Message Systems and Commtouch Partner to Combat Spam, Viruses for ISPs
Wednesday, 28 March 2007
E-mail software solutions provider Message Systems and Commtouch® today announced that the two companies are working together to provide real-time threat protection solutions to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) on a high volume e-mail delivery platform.
The growing volumes and variety of spam and malware — especially image spam and virus variants emitted by botnets — have eluded traditional anti-spam and AV engines in the past year. As a result, the ISP’s job of protecting their customers has become increasingly more complex.
Under the terms of the OEM licensing agreement, Message Systems has embedded Commtouch’s Anti-Spam, Zero-Hour™ Virus Outbreak Protection and Reputation Service technologies into its e-mail software solution effective immediately. ISPs can optionally select to employ one or all three of the Commtouch solutions.
"By running Commtouch anti-threat solutions natively on the Message Systems e-mail solution, we are presenting ISPs with a comprehensive turnkey carrier solution capable of handling massive amounts of e-mail per second," said Barry Abel, Message Systems’ vice president of field operations. "Together, we stop all types of spam and viruses at the perimeter in real-time in a completely automated manner before the malware can penetrate the network."
Message Systems comprehensive software solution can deliver millions of unique messages per hour, making it the one of the fastest e-mail delivery system on the market. It allows multiple servers to work in unison and be managed from a single enterprise console. A comprehensive policy management module features a full threat prevention matrix and the ability to select best-in-class anti-spam and antivirus solutions to protect the network and end users.
"While this partnership is strategically valuable for our continued growth within the ISP market, it is especially gratifying for us when highly innovative e-mail solution providers like Message Systems entrust us with the mission of providing their customers with the best possible protection against illegal senders," said Jay Goldin, Commtouch’s vice president of North American business development.
Commtouch’s content-agnostic solutions protect mailboxes from viruses and spam the moment an outbreak occurs, and are successful at defending against fresh threats, such as animated image-based spam, or new strains of viruses. Commtouch’s patented Recurrent Pattern Detection™ (RPD™) technology is at the heart of the company’s real-time spam blocking, Zero-Hour Virus Outbreak Protection and Reputation Service offerings. Recognized by independent research groups and industry analysts as a ground-breaking messaging security strategy, RPD technology analyzes the distribution patterns of billions of messages, and the reputation of hundreds of millions of senders, to identify new malware outbreaks as soon as they are introduced into the Internet.
"An integrated, layered approach to e-mail threat prevention is the most effective way for ISPs to stop pipe-clogging spam, repel viruses and keep customers protected," said Dan Yachin, research director at IDC EMEA Emerging Technologies. "Combining high-speed e-mail delivery with multi-layered security protection on a single platform creates a highly manageable system that will continue to protect even as new threats emerge."
The three security tiers in the integrated Message Systems-Commtouch solution include Traffic Flow Control to block abuse at the edge, Aggressive Filtering comprised of anti-spam, anti-virus and reputation engines at the center layer, and Backend System Connectivity for innermost layer protection to satisfy mail flow requirements between external systems and achieve complete abuse policy enforcement.