Duke, San Jose State University Add Cloudmark Authority Plug-in For Apache SpamAssassin

PRESS RELEASE

SAN FRANCISCO--JANUARY 12, 2008-Cloudmark, Inc., the global leader in carrier-grade messaging security, today announced that departments at several top universities, including Duke University, San Jose State University and several ivy league schools have successfully adopted the Cloudmark Authority plug-in for SpamAssassin(tm). Recognizing the growing onslaught of messaging abuse aimed at students and faculty, these educational institutions have selected Cloudmark Authority to improve message filtering accuracy, increase system performance and enhance their existing messaging security defenses to better protect users.

Universities and colleges face unique challenges when it comes to messaging security. Often, campus departments find themselves using disparate anti-spam solutions, increasing both administration and infrastructure costs, as well as complicating the process of effectively protecting students and faculty from abuse. Further, school IT departments are tasked with protecting not only current students and faculty, but also a growing number of alumni who continue to use campus e-mail addresses after graduation. Schools must find ways to provide effective messaging security and a positive user experience for thousands of users while often adhering to strict budget constraints.

SpamAssassin is the most widely deployed open source spam filtering solution and many universities, including Duke and San Jose State had the system already installed. As the spam problem ballooned, many administrators recognized the need to scale their systems to meet growing spam volumes, but also needed a cost-effective solution that would not require them to replace existing infrastructure investments.

"With the amount of spam increasing for both students and faculty in the Computer Science Department, we realized that we needed to enhance our existing filtering solution," said Joe Shamblin, Computer Science Department, Duke University. "The Cloudmark Authority plug-in integrated seamlessly into our existing messaging system, requires minimal administration and has significantly reduced the amount of spam getting through to user inboxes. Our ability to enhance protection against email-borne threats has also led to fewer complaints from our users about spam issues and delivers an overall improved experience for students, faculty and alumni."

Cloudmark Authority offers the industry's fastest and most accurate spam, phishing and virus protection, achieving more than 98 percent accuracy with near-zero false positives. It utilizes a combination of Advanced Message FingerprintingTM algorithms and real-time corroborated feedback from the Global Threat Network system. Cloudmark Authority rapidly detects messaging abuse using an in-memory cache of verified fingerprints that updates every 45 seconds to catch the latest threat outbreaks. The Cloudmark Authority plug-in integrates into virtually any SpamAssassin environment, leveraging existing policies, databases and rules, cuts CPU/server requirements and frees IT resources by reducing administrative time. Universities and colleges that have implemented the Cloudmark Authority plug-in have experienced dramatic and immediate results, with some spam detection rates increasing by more than 100 percent.

"Universities like Duke and San Jose State have seen a significant boost in their ability to combat messaging abuse since deploying the Cloudmark Authority plug-in," commented Jamie de Guerre, CTO of Cloudmark. "These campuses are a model for academic institutions looking for ways to protect users against the new wave of spam, phishing and virus attacks while also protecting IT investments. With solutions like the Cloudmark Authority plug-in, organizations now have an efficient, cost-effective way to deliver the highest levels of security and protection and we look forward to continuing to work closely with our partners in education on this important effort."

Cloudmark Authority is an out-of-the box solution, which integrates with virtually any Apache SpamAssassin environment. Like Apache SpamAssassin, Cloudmark Authority is compatible with a wide variety of e-mail systems, including procmail, sendmail, Postfix, qmail and many others. SpamAssassin customers can request a free trial of Cloudmark Authority for SpamAssassin here: http://www.cloudmark.com/landing/sa/.

More information on Cloudmark Authority for Apache SpamAssassin is available at: http://www.cloudmark.com/en/serviceproviders/authority-spamassassin.html/.

About Cloudmark Cloudmark, Inc. is a global leader in carrier-grade messaging security, delivering the most accurate, high-performance and comprehensive real-time spam, virus and phishing protection for fixed, mobile and social networks. Cloudmark patented solutions combine Advanced Message Fingerprinting technology based on innovative, highly efficient algorithms and a Global Threat Network consisting of trusted reporters in every country across the globe to provide security intelligence and filtering at all points of the messaging infrastructure. Cloudmark solutions protect more than 850 million mailboxes for the world's largest service provider networks, including over 75 percent of major ISPs in the United States and Japan. Cloudmark's customers include Swisscom, EarthLink, Comcast, Tele2, Thus, NTT OCN and XS4ALL (KPN) as well as leading hosting providers, Mailtrust, domainFACTORY, Intergenia and others. Cloudmark is a privately held company headquartered in San Francisco with offices in London, Tokyo, Beijing and Hong Kong. For more information, please visit http://www.cloudmark.com. Media contact: Marisa Borgasano Schwartz Communications, Inc. [email protected] (415) 512-0770