Botnets operate within a network, using a service provider's infrastructure to distribute massive quantities of spam. Botnets are responsible for the distribution of up to 90% of the world's spam and strike at a service provider's core business assets: IP addresses, bandwidth and service reputation.
Despite ongoing closures of botnets worldwide, spam continues to flow at an ever-increasing rate throughout the world. This criminal activity is easily transportable and the potential profits mean that botnets will continue to be a significant reality in the world of organised crime.
As global broadband penetration rates increase and mobile and smart phone technologies become more accessible, ISPs and Telco's face the increasingly complex challenge of providing reliable, efficient internet services.
PineApp, a network security solution provider, has now released a carrier-grade solution able to scan and block up to 99% of all unwanted or malicious outbound email traffic. Easy to deploy, the PineApp Outbound Spam Guard (OSG) functions as a transparent proxy that communicates to the ISP - in real-time and with granular level statistics - details of the IP addresses within their networks that are infected and being controlled by botnets.
"By harnessing the power of the OSG, an ISP can reduce blacklisted IPs, improve IP reputation and reduce unwanted consumption of bandwidth," says Hilton Loewenstein of SeKure-IT, Southern African distributors of PineApp solutions.
The OSG has already been deployed in ISP networks across Africa and Asia, with beyond-expectation success. A recent installation at an ISP in Thailand with over 1.2 million IP addresses is just one of the latest success stories illustrating how the OSG is addressing the Botnet scourge.
"This ISP was suffering from a major infestation that was leading to thousands of blacklisted IP addresses. Within 14 days of implementation, the OSG blocked up to 97% of all outbound emails - meaning that 97% of the ISP's email traffic was spam. Even more importantly, during that 14-day implementation period, the number of blacklisted IP's was reduced to an almost insignificant amount. The OSG quickly and effectively secured the ISP's infrastructure and customer email-related complaints plummeted in just two weeks," says Loewenstein.
