Press Release - For Immediate Release
IronPort Innovates with Web Reputation Technology - Enhancing IronPort's Anti-Spam System
IronPort Email Security Appliances Use Web Reputation Technology to Keep Networks Safe from Spam, Viruses, Phishing, and Spyware Attacks
SAN BRUNO, Calif. and ORLANDO, FL - January 23, 2006 - IronPort Systems Inc., the leader in email security, today announced at Lotusphere 2006, IronPort Web Reputation technology, an innovative approach used by IronPort's industry leading multi-layer anti-spam system. IronPort's Web Reputation technology measures the behavior and traffic patterns of a web site to assess its trustworthiness. Three years ago, IronPort revolutionized email security with the invention of email reputation as a technique to stop spam—an approach that many competitors have attempted to emulate. Today, as spammers continue to adopt new tactics, technologies such as IronPort's dynamic SenderBase and all new Web Reputation technology are required to remain one step ahead. With IronPort Web Reputation technology, a more accurate analysis of a message can be performed. This enables IronPort to immediately protect IronPort anti-spam users from spam, viruses, phishing and spyware threats.
Today's Blended Threats are Highly Sophisticated
Spam, viruses, phishing and spyware all have one thing in common. They are tools used by criminals and illicit marketers to make profits. The profits from these activities fund the development of new, more potent threats. In December 2005, the Federal Trade Commission published a report* concluding that spam has become more targeted and devious. Today's spam bypasses traditional content-based filters and uses a URL to deliver the spam message. Similarly, virus writers are increasingly using URLs embedded in emails to distribute the infected file and bypass traditional anti-virus defenses.
"In the last 6 months, we have seen a 200% increase in email borne spyware," said Tom Gillis, senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing at IronPort Systems. "Clearly, the authors of these threats are blending email, web and even IM technologies to find the weak spot in the network."
Outsmart the Bad Guys, Out Play the Competition
Traditional filters look primarily at the content of the email, but this approach has declined in its effectiveness in the face of new tactics. IronPort's Reputation System broadens the context in which the message is evaluated, improving catch rate and accuracy. Today's more sophisticated threats make extensive use of URLs in an effort to thwart existing defenses. To combat these threats, IronPort has applied the concept of reputation to the web. IronPort's Web Reputation technology tracks over 45 different network parameters to accurately evaluate the reputation of a given web site.
"With email threats on the rise and threat writers constantly evolving spamming techniques to penetrate companies' existing defenses, a multi-layered malware defense is critical," said Kristoffer Kullberg, IT Security Specialist at Danderyd Kommun, a Swedish City Council. "Utilizing both best-of-breed conventional techniques and IronPort's revolutionary context-sensitive detection technology, IronPort protects from the broadest range of known and emerging email threats. We chose IronPort over our prior outsourced solution. It has removed our problem with false positives and minimized our administration."
Data Makes the Difference
The key to reputation accuracy is a large, diverse data set. IronPort's SenderBase Network is unsurpassed in terms of quantity of data and breadth of data. SenderBase is the world's largest email and web traffic monitoring network fed by over 100,000 contributing sources, including 8 of the 10 largest ISPs, Fortune 500 and Global 2000 enterprises and sources from every major geography and customer segment.
Web Reputation is the newest, most powerful addition to IronPort's multi-layer anti-spam system. The system is designed to evaluate a message's full context by analyzing what the message contains, its construction, the reputation of who sent it, where it is sending you, to accurately distinguish friend from foe.
"Reputation is based on network parameters that are almost impossible to obfuscate", said Patrick Peterson, vice president of technology at IronPort Systems. "Email and web reputation broaden the context in which a message is evaluated delivering industry leading accuracy for IronPort Anti-Spam".
The combination of both email reputation and the innovative and new web reputation was a decisive factor for us choosing the IronPort Anti-Spam solution," said Carsten Allendörfer, Head of Systems Department at the University of Mainz, Germany. "After a long and comprehensive evaluation phase, IronPort Anti-Spam turned out to be the solution with the highest quality standard."
IronPort's Web Reputation technology is part of IronPort Anti-Spam. It available now for IronPort Anti-Spam customers worldwide. No software upgrade is required.
About IronPort Systems
IronPort Systems is the leading email security provider for organizations ranging from small businesses to the Global 2000. The company has developed a family of email security appliances, the IronPort C-Series™, that offer breakthrough performance, unprecedented ease of use, and reduced total cost of ownership. IronPort is driving new standards and providing innovative products for those faced with the monumental task of managing, protecting, and growing mission-critical email systems. For more information on IronPort products and services, visit: http://www.ironport.com.
* Federal Trade Commission - Effectiveness and Enforcement of the CAN-SPAM Act: A Report to Congress - Dec 2005
Press / Analysts
If you are a reporter or analyst and want more information on IronPort Systems please contact:
David Oro at (415) 885-9898 or dto@theorogroup.com
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