Spam has become a widespread problem that negatively impacts organizations in several ways: 1) It reduces worker productivity by taking time for users to sort through and delete unwanted emails. On an enterprise scale, this can mean hundreds of lost hours of productivity each day. 2) It increases legal liabilities by exposing organizations to potential harassment complaints or inappropriate content in employee inboxes. 3) It constrains network bandwidth through large file attachments or images in spam emails, slowing down organizational email and network functionality. 4) It introduces malicious software and viruses through spam that can infect organizational servers and systems, posing data security threats.

1. Spam Is More Than
Just Annoying
Topical White Paper

2. Topical White Paper Spam is More Than Just Annoying
A Growing Problem in Corporate E-Mail Boxes
Spam has become an increasingly common problem in our everyday lives. It is a problem that
affects not only home users but also corporate computer users as well. Enterprises, governments
and ISPs are trying to address this epidemic but have not been able to find the solution. More than
simply a nuisance, spam significantly impacts worker productivity, creates legal liabilities, introduces
malicious code and constrains network bandwidth.
Reduces Worker Productivity
Unsolicited e-mail messages are often compared to the traditional "Spam fighting is a difficult and
paper junk mail many people receive in their mailboxes at home ever-evolving game. Gartner clients
or at work. They are similar in the sense that they are unwanted, with tools to measure spam report
they are not requested and they are often times unneeded. that as much as 30 percent to 50
Another similarity they share is that it takes time to separate and percent of the messages they receive
throw away the unwanted items versus the ones that are are identified as spam. The
legitimate. Unfortunately with e-mail, the cost to produce and content is becoming increasingly
send Spam is minimal compared to traditional post office mail objectionable, coloring the working
and as a result, the volume is dramatically larger. For an environment of unprotected
individual, sorting out spam can take minutes out of your day. companies and creating human
On a larger enterprise scale, it can mean hundreds of lost hours resources issues."
of productivity every day.
Joyce W.Graff
Research Analyst
Increases Legal Liabilities Gartner, Inc.
Spam can come in many forms: chain mail, jokes, advertisements,
newsletters or images. Since a user has no control over the
content received, this exposes the individual and the company to potential legal liabilities.
Harassment complaints can be filed by employees who receive lewd and obscene Spam in their
corporate e-mail boxes from external sources and co-workers. Some e-mail applications and Web-
enabled e-mail clients automatically display the HTML and JPEG images embedded within a
message. As a result, child pornography, hate-related messages targeting race, religion or creed and
other inappropriate content could be found in corporate e-mail boxes without ever being requested.
A human resource and legal nightmare.
Constrains Network Bandwidth
Static HTML graphics, JPEG or GIF pictures, interactive flash demonstrations and video files are
bandwidth intensive by themselves. Now imagine an organization receiving multiple e-mail
messages containing these items and these being sent to all the employees of an organization. This
would not only bottleneck all traffic coming into the organization but would also constrain the
ability for e-mails to be sent out from the organization as well. The deluge of Spam can significantly
impact network bandwidth and cripple the ability to perform simple everyday functions. This could
lead to the need for additional bandwidth that would increase costs and would not be necessary
under controlled circumstances.

3. Topical White Paper Spam is More Than Just Annoying
Introduces Malicious Code, Viruses, Etc.
There are many threats that Spam can pose to an
organization and introducing mobile malicious code into
a corporate network is among the most dangerous of
them. Malicious code, viruses, worms and Trojans can be
carried into an organization through innocent looking e-
mail messages without the computer user ever knowing.
Spam on the Rise
This can lead to the infection of computers, SMTP
servers, file servers, Web servers and database servers.
With federal regulations such as HIPAA (Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) for
healthcare, GLBA (Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act) for finance
and the EU Directive on Data Protection, organizations
can be held liable for the inappropriate maintenance, Quarterly, from March 2002 to June
2003, the peak number of daily spam
inadequate protection and data integrity of the information they store e-mails detected and blocked by
in their networks. America Online.
ROI Factors
There are many Spam control solutions available in the marketplace today however, it is important
for organizations to accurately evaluate the
Spam Statistics 2003
ROI they receive by purchasing these point
Percent of E-Mails Considered to be Spam 40% of all e-mails products. Although the initial purchase
Daily Spam E-mails sent 12.4 billion price of a point product may be less
Daily Spam received per person 6 expensive, the total cost of ownership must
Annual Spam received per person 2200 be considered. Implementation time, staff
Spam costs for US corporations in 2002 $8.9 billion training and ease of management in day-to-
Estimated Spam increase by 2007 63%
day activities can drive up the total cost of
Annual Spam in 1000 employee company 2.1 million
Corporate E-Mail that is consider to be Spam 15-20% ownership significantly. Gartner
Wasted corporate time per Spam E-Mail 4.5 seconds recommends organizations implement
Source: Spam Filter Review (www.spamfilterreview.com/spam-statistics.html) content security solutions that integrate
best-of-breed technology into one platform
allowing network administrators and staff to manage multiple applications from various vendors
from one management console.
About Finjan
Finjan Software’s Vital Security™ is the only complete and integrated Secure Content Management
solution in which individual best-of-breed security applications work together in concert to
proactively respond to changing security threats today and tomorrow. Supplementing traditional
security methods, Vital Security defends enterprises against Malicious Mobile Code using intelligent
behavior analysis and comprehensive policy management. Vital Security is designed with high
availability and scalability, for enterprises of all sizes, including those with over 100,000 users. Finjan
is recognized by analyst firm IDC as the leader in the worldwide Malicious Mobile Code security
market. For more information, visit http://www.finjan.com.
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Finjan, Finjan logo, and Vital Security are trademarks or registered trademarks of Finjan Software, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries. All other trademarks are the sole property of their
respective owners. The Finjan Software products described in this document are protected by one or more of the following U.S. Patents: 6092194, 6167520, 6480962, 6209103,
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