The present document offers a comprehensive analysis of the ways to secure corporate email systems. It provides an expert opinion on the available approaches, architectures and deployment options for implementing security applications in the email infrastructure, while keeping a special focus on the benefits of using the integrated Axigen-Kaspersky solution.

AntiVirus and AntiSpam email scanning. The Axigen-Kaspersky solution In today’s fast-paced and competitive business environment, email communication is mission-critical. Companies of all sizes and Service Providers altogether need robust and secure messaging solutions that they can count on 24x7. Protecting the email infrastructure is not only a challenge, but also an imperative for business productivity and continuity.

Possible solutions
To defend corporate email systems, it is necessary to implement AntiVirus and AntiSpam scanning at one or more points within the email delivery process (e.g. at gateway, on end-users work stations, and / or at the mail server level). However, in order to reduce the time and costs associated with the installation, administration and maintenance of multiple security solutions in the same network, these should also be ideally incorporated into a single security product, used on or with the messaging platform. Compared with other email security deployment options, implementing scanning at the mail server level represents a sustainable approach through valuable benefits:
• It also scans company internal emails, which usually do not pass via other platforms such as a mail gateway.
• It usually enables centralized security management and updates, as well as the compliance with company security policies.

The Axigen-Kaspersky solution
As with other popular mail servers, various security applications can be used with the Axigen mail server in order to ensure a higher security level for the email communication.

Integrating Axigen with security applications can be achieved through:
• The Milter protocol (Kasperky, AVG, ClamAV, Symantec);
• External filters (developed as external components of Axigen);
• And, in a particular case (the integration with the Commtouch AntiSpam technology) – via the HTTP protocol.

The latest and most innovative implementation, however, is represented by the integration of Kaspersky Lab’s award-winning malware detection engine into the Axigen mail server. The Axigen-Kaspersky partnership brings together the reliable Axigen messaging solutions with the proactive Kaspersky AntiVirus and AntiSpam, message content and attachment filtering technologies to secure the mail traffic of both companies and Service Providers.

How it works:
The Axigen mail server communicates, through a dedicated protocol, with two internal, custom-built services (Kaspersky AntiVirus Server and Kaspersky AntiSpam Server) created specifically for the Axigen platform, based on Kaspersky Lab’s AntiVirus and AntiSpam SDKs (Software Development Kits).
Compared with the other filtering mechanisms used by Axigen (described above), this implementation offers significant benefits such as:
• Increased reliability – The Axigen team has designed and implemented all the components of this functionality – the communication protocol (Integrated Filters Protocol), the filters on the Axigen server, as well as the Kaspersky technology-based filtering services.
• Centralized configuration and updates – via Axigen’s managing services (the protocol has been specifically developed to provide these functionalities).
• Increased mail scanning and delivery speed – thanks to the lower protocol overhead and to the fact that emails are scanned directly from Axigen’s message queue.

The integrated Axigen-Kaspersky solution minimizes complexity and lowers costs with centralized management, flexible configuration options, broad platform support and friendly licensing model, with technical support included.

To learn more about the ways to secure corporate email systems, as well as about the integrated Axigen-Kaspersky solution, please read the full version of the article on our website: www.axigen.com.
Moreover, you can test the embedded Kaspersky AntiVirus and AntiSpam protection by taking the WebAdmin Demo, or by downloading any of the 30-day Axigen evaluation versions.