Cloudmark CTO Jamie De Guerre presents at the Parallels conference earlier this year
In advance of HostingCon 2009, taking place from August 10 to 12, 2009 in Washington, DC, the WHIR is conducting interviews with some of the speakers presenting at the event and conducting interviews to give readers a sense of what to expect from the sessions, and help them decide which to attend.
In an email Q&A with the WHIR, Jamie De Guerre, chief technology officer of email security company Cloudmark discusses the evolving nature of email threats in advance of his HostingCon 2009 presentation on the next generation of email security.
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Spam filtering is a challenge every hosting provider faced, not only because an inefficient filtering system can bombard the hosting provider’s network with junk email, but also because a hosting provider offering an ineffective spam filtering solution is at risk of losing their customers’ email business to services like Gmail or Yahoo Mail.
In his HostingCon 2009 presentation “Next Generation Email Security,” scheduled for 12:45 p.m. on Wednesday, August 12, Jamie De Guerre, chief technology officer of email security provider Cloudmark (www.cloudmark.com) describes the dangers spam presents to a hosting provider, and the value-added service opportunity in providing a premium spam filtering service.
WHIR: Your presentation’s title references “next generation email security.” What has changed since the previous generation of email security, and what kind of time frame does that generational distinction describe?
Jamie De Guerre: Email threats have changed dramatically over the past 3 to 6 years. Spam has gone from around 20-30 percent of all email to currently over 95 percent of all email. Attacks have become increasingly malicious and sophisticated, leveraging “mash-up techniques” that combine viruses, malware, hacking, fraud and spam into concerted campaigns. The attacker community is motivated by financial gain, and attackers have found ways to make significant amounts of money from their campaigns.
Email security solutions that were once effective at stopping spam now struggle to keep up with these advanced threats. These ineffective solutions end up causing significant pain for hosting providers, as they have to expend significant resources on keeping systems operating efficiently and blocking incoming threats. More importantly, customers who have a poor experience will sometimes switch providers or stop using the email service provided by their hoster, and switch to another email service (such as a free Web-based mail service). Next-generation solutions effectively block the latest threats without requiring hardware, technical or operational resources from the hosting provider.
What is the specific impact of any changes to the email security threat on hosting providers?
JDG: The changes in email threats over the past several years have meant that many hosting providers have struggled to provide an effective email experience to their customers. This has led to many customers using free email services like Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail or switching to use their own email security solution on their PC or mail server, instead of the service provided by the hosting provider. When this happens, hosting providers lose stickiness with the customer and provide less value, eventually contributing to churn or reduced margins.
Can you discuss how the threat to hosting customers translates into a value-added service opportunity for hosting providers?
JDG: The opportunity to provide a premium, business-class email service to customers is a significant value-added service opportunity. In my session, I will demonstrate how having the highest level of email security as part of that solution is critical to its success – users will have a negative perception of the service if there is spam, regardless of how good other features are. The session will also provide hosting providers with an easy way to quickly deploy these services.
Is there an inherent benefit to hosts in protecting customers from these email threats, aside from the potential revenue source?
JDG: Aside from the revenue opportunity, effective email security can positively impact the hosting provider’s brand, helping to reduce churn and improve customer acquisition. Hosting providers also improve their image to the Internet Community at large, showing that they are helping to reduce the amount of threats on the Internet.
Bill Boebel of Rackspace Email and Apps is joining you in delivering the HostingCon presentation. Is there an in-practice application or case study he’s going to bring to the discussion?
JDG: Yes, Bill will present a case study showing how important effective email security has been to the rapid success of Rackspace’s Email and Apps business unit.
