100 percent rise in spam e-mail hits companies in the Middle East

To help organizations in the Middle East tackle the problem, three of the region's leading solution providers - Borderware Technologies, Sun Microsystems and Tech Access - today unveiled a new anti-spam campaign.

As well as raising awareness of the business issues associated with unwanted e-mail overload, the campaign will enable companies to test solutions that safeguard e-mail systems at Tech Access' Solution Centre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, a Sun Authorized iForce Ready Center.

Spam is the result of companies flooding the Internet with multiple copies of the same message-mail, usually a commercial advert, to force their message onto people who would not usually choose to receive it.

'Until now, spam has not been as much of a problem in the Middle East as it has in Europe and the United States, because spammers didn't see the Middle East as a target market. However, in recent months, the level of spam has increased significantly, perhaps fueled by the rising population of people going online in the Middle East,' said Dean Bell, regional director, Borderware.

'The situation is only getting worse, as the wider dissemination of e-mail addresses creates a 'snowball' effect, accelerating the spam problem. Part of the impetus behind our shared campaign is to help companies in the region understand how they can safeguard their e-mail systems from unwanted messaging' added Martyn Molnar, solutions architect, Tech Access.

Reducing the impact of spam is a key target of the ongoing security solutions program developed by Sun and Borderware, and supported by Tech Access. Solutions experts will be available to discuss the range of solutions available on the market, including new spam filtering technology from Borderware and the benefits of implementing a complete integrated solution, throughout the course of the campaign.

Borderware provide a solution running on Sun hardware that creates a secure hardware and software bundled 'soft appliance.' This provides true gateway security, allowing the solution to be deployed at the gateway of your network, as opposed to being just another targetable system on your internal network.

Borderware are traditionally an enterprise gateway security company but have seen a massive increase in the relationship between spam and virus messages, and so have developed on their existing Mail Gateway to provide the new iForce Mail Firewall.

Lack of protection risks downtime and lost revenue
One of the key messages of the joint campaign is to avoid making a distinction between spam and viruses - both are unwanted deliveries that reduce the effectiveness of companies' communication systems - and to remember the importance of developing a strategy for safeguarding your system from both.

Because spam emails are creatively designed to look like something that people would want to read, and sometimes appear to be from a friend or colleague, they are readily opened by employees - which creates the risk of opening the system to viruses.

'Once the message is opened, it is too late. That is why companies require a specific mail firewall that can filter out the harmful material, using much more than content filtering technologies.' said Bell.

'Decision-makers have to look at this issue the same as they would view a burglar breaking into their home or company. You have to stop the burglar at the perimeter of your property - this is the view we take with spam and related viruses. Operating in this way means that there is now a choice, you do not need to wait until the infected e-mails are on your internal network before being addressed - they can be checked, filtered, quarantined or returned at the gateway itself,' commented Bell.

Lack of protection risks downtime and lost revenue
Among the figures revealed by the campaign is the surprising fact that spam costs companies in excess of USD$1 per person, per day, for each employee that has internet/email access. This is a generalized figure; which rises for companies with large pools of employees or significant numbers of administration-focused employees.

'As well as running a huge risk to the safety of internal networks, spam is a huge drain on employee time. By cutting out unwanted e-mail, employees are able to focus on the work they are meant to be doing instead of being annoyed and distracted by junk emails,' commented Molnar.