Sunnyvale, CA – June 2, 2010 – Sixty-eight percent of service providers say outbound spam costs them up to $100,000 per year, according to a new research study by industry analyst firm Osterman Research and Commtouch® (Nasdaq: CTCH).
In the first ever comprehensive report on how outgoing messaging abuse affects service providers, the Commtouch-Osterman study surveyed ISPs, hosting providers, managed service providers and Internet portals around the world, asking specific questions regarding spam and scam email messages generated from within their networks. Exploitation of service providers’ networks to send unsolicited email can lead to customer loss, operational cost increases, brand damage and even potential lawsuits.
“The results of our research pinpoint a growing challenge in the industry that service providers need to protect against spammers who aim to abuse their networks,” said Michael Osterman, president and founder of Osterman Research. ”Outbound spam is a rising concern, and it is essential that service providers deal with the issue in order to protect their businesses.”
Some key findings from the research include:
“Service providers are well experienced in dealing with inbound spam, but based on these results and our conversations with customers, it is clear that outbound spam is an issue most are struggling with,” said Asaf Greiner, Commtouch’s vice president of products. “Implementing an effective solution to solve the issues associated with spam and scam emails emanating from their own networks would help service providers reduce their costs, keep their customers happy, and contribute to a cleaner Internet.”
Commtouch recently launched an Outbound Spam Protection solution, which enables service providers to identify and block outbound spam caused by compromised user accounts, malicious users, and zombie computers. Commtouch’s solution provides real-time blocking of the outbound spam which is unique to each service provider, as well as identifying the spammers for the service providers’ abuse teams.
The full research report will be published next week. People interested in receiving the report may request it at: http://www.commtouch.com/forms/Register_OS_report?destination=thank-you-....
The research also surveyed end-users on how they perceive providers’ efforts in dealing with outbound spam. Those results will be released within the full report.
About Commtouch
Commtouch® (NASDAQ: CTCH) provides proven messaging and Web security technology to more than 130 security companies and service providers for integration into their solutions. Commtouch’s GlobalView™ and patented Recurrent Pattern Detection™ (RPD™) technologies are founded on a unique cloud-based approach, and work together in a comprehensive feedback loop to protect effectively in all languages and formats. Commtouch technology automatically analyzes billions of Internet transactions in real-time in its global data centers to identify new threats as they are initiated, protecting email infrastructures and enabling safe, compliant browsing. The company’s expertise in building efficient, massive-scale security services has resulted in mitigating Internet threats for thousands of organizations and hundreds of millions of users in 190 countries. Commtouch was founded in 1991, is headquartered in Netanya, Israel, and has a subsidiary in Sunnyvale, Calif.
Stay abreast of the latest news at the Commtouch Café:
http://blog.commtouch.com. For more information about enhancing security offerings with Commtouch technology, see http://www.commtouch.com or write to info@commtouch.com.
Recurrent Pattern Detection, RPD, Zero-Hour and GlobalView are trademarks, and Commtouch is a registered trademark, of Commtouch Software Ltd. U.S. Patent No. 6,330,590 is owned by Commtouch.
Contact:
Amy Kenigsberg
US: 1-913-440-4072
Int'l: +972-9-794-1681
amyk@commtouch.com
