This white paper provides a comprehensive look at spam; from its early days to where we are today in terms of managing the daily threats. With a strong policy, education and policy enforcement, and a multi-layer content security solution, organizations can address every kind of threat to its networks and its business; regardless of whether the threats are inbound or outbound.
There is little doubt among most email users and IT departments that spam is still a major issue. In fact, there is little sign of spam slowing down. While numbers dipped in 2006, image spam allowed spammers to gain a temporary advantage over security solutions, and spam vol-ume has continued to increase. Advancements in technology have equally bene? ted both sides of the spam picture and analysts and security specialists agree, there is no perfect defense. In spite of this, best of breed defense systems are now delivering more than 99 percent effective-Clearswift ness, helping to unclutter inboxes and providing comprehensive email hygiene. Yet the once www.clearswift.com mostly annoying uninvited messages have now become more than just a storage and productiv-ity concern; they have become carriers for potentially even more harmful threats. As a result, companies are having to deploy "multiple detection techniques and continue to innovate and react to spam techniques." (Firstbrook, Peter, "Benchmarking Anti-Spam Effectiveness," Gartner, September 18, 2007)
Threats continue to become more sophisticated. Threats come by way of email and the Web and in new forms all the time and Web 2.0 channels are opening new routes for Malware to enter the network. The challenge of dealing with spam remains a primary concern for businesses and reducing the burden on IT is always a top priority. Giving IT opportunities to secure and protect both email and the Web with the right tools is common sense.
Email hygiene, which incorporates defenses against spam, viruses, malware, spyware, etc., is really only one aspect of overall email content ? ltering and security. Certainly ? ltering inbound messages provides a level of security that continues to help organizations manage inbound threats - the keyword being 'manage' because complete elimination is probably never going to be likely. Beyond the inbound threats, companies are facing challenges with preventing data from leaking through the same communications channel.
This newsletter provides a comprehensive look at spam; from its early days to where we are to-day in terms of managing the daily threats. With a strong policy, education and policy enforce-ment, and a multi-layer content security solution, organizations can address every kind of threat to its networks and its business; regardless of whether the threats are inbound or outbound.Sincerely, Stephen MillardVP of MarketingClearswift
In this issue
.From the Gartner Files: Benchmarking Anti-Spam Effectiveness, 2007 2.Spam: Then and Now From pyramid schemes on Usenet to "Making a Fortune on the Superhighway" 4.Anti-Spam is STILL Business Critical 6Featuring Research From .Clearswift Anti-Spam in Action 8.Clearswift Products 9.About Clearswift 10Benchmarking Anti-Spam Effectiveness, 2007
As anti-spam solutions begin to reach adolescence, users and IT organizations are beginning to wonder how their spam solutions stack up against industry averages. End users want to ensure that the IT organization is doing the best job possible at keeping spam at bay. IT organiza-tions typically are interested in comparing their solutions to best-of-breed solutions - and in setting more-realistic expectations with end users. What level of false-positive and false-negative scoring is acceptable? How are false negatives - spam that makes it into the in-box - measured anyway? And just exactly how much time should mail administrators be spending on this problem? As with most issues, there are diminishing returns in the approach to perfection.
Key Findings innovate and react to new spam techniques. These conditions favor . Spam volumes expressed as a percentage of e-mail will continue to dedicated, better-capitalized companies that can afford more R&D and grow, but they will be increasingly erratic as spam campaigns become have a larger customer base from which they can draw early samples of more concentrated. Eighty-? ve percent to 90% of all e-mail that most new spam techniques, and those that can ? ne-tune their defenses in real organizations receive is spam. time by pushing new spam rules and signatures. Point-in-time effective-. Spam effectiveness must continue to grow with spam volumes. Best- ness ratings are not as useful as the track of ratings over time. Effective-of-breed anti-spam effectiveness is 99% or more. ness graphs must be relatively ? at over long periods of time - including .... [download for more]
