate access to collaborative tools, internal forms, and shared documentation.
In February 2022, the New Team of Weapons and Tactics underwent a significant infrastructure transition. We migrated away from third-party cloud hosting in favor of a custom, self-hosted on-premise solution. This move was designed to increase our direct control over organizational data and reduce reliance on external service providers.
Following this migration, the New Team of Weapons and Tactics updated its security standards and resource allocation policies. Under current practices, new members are no longer automatically issued an email account. Presently, email services are reserved for authorized staff members (holding the rank of Sergeant or above) and select veteran members (ranked Corporal) who opted to retain their existing accounts during the 2022 transitional period.
Table of Contents
- Inbound Security and Threat Analysis
- Outbound Delivery and Relay Standards
- Data Privacy and Third-Party Interaction
- Account Eligibility and Maintenance
Inbound Security and Threat Analysis
To protect the New Team of Weapons and Tactics from modern cyber threats, all inbound electronic mail must pass through a multi-layered security gateway before reaching a recipient's inbox. This process includes:
- Signature Analysis: Emails are scanned against a local database of known malicious patterns and viruses.
- Reputation Filtering: The sending server's IP address and any embedded URLs are verified against global threat intelligence databases to block known sources of spam and phishing.
- Heuristic and Behavioral Scanning: Advanced logic is applied to identify suspicious phrasing or unusual attachment behavior that may indicate "Zero-Day" threats.
- Cloud Detonation: In instances where an attachment is deemed highly suspicious but its threat status is unknown, the file may be analyzed in a secure, isolated third-party environment to observe its behavior before it is allowed into our internal network.
Outbound Delivery and Relay Standards
Maintaining a high deliverability rating is essential to ensure that official communications from the New Team of Weapons and Tactics do not end up in the "Spam" or "Junk" folders of our recipients. To accomplish this, the New Team of Weapons and Tactics utilizes a professional third-party outbound relay service.
This configuration ensures that our emails are delivered via highly-reputable IP addresses that are compliant with modern email authentication standards, such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. This minimizes the impact of local network blacklists and ensures reliable communication with external partners and organizations.
Data Privacy and Third-Party Interaction
The New Team of Weapons and Tactics prioritizes the privacy of its members; however, users should understand that "self-hosted" does not mean "completely isolated." To maintain a high level of security, some data must interact with third-party security services:
- Technical Metadata: Information such as sender IPs, recipient addresses, and message headers are routinely shared with security vendors to determine if a message is legitimate.
- Suspicious Samples: As noted in our security analysis section, unknown or suspicious attachments may be uploaded to a secure third-party analysis service for detonation and testing.
- Relay Transparency: Outbound messages are briefly processed by our relay provider to facilitate delivery. These providers typically scan for outbound spam to maintain their network reputation.
The New Team of Weapons and Tactics does not permit these third-party services to store message content for any longer than is technically required to perform security verification or delivery.
Account Eligibility and Maintenance
Email accounts provided to veteran members and authorized staff are considered "Legacy Support" or "Administrative" assets. The following management policies apply:
- Support Level: These accounts are provided as a courtesy and are generally managed on a "hands-off" basis. Technical support for individual deliverability issues or client-side configuration is not provided.
- Rank Requirements: Staff must maintain a rank of Sergeant or higher to be eligible for a new organizational email account.
- Termination: If a member leaves the New Team of Weapons and Tactics or is demoted below the required rank for cause, the associated email account and its contents may be decommissioned without prior notice.