Cloudmark Announces Innovative Upgrade to the Cloudmark Desktop Anti-Spam Product
Pricing and Availability
San Francisco, May 23, 2007 – Cloudmark, Inc., the global leader in messaging security, today announced an upgrade to its industry-leading Cloudmark Desktop email anti-spam solution that provides unmatched protection against the growing threat of image spam. Data from Cloudmark's Global Threat Network (GTN)-which checks over 3.5 billion messages per day-indicates that more than 20 percent of all email traffic is image spam and that this number is continuing to grow. Cloudmark Desktop 5.2 blocks multiple types of image spam, including those using PNG, GIF, and other file formats.
Cyber criminals have found that using images allows them to effectively broadcast their message while evading traditional spam filtering solutions that scan for specific keywords in a message. However, because image spam often contains only HTML code for displaying an image and not text, these solutions are unable to accurately identify malicious messages. Also, image spammers use a variety of image altering techniques, such as randomly changing colors, rotating images or introducing a single pixel change to stay one step ahead of traditional anti-spam solutions that rely on static rules or pattern-recognition approaches. New classes of PNG-based image spam consist of higher-quality images files with more pixels, thus giving spammers even more granularity in their variants.
Only Cloudmark Desktop 5.2 is able to offer consumers future-proof protection and security against all forms of image spam and malware. Cloudmark Desktop 5.2 is backed by new technology that precisely identifies rapidly mutating image spam. Cloudmark Desktop, for use with Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express, uses a combination of Advanced Message Fingerprinting™ algorithms together with real-time feedback from its Global Threat Network to identify image spam earlier and with greater accuracy than competitive solutions. Unlike traditional solutions that often cannot discern legitimate image files from image spam, Cloudmark uses mutation-resistant fingerprinting technology to detect true image spam as well as phishing and email-borne viruses with greater than 98 percent accuracy and near-zero false positives.
"Spammers have changed tactics and are increasingly using randomized images to outsmart messaging security products that rely solely on text analysis and landing URLs to detect spam," said Vipul Ved Prakash, founder and chief scientist of Cloudmark. "With Desktop 5.2, we are introducing a new fingerprinting algorithm, leveraged by all Cloudmark solutions, that specifically targets images to counteract, within seconds, new variations of image spam."
Pricing and Availability
Cloudmark Desktop 5.2 is currently available for a free trial at http://www.cloudmark.com/desktop/. Desktop costs $39.95 for an annual subscription. For existing Cloudmark Desktop subscribers, version 5.2 will be automatically downloaded at no additional cost. Cloudmark provides free updates to all current customers for the life of their subscription. Cloudmark Desktop is also available to service providers to distribute to their Outlook and Outlook Express users.
About Cloudmark
Cloudmark builds messaging security software that protects communications service provider networks and their subscribers against the widest range of messaging threats. Only Cloudmark Security Platform™ delivers instant security and control across diverse messaging environments, enabling communications service providers to create a safe user experience, protect revenue and safeguard their brand, while streamlining infrastructure and reducing operational costs. Cloudmark's patented solutions protect more than 120 tier-one customers worldwide, including AT&T, Verizon, Swisscom, Comcast, Cox and NTT.