 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Tech industry |
| Founded | 1998 |
| Founder | Sunil Paul |
| Defunct | 2004 |
| Fate | Acquired by Symantec |
| Headquarters | San Francisco[1] |
| Products | Email filtering software |
| Revenue | $26 million (2003[2]) |
| $1.1 million (2003[2]) | |
Number of employees | 127 (2004)[3] |
| Website | Official website[3] |
Brightmail Inc. was a San Francisco–based technology company focused on anti-spam filtering. Brightmail's system has a three-pronged approach to stopping spam, the Probe Network is a massive number of e-mail addresses established for the sole purpose of receiving spam. The Brightmail Logistics and Operations Center (BLOC) evaluates newly detected spam and issues rules for ISPs. The third approach is the Spam Wall, a filtering engine that identifies and screens out spam based on the updates from the BLOC.[4]
Brightmail had partnerships with major Email providers and ISPs including Netscape, Sendmail, Hotmail and Software.com. Other partners include AT&T WorldNet Service, Concentric Network, EarthLink, Excite, FastNet, FlashNet, Juno Online Services and USA.net.
The antivirus-inspired regular update mechanism used to detect spam email attracted the attention of Internet security software makers and Brightmail was acquired by Symantec in 2004.[4]
The Brightmail name continued to be used by Symantec, and the slogan Powered by Brightmail appeared on their products until 2011 when most products were renamed or deprecated into what is known as Symantec Messaging Gateway (SMG).[5]
- ^ Fordahl, Matthew (2004-05-20). "Symantec to acquire anti-spam firm Brightmail for $370M". USA Today. Associated Press. Retrieved 2016-03-25.
- ^ a b Kanellos, Michael (May 19, 2004). "Symantec To Buy Brightmail". CNET. CNET Networks, Inc.
- ^ a b "BRIGHTMAIL INC. IPO". NASDAQ.com.
- ^ a b Beizer, Doug (1998). "Protecting Your In-Box". PC Magazine. Ziff Davis Media Inc. (published September 22, 1998). p. 40.
- ^ McNamara, Paul (July 13, 1998). "Splashy spam start-up". Network World. Archived from the original on May 4, 2016.