CAN-SPAM Act Continues to Come up Short in Efforts to Curb Unsolicited Email.

Barracuda Networks Reports Continued Rise in the Amount of Spam and Other Email Threats

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Despite the upcoming three-year anniversary of the federal CAN-SPAM act, Barracuda Networks, Inc., the leading provider of enterprise-class application security appliances, reports that spam is showing no signs of slowing down.

The CAN-SPAM act of 2003 (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act), which was signed into law on Dec. 16, 2003, set up requirements for sending commercial email as well as determined penalties for spammers and companies whose products are advertised in spam if they violate the law. The act also gave consumers the right to ask emailers to stop spamming them. In the three years since the law went into effect, Barracuda Networks has found that spam has nearly tripled in volume and that the types of spam have also significantly increased.

"Total spam volume is very high, independent of any legislation, to the point where it now represents between 85 and 90 percent of all email on the Internet," said Stephen Pao, vice president of product management for Barracuda Networks. "Even with the ongoing increases in 'good' email, we continue to see spam growth outpacing it."

Just last month, Barracuda Networks reported a more than 67 percent increase in overall spam volume and a 500 percent increase in image spam since August. This increase is attributed to a number of trends, including the number of penny stock promotions and image-based spam, as well as an increase in shopping-related spam tailored around the holiday season, that Barracuda Central, an advanced technology operations center, has seen hitting the millions of inboxes of its more than 35,000 customers worldwide. This is a marked increase in the amount of spam hitting the Internet when compared with the volume three years ago when the CAN-SPAM act went into effect. At that time, industry estimates put total spam volume between 30 and 35 percent.

"One of the primary reasons we believe that legislation has had very little effect on curbing the amount of spam is that it doesn't take away the motivation of the spammers," said Pao, adding that spam has become more of a criminal activity in the three years since CAN-SPAM and is no longer a simple nuisance. "The rise in spam botnets, as well as viruses and other malware used to spread spam have allowed spammers to increase the speed at which they can send messages. As a result the amount of money that they stand to gain has also significantly increased because they are able to cast their net for potential victims much wider and much faster. Essentially, the crime still exists because of the massive amounts of money involved."

Barracuda Networks does believe that legislation is an essential tool in helping in the fight against spam as it does set explicit rules of conduct, but that the rules can only be enforced when used in conjunction with solutions, such as the Barracuda Spam Firewall, that work to detect and protect against spam.

The Barracuda Spam Firewall can be installed in front of the email server in typically less than five minutes and is automatically updated hourly to block new forms of spam and viruses. Using sophisticated techniques, such as OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and unique fingerprint methods, the Barracuda Spam Firewall is able to analyze the content of each email as it is received and determine if it is a legitimate message. If the Barracuda Spam Firewall finds that a message does not comply with rules set out by the CAN-SPAM act or by the system's IT administrator, it will block the message outright.

"CAN-SPAM in a vacuum will not effectively stop spam, however, we are confident that through enforcement within the anti-spam community as a whole, we will continue to make inroads in the overall fight against spam and other email threats," said Dean Drako, president and CEO of Barracuda Networks.

About Barracuda Networks, Inc.

Barracuda Networks is the leading provider of enterprise-class application security appliances for comprehensive email, Internet and IM protection. Its products protect over 35,000 customers around the world, including Adaptec, Caltrans, CBS, Georgia Institute of Technology, IBM, NASA, Pizza Hut, Union Pacific Railroad Company, and the U.S. Treasury Department. The Barracuda Spam Firewall and Barracuda Spam Firewall - Outbound protect organizations against spam, viruses, and violations to e-mail security policy. The Barracuda Web Filter, formerly known as the Barracuda Spyware Firewall, offers comprehensive content filtering and complete network protection against spyware, malware and viruses. The Barracuda IM Firewall is the only all in one gateway solution for IM traffic management and security. Barracuda Networks is a privately held company with headquarters in Mountain View, California. Barracuda Networks has offices in eight international locations and distributors in over 43 countries. More information is available at www.barracuda.com.