Certifies Six Products Under New Program to Verify That They Effectively Reduce Unwanted E-Mail
SAN FRANCISCO, April 9, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- ICSA Labs, an independent division of Verizon Business, announced at the RSA security show Wednesday (April 9) that it has certified six anti-spam products under the new testing program.
The formal, independent testing was created to verify that a vendor's anti-spam product effectively reduces unwanted e-mail.
"In the ever-changing security market, our research indicates a significant need for standardized testing of spam filtering for IT professionals and security vendors alike," said George Japak, managing director, ICSA Labs. "ISCA Labs' formal testing standard for anti-spam products will help end users determine which products best suit their environment. Anti-spam solutions that earn the prestigious ICSA Labs' certification have undergone rigorous testing to evaluate their effectiveness in detecting and removing spam."
The first six anti-spam products earning ICSA Labs' Certification are Fortinet(R) FortiMail(TM)-4000A, IBM ISS Proventia(R) Network Multi-Function Security (anti-spam module), IBM ISS Proventia(R) Network Mail Security System, Kaspersky Anti-Spam 3.0, Proofpoint Messaging Security Gateway(TM), and Symantec Mail Security 8200-8300 Series.
The goal of ICSA Labs' anti-spam product testing and certification is to evaluate product effectiveness in detecting and removing spam. The guidelines also address how well the products recognize e-mail messages from legitimate sources. Products awarded the coveted ICSA Labs' certification have been found to satisfy specific baseline requirements, such as a 95 percent effectiveness with a 1 in 100,000 false positive rate, for small to medium- sized businesses, large enterprises and carriers.
"ICSA Labs' certification provides end users with the assurance that certified products have undergone a rigorous testing methodology by a neutral party," said Anthony James, vice president of products at Fortinet. "We are pleased to have our FortiMail product certified with the ICSA Labs anti-spam certification, and believe this certification to be a benchmark that Fortinet's current and future customers can trust."
Matthew Ward, business line leader, Proventia Multifunction Security, IBM Internet Security Systems, said, "We are thrilled that ICSA Labs has developed an anti-spam certification that takes into account the rapidly changing nature of spam. Customers evaluating anti-spam products require a level of assurance that the products they evaluate have withstood the onslaught of changing spam techniques. We appreciate that ICSA Labs has taken the time to develop this type of testing so that end users are better equipped to evaluate anti-spam products."
Eugene Kaspersky, CEO of Kaspersky Lab, said, "Anti-spam solutions have become an integral and vital element of a comprehensive protection against Internet threats. This is why ICSA Labs' criteria and standards for assessing the quality of anti-spam solutions are becoming increasingly important for the entire IT threats-prevention industry and our end users."
Andres Kohn, vice president of product management at Proofpoint, said, "As spammers' techniques become increasingly sophisticated and the volume of spam grows to unprecedented levels, enterprises of all sizes need to be protected by a state-of-the-art spam filter that can immediately respond to new threats. ICSA Labs' certification of Proofpoint's e-mail security solution is yet another great validation of Proofpoint's anti-spam accuracy and ease of use."
Doug Bowers, senior director of anti-abuse engineering at Symantec, said, "Symantec looks forward to these kinds of opportunities to be evaluated by an organization like ICSA Labs, which relies on objective testing methodologies. We believe that this certification is reflective of our product development accomplishments as well as our success leveraging the wealth of intelligence from the Symantec Global Intelligence Network to help protect businesses from unwanted e-mail."
ICSA Labs Anti-Spam Certification Program is an independent and comprehensive process that rigorously tests, assesses and validates anti-spam products in a real-world environment. For more information about the ICSA Labs anti-spam certification testing program, the criteria used in testing, or to review the six product certification testing reports, visit http://www.icsalabs.com/ and click on the "anti-spam" link.
About ICSA Labs
ICSA Labs is an independent division of Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications . ICSA Labs offers vendor-neutral testing and certification of security products for hundreds of the world's top security vendors. Businesses rely on ICSA Labs to authoritatively set and apply objective testing and certification criteria for measuring product compliance and reliability. For more information about ICSA Labs, please visit: http://www.icsalabs.com/.
About Verizon Business
Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications , is a global IP leader and network-based partner for delivering integrated communications and information technology (IT) solutions to large-business and government customers worldwide. Combining unsurpassed reach with managed services, security, mobility, collaboration and professional services capabilities, Verizon Business delivers global solutions that power innovation and enable its customers to do business better. For more information, visit http://www.verizonbusiness.com/.
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