IBM is partnering with MessageLabs to provide a managed
e-mail security service. This filters messages for viruses, spam
and inappropriate content before they reach a company's network and
uses a predictive technology designed to identify threats not yet
defined.
The IBM offering, called E-mail Security Management Services, is
based on an existing set of services from MessageLabs called
MessageLabs Email Security System, said Michel Bobillier, global
offering executive at IBM Global Services' Security and Privacy
Services.
IBM's clients had been asking for a service such as this one,
and IBM decided to partner with MessageLabs instead of developing
the technology itself because it found MessageLabs' service to be
excellent, he said.
The system filters both a company's incoming and outgoing
messages to prevent malicious code and content from touching the
network.
"Building a defence in the [network] perimeter is not enough any
more. We need a more proactive way to protect critical
applications, by filtering these messages before they reach the
network," he said. "It's not safe enough to install some defence
software on servers and desktops."
The system uses predictive algorithms to eliminate threats which
have not yet been discovered and defined by security suppliers and
experts.
The service is aimed at medium-sized and large companies,
starting with implementations of 50 users.
The offering consists of three components, which can be bought
separately:
- e-mail anti-virus, for viruses, worms, Trojan horses and other
threats
- e-mail image filtering, which uses composition image analysis
to flag inappropriate images embedded in messages, such as
pornographic content
- e-mail anti-spam, for blocking unsolicited commercial e-mail
messages
IBM declined to provide pricing information for the managed
service.
Juan Carlos Perez writes for IDG News Service