Brother International & State of Massachusetts Support Messaging Security Best Practices in New Clearswift White Paper.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- Clearswift sponsors White Paper that provides a holistic view of anti-spam, anti-virus, policy enforcement and regulatory compliance

Clearswift, the MIMEsweeper(TM) Company and world's #1 in Content Security, today announced the availability of a new white paper, "Messaging Security: A Holistic View of Antispam, Antivirus, Policy Enforcement and Regulatory Compliance." Written for business managers, financial and security auditors and IT Executives, this white paper provides a comprehensive view of messaging security, providing detail on the "critical ingredients for optimizing security, preventing spam, and enforcing privacy and regulation compliance across the enterprise messaging environment. It also outlines the true cost of spam and the value of antispam solutions in addition to the impact of privacy and regulation risks on individual industries."

The White Paper, written by IDC and sponsored by Clearswift, provides the reader with suggestions on how to deal with email threats.

"It is clear that the market for messaging security is growing and the task of addressing these issues is increasing for both IT managers and businesses as a whole," said Brian Burke, Research Manager, Security Products at IDC. "While spam is an issue today, regulatory compliance initiatives must be addressed as deadlines are more strictly imposed. Viruses, worms and malicious code are not going away. - Instead, the threats are more sophisticated than ever. Organizations need to take a holistic view of security and clearly understand what is required to address each of these areas."

Spam

With the rapid growth of spam in email, it is crucial that organizations have a firm understanding of the impact of spam and the benefit of effective enterprise-level anti-spam solutions.

Spam requires that users and Corporate IT Staff spend time dealing with unwanted email resulting in lost productivity. Robust antispam solutions reduce downtime for email users by 50%, according to details provided by IDC in the white paper. This is a 50% reduction translating into $783,000 in email user productivity per year for a 5000 email user firm. Antispam solutions also reduce corporate IT staff productivity loss by 56%--resulting in $13,000 in productivity gains per year from reduced time dealing with spam.

In addition to productivity gains, other benefits from implementation of anti-spam solution include savings in storage costs, and reduction in legal exposure. As users are not exposed to offensive spam as often, the risk of corporate liability is reduced.

"Spam, viruses, lost productivity and issues with legal liability are concerns for IT and executives in organizations today," said Adam Ludlow, senior network administrator at Brother International. "I've seen a lot of interesting material pass through my network. The bulk of the spam and other useless mail is stopped by MIMEsweeper. MIMEsweeper helps us keep tabs on the mail, secure our network and ensure our user's productivity."

Regulatory Compliance

Corporations in regulated industries are increasingly feeling the pressure to adhere to regulations such as HIPAA, Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, Sarbanes Oxley and the Patriot Act. These regulations require organizations to address privacy and security issues in email and on the Internet. Organizations must ensure that employees do not purposely or inadvertently break these laws. If the laws are broken both civil and criminal penalties can be applied.

External Threats

Threats from worms, Trojans and malicious code have not diminished over the past few years. Threats are now more destructive than ever, requiring organizations to look closely at their security systems. Clearswift recommends a layered security approach to fighting threats on the Internet. Not only should companies include anti-spam solutions along side anti-virus and authentication tools, but the tools themselves should be multi-faceted.

"This white paper supplies organizations with detailed insight into the security threats that organizations are faced with from use of email and the Internet," said Greg Hampton, US general manager for Clearswift. "Email and the Internet are the communications a tool most used by organizations today and with that comes an increased need for tighter security and a better understanding of the laws and regulations that apply. IDC, in this paper, has given executives a means to understanding the risks and solutions that are out there."

About MIMEsweeper(TM) for SMTP 5.0

Clearswift's policy-based solutions are designed to address threats to the effectiveness of email. MIMEsweeper for SMTP 5.0 allows consistent policy definition and enforcement, through automated policy replication. This new version incorporates a 'roles-based' approach to administration too, moving mail management from back office to the front office. This allows, for example, the HR department - rather than IT - to implement company mail policy on, say, profanity, sexism or racism. Its unique approach to system management allows for hierarchical devolvement of duties to multiple administrators. IT managers can delegate specific responsibilities, such as server monitoring, access to particular quarantine areas and reporting, to the most appropriate administrators or department, therefore spreading the load of administration and significantly reducing the time it takes to process blocked emails.

Availability

This IDC White Paper sponsored by Clearswift is available for download at: http://www.clearswift.com/download/info.aspx?ID=551

About Clearswift

Clearswift is the world's leading provider of software for managing and securing electronic communications. Clearswift solutions ensure business compliance through safe messaging, secure boundaries and best practice in electronic communications. Clearswift delivers the capabilities for organizations to protect themselves against email and Web-based threats, meet legal and regulatory requirements, implement productivity-saving policies and manage intellectual property passing through their network.

Clearswift product portfolio includes MIMEsweeper(TM), the world's leading family of content security products for email and Web, as well as a range of highly specialized security solutions for Government and Defense organizations. More information about Clearswift, its products and services is available at www.clearswift.com

Clearswift, MAILsweeper, MIMEsweeper, spamActive and ENTERPRISEsuite are trademarks or registered trademarks, in the United States, United Kingdom and certain other countries, of Clearswift Limited. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of the individual companies and are respectfully acknowledged.