IBM ISS goes fishing for phishers

There’s just no stopping it: Spam continues to get worse, and more of it is now targeted at obtaining financial or corporate information rather than just selling herbal remedies or porn. Phishing, or trying to get users to go to Web sites that seem legitimate but are actually forgeries intended to capture users’ information, is an increasing threat, too.

Internet Security Systems, now owned by IBM, is attempting to take on both of these plagues and more. The Proventia Network Mail Security System MS3004, version 1.0 appliance I tested provides e-mail security (including anti-virus, anti-spam, and anti-phishing capabilities), a firewall, intrusion prevention, and an SMTP server. The appliance format makes it easy to set up, and it does a good job on the IPS front, but I found that the MS3004’s anti-spam abilities weren’t as solid as those of other solutions I’ve reviewed.