DQC NEWS BUREAU

IronPort Systems announced deployment of IronPort Bounce Verification technology, designed to protect customers from e-mail bounce attacks. IronPort's unique solution signs the envelope's return (bounce) address, in SMTP's MAIL FROM: command for outgoing mail.

When bounce messages are sent to an e-mail gateway the existence of the correct signature will help determine legitimate bounces from fraudulent bounces.  IronPort's Bounce Verification technology represents the first appliance-based solution compliant with Bounce Address Tag Validation (BATV), which is circulating as a draft with Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and is expected to enter the standards process.

The total volume of misdirected bounces has grown 35 percent since Q1, 2006.  Misdirected bounces now make up 15.2 percent of hostile e-mail, or over seven billion messages per day. The vast majority of these messages are sent to invalid return addresses, clogging the mail systems of the forged domain owner, but never getting delivered to an end-user. These attacks can cause the mail servers of these legitimate organizations to get blacklisted. Additionally, these attacks may result in more spam getting through to end-users, as legacy anti-spam solutions are forced to either accept bounces coming from these sources or risk blocking other legitimate e-mail from these organizations.

“Market demand for a solution to bounce attacks has never been greater.  Traditional e-mail security solutions available in the market today are simply not effective at stopping bounce attacks.  IronPort's Bounce Verification incorporates pioneering technology from the Internet community and makes it available in an easy to use, 'set and forget' appliance,” said Tom Gillis, Senior VP - Worldwide Marketing, IronPort Systems.
“What makes BATV unique as an e-mail security tool is that it requires no ongoing administrative overhead and no global adoption. Each organization that deploys BATV gains immediate benefit from it. IronPort's initiative in adopting BATV shows industry acceptance that will help promote the draft through IETF standards adoption process,” said Dave Crocker, Principal Branden­burg InternetWorking Consulting and

Co-Creator Bounce Address Tag Validation.
“Five 9s e-mail availability is critical to our business. Iron­Port's dedication to new technology that secures our network is one of the many reasons we deploy their solution. Bounce Verification is another tool in the IronPort toolbox to protect us from a wide range of e-mail-borne threats,” said Brian Hayashi, Senior Director - Engineering, Vegas.com.

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