MailFrontier Research Survey Detects Slowdown in Online Holiday Shopping
Expected High Growth in Jeopardy Due to Consumer Anxiety Over Email Phishing Threats

Palo Alto, Calif. – November 18, 2004 – MailFrontier™, a pioneer in email security and leading provider of anti-spam and anti-phishing solutions, today announced new consumer survey results that highlight the impact of email phishing scams on online holiday retail sales. The survey found that 29 percent of consumers said they will avoid shopping online this holiday season due to the rise of email phishing scams, a fraudulent email tactic which attempts to trick consumers into providing personal and/or financial information.

MailFrontier Research™ forecasts that more than 750 million phishing emails spoofing e-commerce sites will be sent during this year’s prime holiday shopping season – November 26through December 24. This comes at a time when MailFrontier Research has identified that 20 percent of all phishing attacks are targeting e-commerce sites. The voluminous threat of email attacks will have a potential impact on online shopping this holiday season, despite the industry’s initial projected growth over last year.

“We’re continuing to see a significant impact on consumer behavior due to the rising threat of email phishing scams,” said Anne Bonaparte, president and CEO of MailFrontier, Inc. “From its impact on customer loyalty within the financial industry to potentially restraining online shopping this holiday season, the threat of email phishing attacks is deterring ‘business as usual.’ It is imperative that we raise consumer awareness and continue to stay a step ahead with technology advancements so that online communication and e-commerce continues unhindered.”

MailFrontier continues to encourage email users to educate themselves and has developed a whitepaper “Surefire Tips to Protect Yourself From Phishing” which can be downloaded at http://www.mailfrontier.com/forms/mfwebsite_surefiretips_register.html. The whitepaper provides useful guidelines for email users when confronted with phishing attacks, from fraud and brand spoofing to data collection.

MailFrontier commissioned the survey with Issues and Answers Network, Inc. The questions were added to an online omnibus survey that queried 1,006 respondents, ages 18+. The survey was fielded nationally October 18 and 19, 2004.

About MailFrontier
MailFrontier is a leading provider of email security solutions that stop unwanted email by protecting enterprises from the growing number of dangerous and costly email threats while giving them the ability to anticipate and stop new threats as they emerge. MailFrontier offers a comprehensive defense against all known email threats, including spam, viruses, phishing, blended threats and other attacks, such as directory harvest attacks. The company has more than 750 customers, including Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Pier 1 Imports, PNM Resources, San Francisco Giants and Wyndham International. Founded in February 2002, MailFrontier is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. For additional information, go to www.mailfrontier.com.

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