Messaging Security is a
program that provides protection for companies' messaging infrastructure. The programs includes IP reputation-based
anti-spam, pattern-based anti-spam, administrator defined block/allow lists, mail
antivirus, zero-hour malware detection and email intrusion prevention.[1]
Six Dimensions of Comprehensive Messaging Security
IP-Reputation Anti-spam[2] It checks each email
connection request with a database of IP addresses to establish whether a sender is legitimate or known spam sender and
malware. If a sender is recognize it undesirable the messaging Security program drops the connection before the message is accepted.
Pattern-based anti-spam utilizes a proprietary
algorithm to establish a
fingerprint-like signature of email messages. When a message comes in, its pattern is calculated and checked against a database to determine if the message matches a known email pattern. This approach provides content agnostic protection and blocks spam without looking at any of the actual message content.
Block/Allow List Anti-spam[3] Administrators can create a list of
IP addresses
or domains that they would like to either block or allow. This method ensures that trusted sources are explicitly allowed and unwanted sources are explicitly denied access.
Mail Antivirus[4] This layer of protection blocks a wide range of known virus and malware attacks.
Zero-Hour Malware Protection By analyzing large numbers of
messages, outbreaks are detected along with their corresponding messages. These message patterns are then flagged as malicious, giving information about a given attack. With this information, outbreaks are blocked before a signature may be available, protecting the
network in the critical period of
attack development.
SmartDefense Email IPS The messaging security program utilizes SmartDefense Email IPS to stop attacks targeting the messaging infrastructure. Such attacks aim to gain access to the protected network, bring down a piece of the messaging
infrastructure, or utilize the messaging infrastructure as a
resource for launching new attacks.[5]
Characteristics of Messaging Security
Protection against advanced
spam such as image-based and multi-language spam.
Antivirus protection through the combination of both zero-hour and signature-based detection.