13th NOVEMBER 2003

FIRETRUST ANNOUNCES FIRSTALERT!™ COMMUNITY-BASED SPAM DATABASE

Firetrust, the company that empowers consumers with tools to fight spam, today announced the release of FirstAlert! an Internet community-based content filtration system to stop spam and help users fight back against spammers. The FirstAlert! system enables MailWasher® Pro software users to fight back against spam with just one click!

The release of the FirstAlert! system makes MailWasher Pro anti-spam software the most comprehensive and intelligent tool available, enabling email users to regain control of their email inboxes and free themselves from unwanted and malicious email content.

The FirstAlert! system works when users ‘report’ spam to the FirstAlert! content filtration system database where messages are verified as spam by a FirstAlert! administrator who then adds it to the global spam database. All spam in the FirstAlert! database is automatically marked as spam for removal from the inboxes of the entire community of FirstAlert! users.

What makes FirstAlert! different from other spam database solutions is human beings are validating reported spam as true spam. Often users ’blacklist’ emails because they are managing their email interaction. They may belong to a subscribed newsletter and not have time to read it nor import it into their mail client for future reading. Blacklisting a newsletter from a magazine or other requested source doesn’t mean the actual email is spam. The FirstAlert! solution solves ’false positive’ spam bouncing. The current spam libraries, to assist in identifying and eliminating spam aren’t accurate, block valid email and allow spam email through. Human intervention is needed in addition to technology to validate the actual database.

The power of community-based spam fighting means MailWasher Pro captures a greater percentage of spam over time as more people join the community and become spam fighters. The FirstAlert! content filtration system allows ‘spam fighters’ to work together! Peace-of-mind is assured for users who cannot afford to lose legitimate email (false-positives) because two people check the reported email as being spam, the user and the FirstAlert! administrator.

“It is ludicrous to think that a computer system alone can decide for different people, which messages are spam and which are legitimate, 100% of the time,” says Nick Bolton, Chief Executive, Firetrust Limited. “Utilizing the power of MailWasher Pro software users working together across the Internet in combination with the tool’s standard features is a comprehensive way to address the increasing problem for email users, everywhere. Firetrust’s FirstAlert! system is an important feature in stopping spam because it gives users the power to help one another to fight back against spammers and take back control of their inboxes,” says Bolton.

“Imagine if your efforts at reducing spam could help the whole world to get rid of spam, that’s exactly what FirstAlert! does. It takes the power of the people of the MailWasher Pro community and fights back against spam,” says Bolton. “MailWasher Pro is well known for being an extremely easy to use, feature rich and effective tool in the fight against spam,” says Bolton.

“Firetrust is focused on delivering the best combination of spam fighting tools, providing ultimate effectiveness, accuracy and low cost to consumers. Firetrust’s ultimate goal is to totally eradicate spam altogether and the FirstAlert! system takes us one step closer to achieving this,” he said.

Unlike other anti-spam solutions which are integrated to the email client, MailWasher Pro works outside the email client, so users benefit from its powerful protection, without downloading unwanted messages or viruses. Users can preview, delete, blacklist and even create an “invalid email address” message to send back to the spammer making it appear that their email address no longer exists.

By reviewing and deleting content at the email server, users are protected from objectionable and harmful content including graphics, web bugs are rendered inactive, bandwidth is protected, and viruses and malicious script is stopped from spreading. Users are also given control of their email load because they can “delete” an email that isn’t spam but not of interest on that particular day due to time management or other reasons. MailWasher Pro not only stops spam and viruses, it is a time management email system, giving users total control of their email boxes!

At present MailWasher Pro is available on stand-alone PCs and laptops. An enterprise version of MailWasher Pro will be released later this year for use on server networks.

System Requirements And AvailabilityThe FirstAlert! system is now available free to all MailWasher Pro registered users until March 2004 when it will be available by annual subscription.

MailWasher Pro is available for purchase and download through the Firetrust website. MailWasher Pro is priced at $US29.95 for a single user-license with discounts available for volume licensing. A free 30-day trial version can also be downloaded from the site. MailWasher Pro works with Microsoft Windows 98, Me, NT, 2000 and XP operating systems. It is compatible with all pop3 email programs, including, but not limited to Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express, Netscape and Eudora; AOL, IMAP, MSN and Hotmail email accounts. To date MailWasher has had more than 3 million downloads.

About Firetrust™ LimitedFiretrust was established in 2000 to provide world-class email security products for business and home users. Firetrust provide solutions across the spectrum of inbox protection, including MailWasher Pro for unsolicited commercial email (spam) and Benign to neutralize harmful email which can contain viruses, worms, scripts and web bugs.

MailWasher® and Benign® are registered trade marks of Firetrust Limited.

- Christchurch, New Zealand.