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March 15, 2007 FEATURE EDITORIALFortune 500 Authenticates EmailFor nearly three years, the messaging industry and the Federal Trade Commission has advocated email authentication to protect users from forged email and phishing ploys. It is a best practice promoted by TRUSTe, the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG) and the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG). Last week, the Authentication and Online Trust Alliance (AOTA) named the top Fortune 500 companies that have demonstrated commitment to online safety by authenticating their email and domains. "In just 20 months, the Fortune 500 has shown an increase in adoption of Sender ID from seven percent to over 25 percent," says Craig Spiezle, executive director and chair of AOTA. Participating are top brands spanning many industries, including industrial manufacturers Boeing Aircraft, Caterpillar and Exxon; consumer brands Disney, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Sears and Best Buy; technology leaders Cisco, Dell, IBM and Microsoft; and financial institutions AIG, American Express, Bank of America, Citibank, JPMorganChase, New York Life, Wachovia and Wells Fargo. The AOTA offers a complete list of compliant and non-compliant Fortune 500 companies, which the organization updates monthly. "These companies are to be commended, and it is our hope others will follow their leadership and make a commitment to online safety," adds Spiezle. "Companies that adopt will gain a competitive advantage, and we urge consumers and users to demand that their retailers, banks and insurance companies take these necessary steps. Those who do not adopt authentication are putting their customers, investors and users at an unnecessary risk." Leadership Awards AnnouncedTo recognize the safety efforts of organizations, a call for nominations of companies who have demonstrated leadership in online safety has been made by the AOTA. Nominated companies must be authenticating outbound email and corporate domain via Sender ID or Domain Keys and will be judged based on several criteria including but not limited to:
Nominations can be made through April 2, 2007. For more information on the AOTA Online Safety Leadership Awards program click here. Summit Held April 18-19The Authentication and Online Trust Summit in Boston will be the site of the AOTA Online Safety Leadership Awards presentation. During the two-day gathering experts in global authentication, email, domain defense, and online threats will provide insight and prescriptive information about building online trust using authentication, identity and reputation. To learn more about the agenda and the speakers, visit www.aotalliance.org/summit2007. Messaging News is pleased to be a member of the AOTA. Founded in October 2004, the mission of AOTA is to enhance online trust and confidence, by facilitating best practices and the deployment of Internet authentication and reputation standards and solutions. We hope to see you at the Summit. Spam Levels and Associated Costs Highest in HistoryAccording to Postini, a provider of on-demand communications security and compliance solutions for email, instant messaging and the web, total spam has gone up 222 percent since November 2005 with 125 percent of this increase coming in the last 6 months. The company announced yesterday that in February, email spam continued at record high levels, making up 93 percent of all email traffic processed. The continued surge is due in large part to the increased activity of botnets, millions of hijacked personal computers that have been infected to steal personal information and to distribute spam and viruses. Major email-borne virus attacks in January and February were aimed at creating more botnets for future attacks. Heightened virus activity began in late December 2006 with the "Happy New Year" spam virus attack and continued in January with the "Storm" email attack. February has seen a steady stream of these types of attacks as hackers continue to harvest computers to add to their botnets. IN THE NEWSStreamline and Expedite WorkflowMessaging News Case Study Brief: Wayside Technology Group, Inc. an integrated technology company that resells software solutions to VARS and IT professionals, deployed GFI FAXmaker for Exchange/SMTP company-wide to expedite order processing, invoicing and workflow. GFI Software is an international developer of network security, content security and messaging software. GFI FAXmaker offers secure, confidential and instant delivery of faxes by email in Adobe PDF format. This allows Wayside Technology Group to automatically route orders electronically to selected departments and recipients, which expedites workflow and saves paper. Before deploying GFI FAXmaker, Wayside Technology Group received five hundred to over one thousand faxed paper purchase orders every day from customers along with invoices from suppliers. L-Soft Files for Chapter 11L-Soft announced last week that it has filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code to help resolve a five-year legal dispute. Normal business operations and customer service are expected to continue. The other companies in the L-Soft group (L-Soft Germany GmbH, L-Soft UK Ltd., L-Soft AB, L-Soft Sweden AB and L-Soft Services international, Inc.) have no plans to file for Chapter 11 and will also continue to operate normally. General information about L-Soft and its LISTSERV product line is available at: http://www.lsoft.com. The company announced its LISTSERV Maestro 3.0 earlier this year. We welcome your ideas and your news for Messaging Newswire’s News & Trends in Email Security. Let us know what you think by sending your comments to editorial@messagingnews.com. Written or compiled by Stephanie Jordan. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. For marketing information on this newsletter or other Messaging News products contact jvictor@messagingnews.com |
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