Spam Filter Solutions from SECURE COMPUTING®

Filtering Spam from Your Network

Nearly 85 percent of all email messages sent are spam, according to Secure Computing research (http://www.securecomputing.com/index.cfm?skey=1739). A network without an efficient spam filter is at a tremendous disadvantage, regardless of what other security systems may be in place. Uncontrolled spam presents serious dangers to the network; it goes far beyond simply taking up employees' time with annoying sales pitches. Spam may be part of a blended threat, which attempts to direct unsuspecting users to web sites that contain malware that auto-downloads, or it may contain malware directly within the email itself. The spam filter is an essential element of an enterprise's security infrastructure, because it helps to preserve bandwidth, increase productivity, and keep the network safe from spam-related malware threats.

Because spam takes so many different forms and comes from so many different sources, it takes a multi-layered strategy to eliminate it from your network. The spam filters offered by Secure Computing in its IronMail and Edge product lines deliver state-of-the-art inbound and outbound protection against spam and other message-layer threats. The spam filter presented by Secure Computing has proven to be highly effective and accurate; but to present the best level of protection possible, multiple technologies must be used.

Accompanying the spam filter is technology to detect and prevent "zombie" networks. Spammers often rely on zombie networks to disseminate their product, taking over thousands of unsuspecting computers to avoid being traced. Part of spam protection is preventing your own network from being used as part of a spammer's zombie network. When a spammer hijacks your network in his way, it not only drains your own network's computing power, but also may harm your reputation. In a recent average month, Secure Computing detected an average of 236,540 new zombie nodes per day. The outbound protection provided by Secure Computing's gateway security appliances detects zombie activity and stops it immediately; also, the included TrustedSource global reputation technology analyzes the reputation of each sender, as well as the reputation of each message itself, to determine the likelihood of any given message being malicious.

Phishing attacks, a type of spam attack, are among the most difficult to detect, and Secure Computing research detects over 17,000 phishing attacks every month. Spam filter technology forms an effective front line against phishing attacks, however, Secure Computing's anti-phishing strategy combines multiple products to combat this threat.

All Secure Computing appliances are integrated with TrustedSource™ technology, a spam filter environment that creates a dynamic reputation score for every single IP and domain worldwide. This scoring system creates an effective spam filter environment that eliminates almost all spam at the gateway, before it can even enter the network. In addition to increased effectiveness, the TrustedSource reputation system helps you manage your email volume, by identifying and blocking known bad IP addresses at the gateway.

Through use of the spam filter, outbound protection, and reputation technology, all available in Secure Computing's web, mail, and network defenses, you can stop spam before it even gets into the network.