New Sybari Suite Is On To Spammers' Bag Of Tricks

The East Northport, N.Y.-based company, traditionally known as an antivirus software vendor, this week plans to launch its Advanced Spam Manager (ASM) suite, offering heuristic antispam tools that block known spam messages and identify new tricks used by spammers to penetrate inboxes, said Tom Buoniello, vice president of product management at Sybari.

Heuristic--or self-learning--technology within ASM's Mail-Filter SpamCure component delivers a one-two punch, Buoniello said. First, Sybari's Bullet Signature Database detects and stops known spam. Then the product's

Spammer Tricks Analysis and Response (STAR) Engine catches crafty efforts to fool the known spam database, such as scrambled words, non-English language and HTML code. Any new trick can be automatically added to the Bullet database, he said.

To prevent the misinterpretation of valid e-mails as spam, a new feature of ASM enables the automatic creation of junk-mail folders on the server and for each e-mail account, giving users the ability to double-check messages flagged as spam, Buoniello said.

"The only difference between antispam and antivirus [technology] is [antispam requires] user interaction," he said.

Content filtering, integration with Microsoft Exchange 2003 spam management features and improved white-listing are also part of ASM, Buoniello added.

ASM operates as a stand-alone product or can be coupled to server-based agents for Microsoft Exchange and other SMTP messaging gateways using Sybari's new Antigen 8.0 software products. The entire suite of new Sybari antispam products can be brought under a single, Web-based management platform using the company's new Sybari Enterprise Manager, he said.

With spam counts in June reaching a record 76 percent of all e-mail traffic, according to MessageLabs, Sybari's new offerings provide needed tools for systems integrators such as Boulder Corp.

"When we talk to customers about the accuracy level of Sybari, none of them flinch from the idea that Sybari may be a lesser-known player than Symantec or McAfee," said Lesley Taufer, president and CEO of Boulder Corp., Boulder, Colo.

Sybari may be ahead of the competition, since Symantec only two weeks ago bought antispam firm TurnTide, Taufer said.

ASM is expected to be available in August priced at $17.25 per user for a two-year, 250-user license.