| Challenge/Response Technology
Bests Filtering Solutions in Competitive Anti-Spam Testing
[20th October 2003]
Tolly Group Hands-on Examination
Identifies Challenge/Response Technology as Most Effective
in Blocking Spam While Ensuring Delivery of Legitimate
Email
LOS
ALTOS, CALIFORNIA and BOCA RATON, FL—October,
20, 2003—The Tolly Group today released a report
in which it compared a leading anti-spam solution based
on Challenge/ Response technology to several offerings
based on filtering technologies. The report, “Competitive
Evaluation of Anti-Spam Solutions: Challenge/Response
vs. Filtering,” which was commissioned by Mailblocks,
Inc., examined six offerings that are currently available
to both corporate users and consumers: Brightmail, Inc.’s
Brightmail; Microsoft Corp.’s Hotmail; Mailblocks’
Challenge/Response 2.0; Network Associates’ McAfee
SpamKiller; Postini, Inc.’s Postini and Symantec’s
SpamAlert.
Among key findings in the report:
- Challenge/Response
– not Filtering-based anti-spam solutions –
emerged as the most reliable in blocking unsolicited
computer-generated email and delivering legitimate
email.
- Anti-spam solutions
based upon Filtering technologies varied widely on
the percentage of spam blocked and were less effective
than Challenge/Response in blocking spam. Depending
on the solution, Filtering products failed to block
from 25% - 80% of spam, while Mailblocks’ Challenge/Response
blocked 100% of spam.
- Mailblocks’
Challenge/Response was the only offering that blocked
all spam messages yet did not adversely affect delivery
of legitimate email messages. Filters often remove
good email as well as spam – this is known as
a ‘false positive.’ When Filter levels
were adjusted to their highest setting, the percentage
of legitimate email delivered dropped precipitously;
meanwhile the Challenge/Response mechanism enabled
a questionable message to reach a user’s inbox
once it had been authenticated and passed a Challenge
test.
The
full report is available on The Tolly Group’s
Web site at www.tolly.com/DocDetail.aspx?DocNumber=203121.
“The results were startling and
offer powerful evidence to support the assertion that
Challenge/Response technology is fundamentally better
at both stopping spam and allowing legitimate email
traffic to pass,” said Kevin Tolly, President/CEO
of The Tolly Group. “It was the only solution
tested that effectively blocked 100% of the spam messages
sent, while also allowing 100% of the legitimate email
to pass unencumbered to the mail recipient.”
“To offer a truly new class of
email to individuals, it takes more than the best line-up
of features. The service must deliver all the mail correctly,
all of the time,” said Mailblocks’ CEO Phil
Goldman. “We are gratified to see the results,
which underscore the effectiveness of Mailblocks’
Challenge/Response service.”
To conduct its tests, The Tolly Group
gathered a statistically projective number of unique
spam messages from the Internet and categorized them
into ten common spam categories, including advertising,
health-related, travel, finance and more. Tolly Group
engineers also crafted a number of benign messages using
commonplace business vocabulary to represent legitimate
email messages, which allowed The Tolly Group to test
for the occurrence of false positives.
For more information on “Competitive
Evaluation of Challenge/Response vs. Filtering Anti-Spam
Solutions,” contact Charles Bruno, Executive Editor,
at The Tolly Group, by sending email to cbruno@tolly.com
or by calling (407) 381-7801.
About
Mailblocks
Mailblocks, Inc. is a new class of Web-based email service
for consumers. Founded in July 2002 by Phil Goldman,
a former Microsoft executive and a founder of WebTV,
Mailblocks started with a simple idea: improve the consumer
email experience - make it better, more manageable and
- above all else - free from the aggravation of spam.
Using state-of-the-art technology, an assemblage of
talented, passionate and experienced individuals and
a customer research driven development model, Mailblocks
is dedicated to helping people restore and fulfill the
true potential of email communication. To learn more
about Mailblocks visit our Web site at http://www.mailblocks.com
or contact pr@mailblocks.com.
About
The Tolly Group
The Tolly Group, an independent testing and strategic
consulting organization based in Boca Raton, FL., offers
a full range of services designed to furnish both the
vendor and end-user communities with authoritative and
unbiased information. Additionally, The Tolly Group
is recognized worldwide for its expertise in assessing
leading-edge technologies. For more information on The
Tolly Group's services, visit its Web site at http://www.tolly.com,
send email inquiries to sales@tolly.com, or call (732)
528-3300.
For More Information:
Krause Taylor Associates for Mailblocks
Betty Taylor
(408) 918-9082
bettyt@krause-taylor.com
The Tolly Group
Charles Bruno, Executive Editor
(407) 381-7801
cbruno@tolly.com |
