Cloudmark First to Block "Kama Sutra" Virus; Cites Education, Collaboration as Keys to Prevention
Messaging Security Leader Stops Outbreak a Full Day Before Anti-virus Giants
SAN FRANCISCO — February 8, 2006 — In determining that its messaging security solutions stopped last week's much publicized Kama Sutra virus attack a full day before leading anti-virus providers, Cloudmark Inc. credits education and collaboration as critical to real-time containment. A leading provider of anti-spam, anti-phishing and anti-virus solutions to service providers, businesses and consumers, Cloudmark has determined that its network blocked the Kama Sutra outbreak more than four hours before all competing solutions and a full day prior to the industry's best known anti-virus leaders. Having protected its worldwide installed base of users so effectively, Cloudmark shared insights on education and proactive collaboration.
An innovative approach repeatedly proven most accurate, the Cloudmark Collaborative Security Network consists of millions of discerning users providing real-time feedback on spam, phishing, virus and other messaging attacks. Reports from rated, trusted users in more than 160 countries are corroborated in real time to provide accurate and "unspoofable" data that enable Cloudmark to block emerging threats within minutes of an attack's origination. The data collection, analysis, and update cycle is fully automated to ensure the fastest possible response time to attacks and has been shown in independent reviews to be the fastest, most accurate network in the world.
Vipul Ved Prakash, founder and Chief Scientist of Cloudmark, commented, "Analysis of our servers shows that our network caught and blocked the Kama Sutra virus early on the morning of January 16, hours before any other provider according to information they've provided. A very small number of users had to find the virus before our entire network of users - from service providers to enterprises to consumers - was protected."
Awareness Key to Being Prepared
Ved Prakash adds that the media attention given to Kama Sutra also played a key role in rapid containment. Cloudmark analysis shows fewer than two percent of its global database of millions of users was targeted with the virus, a finding consistent with others industry-wide.
"The Kama Sutra virus may have turned out to be a non-event because of the extensive educational role the media played in advance of the threat," says Ved Prakash. "We noted a much smaller number of reports of the virus than we would have expected based on early media coverage. In being prepared, users around the world may well have thwarted the effort. Kama Sutra has demonstrated perhaps better than any previous attack that keeping users informed and empowered is a tremendous complement to highest-performance prevention technologies."
Cloudmark offers messaging security solutions that employ true real-time protection against spam, phishing and email-borne viruses, stopping a threat typically within moments of initiation. A global collaborative network of millions of trusted users provides a humanized defense that works in real time to shield against attacks as soon as they form. This active and trusted community provides the foundation for Cloudmark's innovative approach to combating messaging security risks.
Cloudmark, the Cloudmark logo, Cloudmark Desktop, Cloudmark Server Edition, Cloudmark Immunity, Cloudmark Authority, and SpamNet are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cloudmark Inc., for use in the United States and other countries. All other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
About Cloudmark
Cloudmark protects 2 billion global subscribers daily from an explosion in messaging abuses across more operator networks than anyone else. Only Cloudmark defends the world’s largest Mobile, Fixed and Social Media Providers, including AT&T, Comcast, MySpace, NTT, Swisscom and Time Warner Cable, with scalable and accurate protection against the widest range of existing and emerging messaging threats.