Is Your Email Secure?

Category: Email , Spam

Many consumers are blissfully unaware of the threats knocking on the doors of their email inboxes. Popular free email service providers such as Google, Yahoo, and Hotmail, stop a vast number of threats at their mail servers without any attention from end users. But some threats still get through, so consumers using desktop email software, and businesses that operate their own email servers must defend themselves. Here are some of the email security software programs that get the job done...

Email Security Software

Comodo AntiSpam is a free solution that integrates with Outlook, Outlook Express and Windows Mail to provide inbound email security. If the sender's email address is not in your address book or your "blocked" list, AntiSpam will place the message on hold. A request for confirmation with a graphical passcode is sent to the sender, and if an actual human responds with the correct passcode, the message is delivered to your inbox. Since almost all spam, email viruses and phishing emails are sent by automated systems, this works very well to protect your inbox.

SpamTitan Anti-Spam is an award-winning email security suite that, in tests, stops over 98 per cent of spam emails. Its multi-layered anti-spam analyses produce less than 0.03 per cent false positives. Two anti-virus engines (ClamAV and Kaspersky) screen email attachments for viruses. User-definable content filters can block messages containing specific language. SpamTitan scans both inbound and outbound email. SpamTitan is an email gateway product, not designed for end users. The software is free; customers pay for ongoing support and software updates.
Email Security

Websense claims to deliver "three times the email security at half the cost." Another gateway product, Websense Email Security excels at blocking Web attacks buried in email. It also features intensive scrutiny of inbound email for viruses and phishing attacks.

Google Postini Services blocks email-borne threats using the same patented technology that protects Google GMail users. It protects sensitive email in transit using the SSL or TLS connection encryption protocols. It works with an existing email system and costs only a dollar per month per user.

Protecting Outbound Mail and Hosted Anti-Spam Services

Protecting outbound email from prying eyes is a major concern for businesses and many individuals. Comodo Secure Email is free for home/personal use. Integrating seamlessly with popular email clients, it provides public-key encryption and digital certificate signatures. Encryption ensures that only a recipient with the right software key can read an email, while a digital signature confirms the identity of the sender.

Symantec Corp. offers both gateway-level and desktop email security solutions for Windows, Mac OS X, Windows Mobile 6, and Blackberry email clients. Symantec's email encryption relies on the PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) protocol, a trusted name in email encryption.

McAfee SaaS Email Protection is a "cloud-based" solution that antivirus maker McAfee acquired in its merger with MX Logic. It protects business networks from spam and phishing attacks, particularly threats from unknown senders or those who try to disguise their identities. It also scans for viruses, and allows content filtering and attachment blocking. McAfee's Global Threat Intelligence network provides protection against threats as they are discovered around the world. The company claims that they can block "over 99 percent of spam, viruses, worms and harmful content."

RedCondor.com offers two types of email security solutions designed for small businesses and other organizations that don't have a large IT staff. To use its hosted service, customers redirect their email domains to RedCondor's server. That server scrubs out spam, viruses, objectionable content, and phishing attempts, then forwards the "good" email to the customer's email server. The same capabilities are available in a gateway appliance, a box that plugs into the customer's network and is kept up to date by RedCondor.

Do you have a suggestion for an email security tool? Post your comment or question below...

 
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Most recent comments on "Is Your Email Secure?"

Posted by:

Neal Machtiger
12 May 2011

Re Commodo Antispam: The download screen only offers widows xp/windows 2000 as the choice of operating system


Posted by:

doug
13 May 2011

Uhmmmm... from the Comodo download site: System Requirements:

* Win 7 / Vista / XP (SP2) / Win 2000 (SP4) 32 bit

* 20 MB Hard Disk Space

EDITOR'S NOTE: Pretty modest, right?


Posted by:

MmeMoxie
13 May 2011

I use MailWasher Pro. It simply works and works well. I have used this program for 10 years, when it first was a Free program. Firetrust is the company that has this product, plus a couple of others.

Firetrust was founded by Nick Bolton in 2000 with plans to develop an easy to use anti-spam software product for consumers. Following this, in 2001 MailWasher was released to the world and quickly became very popular because it allowed users to easily take control of their email.

I can only say, I trust this program and highly recommend it to others. I even bought the Pro program. Right now, they are promoting the 'new' Mailwasher Pro 2011. Purchase this version and you will have a lifetime of upgrades and NO monthly or yearlyannual subscriptions to pay. I have never paid for any of my upgrades.


Posted by:

opolis
28 May 2011

www.opolis.eu is entirely changing the world of emails: secure mail and document messaging is for free, and the sender decides whether the recipient can forward, copy or print a mail!


Posted by:

Ralph
20 Jun 2011

Encryption is easy! The challenge how do you manage the keys? Share passwords? Get the recipient without admin rights the ability to decrypt? PKI is very 90's ....

All the solutions mentioned and available until now are stuck in the 90’s paradigm. Hosted Security Infrastructure as a service capability is changing the way you can think security. Encrypt at the point of creation, store in the cloud encrypted (without the platform having the key!) and decryption in run-time. Works on Facebook, Webmail, Outlook just like with machine to machine communication like EDI or payment processes. And most of it is free… Take a look at PrivateSky.me


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