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| [May 24, 2005] |
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MX Logic Applauds FTC Recommendations for ISP Cooperation to Curb Internet Pollution
DENVER --(Business Wire)-- May 24, 2005 -- Leading Email Defense Company Also Announces Beta Program for MX Logic(R) Sender Reputation Gateway (SRG); Technology Designed to Provide ISPs with Tool to Stop Outbound Email Abuse
MX Logic, Inc., a leading provider of innovative email defense solutions that ensure email protection and security for businesses, service providers, government organizations, resellers and their customers, today applauded Federal Trade Commission (FTC) efforts to encourage Internet service providers (ISPs) to take steps to stop outbound email abuse.
The company also announced a beta program for the MX Logic Sender Reputation Gateway (SRG), carrier-grade software designed specifically to provide ISPs with intelligence on outbound email abuse and individual sender reputation and behavior. The beta program will begin in August, with commercial availability of SRG scheduled for the fourth quarter. Verio, a subsidiary of NTT Communications and a leader in global IP solutions, has already agreed to participate in the beta program.
"The FTC is to be commended for its leadership role in spurring action to stop outbound email abuse," said Scott Chasin, chief technology officer, MX Logic, Inc. "In addition to public policy and industry cooperation, a comprehensive solution to the abuse of outbound email will require robust technology that gives service providers insight into the behavior of individual senders, without compromising user privacy," Chasin said. "We've seen this outbound abuse problem snowballing for some time and have developed the MX Logic Sender Reputation Gateway to fight this battle."
The FTC recommendations are a follow-on to "Operation Secure Your Server," an educational effort supported by over 30 government agencies worldwide that was initially created to let individuals and organizations know that spammers can abuse their mail servers or proxy servers. Today's FTC recommendations include blocking port 25 for inappropriate use, and identifying and quarantining customers with suspicious emailing patterns.
Problem of Outbound Email Abuse
Recent data from the MX Logic(R) Threat Center shows that, during April, on average zombie PCs accounted for 44 percent of all spam. Zombie PCs are neglected, "always-connected" broadband PCs that spammers hijack by installing a spam Trojan. Once infected, these zombie PCs provide worm authors with remote command-and-control spam-distribution capabilities, allowing them to create a legion of zombie computers that can pump out unwanted email and initiate Denial of Service (DoS) attacks.
"The abuse of Internet email by spammers and others has levied a heavy cost on ISPs and email end users and has had the overall effect of degrading email as a communications medium," Chasin said. "So far this year alone, millions of email users have been unknowingly blacklisted, often through no fault of their own."
For example, over 900,000 customers of British-based service provider Telewest were blacklisted earlier this month by the Spam Prevention Early Warning System (SPEWS), largely as a result of the customers' PCs being unwittingly hijacked and turned into spam zombies.
"In this new world of email authentication protocols like Sender ID and Sender Policy Framework (SPF), an ISP's reputation determines whether or not a subscriber's email will make it to the recipient or end up in the spam bit-bucket," Chasin said. "At the end of the day, it is ISPs and email end users who suffer the most from the rogue behavior of a few bad actors."
MX Logic Announces Beta Program for Sender Reputation Gateway
(SRG)
The MX Logic(R) SRG is a new generation of technology designed to combat outbound email abuse. It introduces three innovations to outbound email defense and abuse containment -- identity management, behavioral analysis and sender reputation. Rather than focusing solely on filtering unwanted inbound email, SRG allows ISPs to monitor the behavior of their subscribers at the point of email submission and stop email threats before they leave their networks.
"The MX Logic SRG is the first ISP email anti-abuse solution developed specifically for detecting and stopping outbound email abuse," Chasin said. "The bad guys have proven to be very resourceful in avoiding detection. The MX Logic SRG will tie the actual email sender's identity to a reputation that is constructed from advanced behavioral analysis, similar to how anti-fraud tools are used in the consumer credit card industry."
The MX Logic SRG provides ISPs with a flexible enforcement point for their Acceptable Use Policies (AUPs), while also delivering unprecedented visibility of subscriber abuse and outbound email pollution. For example, a service provider's abuse team can leverage SRG to identify specific cases of subscriber abuse or hijacks, provide end-user remediation and avoid third-party blacklisting.
"We're balancing a user's need for privacy with the ISP's responsibility to police their subscribers," Chasin said. The MX Logic SRG analyzes an individual sender's behavioral patterns in conjunction with traditional spam filtering, thereby alleviating privacy concerns.
In addition to reducing the bandwidth and system costs of processing and sending illegal spam, the MX Logic SRG also protects the global email service reputation of ISPs. This is particularly important if they implement the FTC recommendation to block Port 25, which will result in spam flowing through ISPs' own outbound mail servers.
"The MX Logic SRG gives ISPs a much-needed tool to measure the health of their subscribers, enforce AUPs, and detect who is infected and abusing the ISP's email network," Chasin said.
For More Information on the MX Logic SRG
More information on MX Logic SRG can be found at http://www.mxlogic.com/solutions/sender_reputation_gateway.html. The MX Logic White Paper "Stopping Outbound Spam, Viruses and Phishing Attacks" is available for download from the MX Logic website at http://www.mxlogic.com/resources/SRG/outboundspam_form.html. If you are interested in participating in the MX Logic SRG beta program, please send an email to srg-info@mxlogic.com.
About MX Logic
MX Logic, Inc., provides innovative email defense solutions that ensure email protection and security for businesses, service providers, government organizations, and resellers and their customers. The company's feature-rich solution suite is the industry's most comprehensive, flexible and easy to use.
Founded by messaging industry pioneers, MX Logic has delivered numerous industry firsts to the enterprise spam market, including becoming the first managed service provider to: leverage Bayesian Statistical Classification; provide spam beacon ("Web bug") blocking; offer quarantine management via email; provide corporate-level quarantine release reports that help reduce inappropriate email while decreasing corporate liability; and deliver a solution for tracking URL click-throughs from email to the Web, providing increased corporate control and security.
MX Logic processes billions of messages each month for over 4,100 organizations worldwide, including EnCana, Hyundai Motor America, ServiceMaster, The Sports Authority, Verio Inc., and YMCA. In addition, MX Logic is the only email defense company to offer both a managed service and a turnkey, carrier-grade software solution for service providers. For more information, visit www.mxlogic.com.
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