MailFrontier Survey Finds Enterprise Phishing Soaring at Disturbing Rates, Email Security Headaches Fueling Massive Consolidation
IT Professionals Also Cite Viruses, Zombies as Major Concerns

PALO ALTO, Calif. – March 23, 2005– MailFrontier™, a leader in email security, today announced the results of an independent national survey of IT professionals. Thanks to escalating security threats, a barrage of administrative demands and increased complexity of email infrastructure, IT professionals are saying they've had enough. Nearly three quarters of respondents said ease of management issues will drive significant email security consolidation in the coming year.

“It seems the only thing harder than preventing email security breaches is managing the IT components designed to stop them,“ said Anne Bonaparte, president and CEO of MailFrontier. “The complexities surrounding management and administration are forcing organizations to consolidate email security to improve efficiency and performance.“

The survey finds that one-third of organizations polled have seen phishing email jump between 50 and 100 percent in the last six months, while another 10 percent of companies have witnessed a rise of more than 100 percent. The majority of respondents consider email phishing scams, a fraudulent email tactic once believed to largely target consumers, to be a threat to the security of their enterprise networks.

“Phishing has become more than John Q. Consumer giving away his credit card or Social Security number. It's a growing problem for enterprises vulnerable to everything from directory harvest attacks to theft of intellectual property,“ added Bonaparte. “Phishing has moved front and center as a major issue for corporate IT.“

Of the IT professionals surveyed, 56 percent believe email phishing attacks are a threat to the security of their corporate data. An even greater number — 86 percent — believe traditional anti-spam solutions provide inadequate protection against phishing because spam and phishing email have different characteristics.

As security issues continue to grow, so does the time and expense required to manage and administer email security solutions. The result is that the majority of IT professionals are looking to consolidate their email security solutions at a dramatic rate, with 62 percent of those surveyed looking to consolidate their email security infrastructure. Of that group 96 percent expect consolidation to occur in the next 12 months.

More than 53 percent of respondents believe that they have had to compromise with their current email security solution's management.

Viruses and zombie attacks are also top of mind for today's IT professionals. Viruses continue to be the bane of enterprise IT security, with 44 percent of respondents saying viruses create the most havoc and damage to their companies.

Ninety percent of those surveyed are concerned about zombie attacks coming from internally compromised computers and 45 percent feel they are not protected from these attacks by their current email security solution.

Commissioned by MailFrontier, the survey queried 200 IT professionals with responsibility for email in their organization. The online survey was fielded nationally by Insight Express during February 24-March 15, 2005.

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 950 customers, including HealthEast Care System, Peet's Coffee & Tea, Pier 1 Imports, San Francisco Giants and Wyndham International. Founded in 2002, MailFrontier is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. For additional information, go to www.mailfrontier.com.

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