Email filtering software offers new anti-spam features & web GUI

Berkeley, CA - 30 October 2000 - Lyris Inc., a leading developer of email management software and services, announced today the release of Lyris MailShield 2.0. MailShield is an award-winning, server-based email filter that coexists with any mail server to monitor incoming and outgoing messages.

MailShield administrators can utilize more than 50 different customizable filters to block or reroute email with specific text in the message header, subject line, or body. MailShield also prevents abusive relay attempts, performs source validations, and stops mail with attachments that may contain dangerous viruses. It is often used to protect networks from unsolicited commercial email ("spam"), and typically results in faster delivery of legitimate email and enhanced network performance.

MailShield 2.0 offers several new benefits, including a user-friendly web interface and mail merge support for inserting web-based content into email. In addition, version 2.0 supports the Mail Abuse Prevention System's RBL+ Master Service, which enables RBL+ subscribers to synchronize their anti-spam efforts with the latest data from three of MAPS' services: Realtime Blackhole List (RBL), Relay Spam Stopper List (RSS), and Dial-up User List (DUL).

"The RBL+ Master Service combines our lists of the IP addresses of spam-originating sites, unsecured mail relays, and dial-up ports, allowing an ISP or any business that runs a compatible email server to decide whether or not to accept mail from those IP addresses," said J.D. Falk, Product Manager of MAPS. "By incorporating RBL+ access into MailShield, we feel that Lyris has provided their customers with a powerful, state-of-the-art tool in the fight against spam."

More information about the RBL+ Master Service is located at http://mail-abuse.org/rbl+.

About MAPS
MAPS is a member-supported organization that engages in a variety of mail abuse prevention activities, including education, maintenance of databases, and management of complaints about electronic mail. Their Web site is at http://www.mail-abuse.org.

For additional comments call (650) 779-7087, or send email to press@mail-abuse.org

About Lyris Technologies, Inc.

Lyris Technologies (http://www.lyris.com) is the developer of Lyris ListManager, the world's best-selling email marketing software. Over 4,000 businesses — from Fortune 500 corporations to fast-growing startups — rely on ListManager for high-performance email campaign management and analytics. Lyris also offers Lyris ListHosting for outsourced email campaigns, the Lyris MailShield software suite for spam protection, and Lyris MailEngine for fast, efficient email delivery. Founded in 1994, Lyris was recently named one of the fastest growing companies in the San Francisco Bay Area.