We're receiving thousands of emails a week into our helpdesk (Cerberus). I'm wondering how others are managing this issue. Is there a way to eliminate spam from entering the helpdesk completely? Perhaps allowing only web based submission of tickets? Is this possible?

I'm wondering how others are managing this issue

Well, utilizing proper spam reduction procedures is a start.

Reject the messages which are clearly spam, or have no verifiable sender.
Use RBLs
Use SARE
Use Razor

Have you set up the internal spam filtering within Cerberus? It isn't on by default, it requires some manual effort.

Thanks for your input, but I am looking more towards a solution to eliminate spam which may be built into helpdesk software such as Cerberus or Kayako. Can the helpdesk say, be configured to only allow web based submission of tickets?

There is a built in spam system, and further than that you might be better off consulting the developers of the helpdesk software you are using or want to use.

We are already using the Cerberus built in spam filter. This works fine by dumping all the spam into one spam queue for manual verification. This process takes far too much time. What we want to achieve is a system whereby all spam into the helpdesk is eliminated (as we pay for SMS notifications for each ticket created), and spam entering the helpdesk with SMS notifications is a very costly proposition.

I think the solution to this is to only allow web based submission of tickets. Is anyone else doing this? Is it possible with Cerberus or Kayako?

Unfortunately, this is a slippery slope. You don't want to "ban" a possible customer request. I think the safest way to do something like this is to force web submission, and have auto-repliers from support@yourdomain.com stating something like "Please login to the account member center, etc etc etc..."

Thats what I was thinking. But can this be done with Kayako or Cerberus? Do you know? Is anyone doing this?

We're receiving thousands of emails a week into our helpdesk (Cerberus). I'm wondering how others are managing this issue. Is there a way to eliminate spam from entering the helpdesk completely? Perhaps allowing only web based submission of tickets? Is this possible?

Hello
We also had similar problems, tried all kind of solutions, but nothing worked, finally we have taken spam filtering service from mailroute.net

It just costs 2$ per mailbox, and now we hardly get 1-2 spam in a week.

Greets

What you need to do is disable email submission of tickets completely.
Use an autoreponder asking them to submit ticket online.

Customers can get angry if they are unable to respond by email to existing tickets.
The following solution will fix this 99%

Edit your email template (in kayako etc..) for your replies. so that instead of including the reply in the message body, it just sends an URL where they must view the reply online.
Make it look like the same format as a forum "topic reply notification" which people are well used to.

Thanks for your input.

I'm surprised that more hosts have not chipped in on this thread and posted how they are handling their helpdesks in terms of spam. Has anyone actually disabled the entry of direct email into their helpdesk, and only allowed web based submission?

I would be interested to hear of any hosts who are actually using this model right now, and whether or not it is working for them and their clients.

We require the user to register for a helpdesk account before they can submit a ticket using either email or web submission.

This way, only submissions from a valid account are recognized.

I believe Cerberus has this ability, too.