MX Logic: In Defense of E-mail

As e-mail and Internet threats evolve, it only makes sense that the companies dedicated to fighting them change and grow, too. MX Logicis a Denver, Colorado-based company that traditionally focuses on e-mail defense, which primarily consists of spam, viruses and malicious content. However, as more forms of communications move over the Internet, and as Internet threats become increasingly prevalent and varied, MX Logic plans to add new weapons designed to create a Web defense arsenal.

MX Logic’s E-mail Defense Service consists of two different service packages — MX Critical Defense and MX Ultimate Defense — designed to protect small business e-mail systems from digital threats. Customers can start with the basic package and customize their level of protection by adding various modules. They also offer a third package, MX Enterprise Defense, designed for large companies with complex filtering requirements that far exceed anything a small business could need.

Here’s a basic breakdown of the first two services:

MX Critical Defense: Provides e-mail attack protection, advanced spam blocking (using Symantec’s Brightmail AntiSpam), fraud protection, content and attachment filtering, triple virus and worm scanning, inbound message filtering, e-mail threat quarantine and an administration and reporting tool.

MX Ultimate Defense:Includes the features in the MX Critical Defense service package, plus outbound message filtering and MX Logic’s Fail Safe Disaster Recovery Service. This adds automatic e-mail backup protection in the event of an unexpected outage or during planned maintenance.

MX Logic bases its pricing for Email Defense Service on the service package and number of people using it, but it starts at $1.00 per person per month and goes to $2.25 per person per month for MX Ultimate Defense.

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MX Logic partners with different anti-virus companies to provide e-mail defense, including McAfee, Sophos and Authentium. Steve Renda, the company’s senior vice president said there are definite benefits to working with multiple vendors. “Not every anti-virus solution detects every virus, so combining their various strengths ensures that our customers get broad spectrum protection.”

Since it’s a managed service — i.e., your company’s e-mail is routed through the MX Logic’s servers for scanning and filtering before it ever reaches your company’s network — you don’t need to invest in any additional hardware or software. This type of arrangement may be an affordable way for small businesses to get the e-mail protection they need at a price they can manage.

Looking Down the Road
Starting in the first quarter of 2006, MX Logic will begin adding new features and services to better fight digital threats. “Currently, our E-mail Defense Service provides basic anti-phishing capabilities, but we plan to expand them,” said Renda.

He went on to explain that the service identifies and blocks phishing e-mails and other fraudulent content before it reaches the customer’s network. “Starting in 2006, we plan to add more comprehensive anti-phishing defenses and to expand our Web filtering capabilities to help protect against adware and spyware and also to restrict access to specific URLs.”

Looking beyond e-mail, Renda indicated that MX Logic planned to roll out services designed to protect other forms of communication over the Internet, specifically VoIP and Instant Message. “Our first quarter plans are just the beginning,” he said. “As more ways of communicating over the Internet come into the mainstream, we will be there to help small businesses protect themselves from IP-based threats.”

Lauren Simonds is the managing editor of SmallBusinessComputing.com