Cloudmark Automated Feedback System Helps Service Providers & Customers Combat Messaging Threats

Market Wire, May, 2006

Cloudmark, Inc., the authority in messaging security solutions, is announcing an automated reporting interface that allows subscribers to email services to actively participate in the live reporting of messaging threats, and lets service providers measure and demonstrate success in blocking spam, phishing and virus attacks. The new Cloudmark Network Feedback System (CNFS) tracks the automated processing of subscriber reports, equipping service provider administrators with the metrics needed to prove their responsiveness and quantify the increased effectiveness of messaging security for both customers and senior level management.

During the past eighteen months, the challenge of fighting spam, criminal phishing threats and new computer viruses has become a top priority for service providers both as a means of improving customer satisfaction and decreasing costs associated with support, processing power and storage. On average, a typical customer support call to retrieve erroneously blocked email can exceed $15 while storing unfiltered spam on messaging servers can run Tier 1 carriers upwards of $1 million annually.

Cloudmark's Network Feedback System incorporates subscriber feedback to speed response and increase accuracy, and improves customer experience and satisfaction rates by keeping subscribers better informed of actual network-wide and individual threat-blocking results, resulting in a reduction in customer service complaints and associated expenses. Cloudmark's corroborative solutions have demonstrated over the last several years that, in an interesting sociological twist, subscribers are eager to actively participate in the fight to stop malevolent mail.

"A constant complaint we hear about the incumbent provider is that subscriber reports fall into an operating center black hole and no action occurs as a result of their efforts," says Bassam Khan, Cloudmark's vice president of marketing. "At Cloudmark, every piece of feedback counts and is instantly added to our automated system through the CNFS interface. This collaborative effort enables every subscriber to participate in the process of threat reporting that can help to quickly resolve issues or block threats from reaching subscribers in the first place, and on a global basis."

Additionally, CNFS reports highlight Cloudmark's superior accuracy. After head-to-head trials, service providers typically determine that legacy solutions are blocking about 50% fewer malevolent messages. According to Khan, "CNFS is the only information sharing framework that automates the collection, corroboration, analysis and dissemination of data critical both to improving and evaluating the effectiveness of messaging security. In many cases, service providers find this ability so compelling it's becoming a chief competitive advantage for Cloudmark."

How It Works

CNFS collects data on emerging threats, thwarted attacks and the accuracy with which the system performs. CNFS helps service providers to achieve full transparency of their efforts to combat messaging threats and compile statistics on trends over time to measure key criteria such as accuracy, filtering and resolution of user complaints. It allows administrators to clearly quantify success to senior management via a feature-rich executive dashboard. Ordering data for use with both managers and customers, CNFS removes the costly and frustrating ambiguity from messaging security.

Additionally, CNFS reporters are automatically given an account in the Cloudmark Collaborative Security Network and Cloudmark begins tracking the reputation -- and developing the trust rating -- for each reporter. Feedback is then automatically analyzed and used to fine-tune accuracy in near real time. Cloudmark can provide a service provider with an integrated web mail interface that enables subscribers to see how many attacks they have personally helped contain with their reporting, as well as how many the service provider has stopped. This information-sharing framework encourages communication and collaboration and allows providers to create recognition programs rewarding customers for their help preventing new outbreaks. It also helps subscribers recognize the high level of protection offered by their service provider and achieve highly coveted trust ratings.

Cloudmark consistently stops new spam, phishing and virus attacks faster than alternative solutions by employing the most intelligent combination of user feedback, service provider intervention and automated technology. Along with industry-leading speed and accuracy, the newly expanded CNFS adds the final tool for comprehensively managing and maximizing investments in messaging security.

"Service providers have expressed frustration that they work hard to protect subscribers, but the only time users notice is when a spam message is missed. The idea of being able to really show users the value of the solution they're providing has resonated strongly with providers globally, and having a superior solution can be a huge differentiator and potentially even a new source of premium revenues," added Khan. "Having a system like CNFS is key, not only in encouraging the input needed to make efforts successful, but in giving providers a means of taking credit for having invested in a superior solution."