Antispam 2004 Outpaces Competitors In Test

Antispam 2004 Outpaces Competitors In Independent Test

SYMANTEC’S NORTON ANTISPAM 2004 OUTPACES COMPETITORS IN INDEPENDENT TEST

Norton AntiSpam Accurately Identifies and Blocks Most Spam
While Allowing Legitimate Mail Through

Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC), the world leader in information security, today announced that Norton AntiSpam™ outperformed competitors in an independent test conducted by VeriTest, the testing division of Lionbridge Technologies (Nasdaq: LIOX). In the test, Norton AntiSpam blocked the highest percentage of spam, while generating the lowest false positive rate.

Norton AntiSpam 2004, Network Associates McAfee SpamKiller 5.0, and the Junk Mail filtering feature in Microsoft Outlook 2003 were included in the VeriTest evaluation. Each application was tested for its effectiveness in filtering 5,000 spam messages and 5,000 non-spam messages before and after a training period the products used to refine the definition of spam. The effectiveness of the spam filtering application was determined by its reliability in identifying and blocking unwanted mail as well as its accuracy in recognizing legitimate mail and allowing it through.

According to the VeriTest report, higher spam-blocking percentages indicate more effective spam filtering. Norton AntiSpam correctly identified a higher percentage of spam messages compared to the other products tested both before (87.5 percent) and after (94.28 percent) the training process. McAfee SpamKiller correctly identified just 69.16 percent before training and 83.34 percent after. Outlook correctly identified even fewer, with just 49.78 percent before and 56.48 percent after training.

The VeriTest study also evaluated each application for false positives, wherein a non-spam message is misidentified as spam. In this test, a lower percentage rate indicates more accurate filtering. Norton AntiSpam posted the lowest after-training false positive rate, at .18 percent. Outlook was next, with a rate of .54 percent after training. McAfee SpamKiller posted the highest false positive rate after training, with 20.76 percent.

Each spam filtering application was tested using default, or out-of-the-box settings. The default protection level for Norton AntiSpam was medium; for SpamKiller, high; and for Outlook, the default level was low.

“The results of this study help validate that Norton AntiSpam 2004 is one of the most effective and easy to use solutions available to help consumers and small businesses regain control of their email inboxes,” said Richard Batchelar, Country Manager, Symantec New Zealand. “By blocking spam and stopping annoying pop-up ads, Norton AntiSpam improves user productivity by removing two of the biggest complaints people have about their online experience.”

Norton AntiSpam 2004 automatically filters out unwanted email and blocks online advertisements. It integrates tightly with the latest versions of Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Outlook Express, and Eudora by automatically creating a spam folder and using it to collect all email identified as spam. Norton AntiSpam also filters spam from Hotmail and MSN Mail when messages are retrieved through Outlook. Norton AntiSpam is also a valuable component of Norton Internet Security 2004, the most complete online security solution for protecting against viruses and other malicious code, hackers, privacy threats, inappropriate content, and unwanted email.

VeriTest (www.veritest.com), the testing division of Lionbridge Technologies, Inc., provides outsourced testing solutions that maximise revenue and reduce costs for clients. Under its former names of ZD Labs and eTesting Labs, and as part of VeriTest since July 2002, the company has delivered rigorous, objective, independent testing and analysis for over a decade.

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