| It goes without saying that e-mail plays a critical role in | | | | employee when it slips through the spam filter, and the |
| any organization. This relatively new communication | | | | job offer from the competitor won't go away once |
| technology has, by many accounts, replaced the | | | | the recipient has printed it out on her printer. The best |
| telephone as the most useful business tool available. | | | | way to prevent these malicious attacks is to stop |
| Unfortunately, e-mail has also been a victim of its own | | | | them before they become a problem - at the |
| success and presents a unique threat to the enterprise | | | | gateway.Stopping spam and other malicious e-mail |
| network as a whole.Protecting networks from viruses | | | | traffic at the gateway requires a coordinated effort to |
| and hackers has traditionally been the responsibility of | | | | solve a whole host of issues. These include, but are |
| the Firewalls, Virus Scanners, and Intrusion Detection | | | | certainly not limited to, spam, viruses, corporate policy |
| Systems (IDS) set up by enterprises as a defense | | | | infringements, directory harvest attacks, denial of |
| against the myriad attacks they come under each day. | | | | service attacks, phishing, spoofing, and snooping. |
| Virus scanners scan each PC in the network, | | | | Furthermore, accuracy in identifying spam e-mails is |
| gateway servers are guarded against attempts to | | | | crucial. It is much better to receive the occasional |
| gain access by locking down extraneous ports and | | | | spam than accidentally filter out an important e-mail |
| firewalls prevent unauthorized programs from | | | | from a customer.Historically, enterprises have turned to |
| accessing the network. All these measures prevent | | | | multiple vendors to solve their e-mail security issues. |
| direct attacks against the network on every port | | | | They have relied on anti virus vendors to protect them |
| except port 25 and port 110 - the ports used by SMTP | | | | from viruses. They use a separate anti spam vendor |
| (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) and POP (Post Office | | | | to help cut back on the spam. Then there are the |
| Protocol) to transmit e-mail from one server to | | | | issues of content filtering, policy enforcement, |
| another.Ports are the openings in the operating system | | | | encryption, and network security. Over time it has |
| through which applications connect to each other. | | | | become clear that having so many vendors |
| When a firewall receives an e-mail connection on port | | | | approaching these issues from so many directions is |
| 25, it generally assumes that the transmission is e-mail | | | | prohibitively expensive and time consuming for |
| and allows it to flow through to the e-mail server. The | | | | administrators to manage. Increasingly companies are |
| transmission may be a valid e-mail, it could be a virus | | | | turning to hardened e-mail appliances like CipherTrust's |
| or a spam, or it could be a job offer for an employee | | | | IronMail. According to Gartner, the globally respected IT |
| or something much worse. Regardless of the true | | | | research firm, "Instead of having several email |
| intent of the "e-mail", at this point it is incumbent upon | | | | security-related point products at the boundary, many |
| various systems within the network to guard against | | | | enterprises will want only one". IronMail is designed |
| these threats. Unfortunately, experience has taught us | | | | specifically to guard against port 25 attacks on |
| that partial success in these areas is the norm, not the | | | | enterprise e-mail systems. It can be tuned to work |
| exception. | | | | effectively with any type of organization and has been |
| Stop E-mail Threats at The Gateway | | | | employed for use in a wide range of industries such as |
| The best place to stop a threat is before it gets inside | | | | healthcare, government, finance, education, |
| the network. Virus scanners are only as good as their | | | | manufacturing, retail, and many more. It allows |
| latest update, and are virtually useless against new | | | | organizations to stop spam and viruses, protect |
| viruses that have yet to be identified. If a user does | | | | employees from fraud and inappropriate content, |
| not update his virus definition list, then his machine will | | | | enforce corporate policies, provide secure delivery, |
| be infected. A pornographic spam will offend an | | | | encrypt e-mail, and provide remote access. |