BitDefender AntiSpam-Plugin Interview inkl. Gewinnspiel

BitDefender hat mir dem Plugin “AntiSpam Solution for WordPress” eine Lösung in den Raum geworfen, die bei mir natürlich auf großes Interesse gestoßen ist. Ich habe mir darum Catalin Cosoi, Head of Online Threats Lab von BitDefender geschnappt um ihn mit ein paar Fragen zum Plugin zu stellen. Herausgekommen sind ein paar interessante Informationen und ein Blick hinter die Kulissen des Plugins.

At first please introduce yourself for my audience. They want to know who is talking to them.

My name is Catalin Cosoi, and I am the head of Online Threats Lab for BitDefender. I’ve been with the company for more than 7 years now, and I got the chance to intimately play with advanced technologies for antispam, antiphishing, parental control and for stoping several other fraudulent websites around the Internet.

What was the trigger to develop an antispam plugin for WordPress?

For the past two years, we’ve been working on a new technology stemming from the cloud computing paradigm: the BitDefender Cloud. So far, almost all engines involved in the BitDefender product interacted with our servers. The antiphishing engines were querying a database of known phishing URLs, the antispam engines were searching for similar patterns from previously received spam messages and the antimalware engines were using the BitDefender servers for outbreak detection

In time, we’ve learned that some of our engines required information from the other labs and their little clouds, so we realized that a central cloud, which combined the power of all the other small clouds, could make things a lot easier. Now, when you query our servers about a certain file or a certain link, you can get a complete background check regarding malware, phishing, spam and scams.

If we take into consideration the serious problem of blog spam, from the BitDefender Cloud to BitDefender 4 Blogs was just a small step. Once the cloud was up & fully functional, a lot of new products could arise, like Safego, our security app for Facebook, BitDefender 4 Blogs, QuickScan, our 2 minute computer scan technology, and several others soon to come.
purposes.

Why didn’t Bitdefender release the plugin earlier?

The solution is actually ready since mid 2009, but we kept it mostly internal for intensive testing. Also, we wanted it to take advantage of the BitDefender Cloud, in order to be able to both stop spammy comments, and also be able to detect whether a URL is phishing or malware.

How long did BitDefender work on this solution?

It all started in the first couple of months this year, and since May, the products was in Private Beta, being tested by several bloggers. We had some quite nice results so we deiced that it is time for Public Beta and a lot more testing and with a lot more people involved.

Which technology does the plugin use?

As previously stated, the main technology is the BitDefender Cloud, which means that, upon arrival, each comment will be sent to our servers for analysis. Once it gets in our cloud, we test with content based filters, IP blacklists, URL scanners, antivirus engines and also outbreak detection. Then we reply to our customers the scan results and we move the comment in the appropriate directory.

What are bitdefenders goals with the plugin?

The main purpose is to stop the blog spam problem. It is annoying and can cause several problems to both blog owners and visitors. We thought it was about time to help the blogger community and solve part of their issues with our solution. Also, since it is a cloud based technology, our algorithms learn from usage, which means that the more users we get, the better our detection rate.
Also, right now, we are waiting for feedback from our clients. Since it is still a beta product, there is still time to accommodate the requests we receive, in order to obtain the best antispam for blogs there is. And yes, it will stay free, even after we end the beta phase.

Is it proposed to adapt the technology for other services (eg. Forums, sy9, Drupal)?

BitDefender for Blogs is mainly an API, which means that it can easily be integrated into any blogging platform, even if it is a custom/proprietary one. We started with WordPress but we do want to extend to other platforms too. Also, developers are most welcomed to do this porting themselves, since the API will become public soon.

Gewinnspiel

Um das Ganze abzurunden habe ich euch ein paar BitDefender Lizenzen mitgebracht. 10 Stück um genau zu sein und damit auch die meisten meiner Leser was davon haben, gibt es jeweils 1 Lizenz für Internet Security 2011 für Windows oder Antivirus 2011 für Mac zu gewinnen.

Wie Du teilnehmen kannst? Das kannst Du dir aussuchen, denn wir sind hier schon bei Wünsch dir was. Du kannst einen Tweet absetzen, es in deine Facebook-Timeline posten, einen Kommentar hinterlassen oder einen Blogpost schreiben. Es ist ganz egal, wie es dir beliebt! Jede Aktion generiert ein Los. Das heißt solltest Du twittern, bei Facebook den Link teilen, einen Kommentar hinterlassen und ein Blogpost schreiben – dann hast du 4 Chancen eine Jahreslizenz zu gewinnen.

Kleine Hilfestellung:
Twitter: „Ich möchte gern eine #BitDefender Lizenz bei @derWebArchitekt gewinnen. http://bit.ly/hjTM35“

Facebook denk Link des Artikels in die Timeline packen. Mir eine Nachricht schicken, einen Screenshot oder mich und oder den Blog im Post markieren. Ich muss es irgendwie zuordnen können!

Ich denke, wie man einen Kommentar schreibt oder ein Blogpost dürfte soweit klar sein.

Das bedeutet zwar eine Menge unnötige Arbeit für mich, aber es ist mir wichtig, dass ihr so teilnehmen könnt, wie ihr es wollt. Es wäre mir noch wichtig zu wissen, ob ihr eine Windows oder OSX Lizenz benötigt. Wer die Option bei Facebook nutzt und nicht mit mir befreundet ist, schickt mir einfach eine Nachricht oder markiert den Blog in der Erwähnung (sofern ihr „Fan“ seid).

Das Gewinnspiel endet am 24.12. um 17 Uhr. Somit ist gewährleistet, dass euer Lizenzschlüssel noch zum Fest am Baum hängt. (Ich habe auf die Boxversion verzichtet – aus Umweltgründen)

Viel Glück!