Advanced Spam Manager Attacks Viruses, Spam

Sybari, a well-known antivirus vendor recently purchased by Microsoft, is trying to raise the bar for antispam solutions with its Advanced Spam Manager. The software product is designed to reside on a network's mail server. The product is compatible with Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes and most other mail servers that work with SMTP gateways.

For critical filtering functionality, Sybari integrates the SpamCure antispam engine from MailFilters. SpamCure leverages automatic updates—in some cases, several updates per day—to keep filtering as up-to-date as possible. Advanced Spam Manager also includes support for technologies such as realtime blacklists, mail host filtering and whitelist-based filtering. The product also includes keyword and content filtering, which better enables corporate e-mail policy enforcement.

To completely protect a company against spam-based threats, Sybari also integrates its own Antigen antivirus capabilities into the spam filtering product. Advanced Spam Manager is designed to work on larger networks and offers centralized administration and deployment capabilities necessary for large, complex networks.

That's not to say that the product won't work on a smaller network; as a matter of fact, smaller or single-site networks can benefit greatly from the product's capabilities. But Sybari recommends that Advanced Spam Manager be installed on networks with at least 250 users, so solution providers would need to demonstrate that the product fits well when "economies of scale" are used as a deployment guidline.

CRN Test Center engineers installed Advanced Spam Manager on a Microsoft Exchange 2003 server and found the wizard-driven installation process straightforward and simple. The product offers a high level of integration with Microsoft Exchange, making that the mail system of choice for Sybari users.

Although the product also supports SMTP gateway environments, solution providers will find the ease of integration with Microsoft Exchange preferable. Basically, the product extends Microsoft's integrated antispam features into a highly functional antispam platform. Network administrators also will appreciate the simplified management that Exchange integration provides.

Centralized quarantine management features allow a mail administrator to quickly and easily examine quarantined e-mails to identify false positives and whitelist senders. Over time, this feature can help reduce a business's rate of false positives to a very low level. End user control of whitelists and blacklists and a junk mail folder allows users to fine-tune which messages to allow or block. Other key features include mail host filtering, subject line filtering, keyword filtering and e-mail disclaimers, all of which work together to help administrators enforce company e-mail policies. Realtime blacklists are updated constantly to prevent attacks that spread quickly across the Internet.

File filtering is also useful for combating malicious attachments. Administrators can define what actions to take based on an attachment's file extension. All attachments are also scanned for viruses to prevent delivery, even if viruses are included in zip files. Sybari's multitier channel program offers Authorized, Premier, Elite and Global Alliance levels based on a partner's level of commitment to Sybari products and services. The company offers pre- and post-sales support, sales and technical training on the Web and in-person. Average reseller margins are 20 percent.