Corvigo Mailgate Appliance - New Anti Spam Tool

Corvigo's Mailgate is different than most traditional spam filtering products. It is an appliance, so there is no server to purchase, or software to install. This allows the device to be setup fairly quickly. And because Corvigo Mailgate is a stand alone appliance, it will work with any email system.

An appliance is a hardware device that comes with its software application preinstalled. The benefit of an appliance is that the hardware and software come preconfigured, so the setup time is decreased significantly. The downside of an appliance is that the hardware / software configurations are much less flexible and scalable, and the device can typically only be used for a single function.

The Mailgate product uses Intent Based Filtering Technology (IFT). This filtering technology determines the purpose of the message sent. Is it a mass email? Is it merely an advertisement? Is the message offensive? After being examined by the filter, mail is then classified into three different categories "bulk," "junk" and "legitimate" email. Bulk email is mass email sent from a potentially legitimate sender. For example, an email from Amazon.com regarding their latest sale might be labeled as "bulk." "Junk" mail is the category for standard unsolicited mail such as email advertising mortgage loans, weight loss programs, etc.

Corvigo Mailgate provides several options for processing mail. Users can have their "bulk" and "junk" mail blocked, the mail can be sent through with the prefix [BULK] or [JUNK] added to the subject text, or the mail can be sent through to the user without modification. When users choose to have their "junk" or "bulk" mail blocked, Mailgate can be set to send a report with a list of blocked emails to the user on a regular basis. If a user would like to receive one of the blocked emails, they simply click the link on the report and Mailgate forwards the message to the user's inbox.

One of the disadvantages of many traditional enterprise spam filters is high administrative overhead. Most anti spam products use filters that search for certain subject lines or keywords in an email. The search criteria are entered into lists that constantly must be updated to block the latest spam. An administrator also may have to sort through huge volumes of blocked email to find legitimate email. Generally, only the IT staff can release blocked email, so users are forced to call them to release legitimate mail that was caught in the junk filter.

Corvigo Mailgate requires very little administration from the IT staff. Since it uses IFT, there are no filtering rules that need to be updated or modified. There is also no "blocked email" queue that administrators have to sort through on a regular basis to release legitimate email.

There are several competing products that offer similar spam filtering technology including MessageLabs anti spam service and Postini. These products are both services, so the email is filtered outside the firm's network. The benefit of these services is that they are less expensive than Corvigo, and also offer other options such as virus scanning and porn scanning. Messagelabs does not store email, so each email must be processed and then forwarded as they are received. There is no option to get a report listing blocked emails that could be released by the user. The processing options for Messagelabs are tag and forward, redirect to new address, or delete. Postini offers different options. Spam email can either be quarantined in a web-based, password-protected message center for administrator or end-user review, or tagged and delivered.

Any firm looking to upgrade their mail filtering solution, or looking for a new solution, may be interested the products mentioned above. Some of the vendors mentioned also offer trial periods for their products. Please contact KKL for more info.

Several articles have appeared recently about the Corvigo Mailgate product. Links to the articles are listed below:

Corvigo Announces Success in the Legal & High-Tech Industries
High-Speed Networking Giant Finisar Uses New Intent-Based Filter Technology to Stop Spam
RSA Conference Attendees in San Francisco See New Image-Spam Filtering Technology
Law Firm Discovers New Intent-Based Filtering Technology^TM Kills Spam Before it Reaches the Blackberry^TM
 

Copyright © 2010 Kraft & Kennedy, Inc.
Contact     Site Map