Lynnfield, MA - Sophos, a world leader in network security,
announced the availability of Sophos PhishAlert™ Service an
early-warning system that proactively informs organizations of new
phishing scams
that target their customers. Targeted at financial institutions and
e-commerce institutions, Sophos's PhishAlert notifies online
businesses of phishing attempts so that the fraudulent sites can be
shut down, minimizing the company's financial losses, customer
dissatisfaction and damage to reputation.
Over the past two years, phishing has grown dramatically to
become a primary avenue for identity theft. The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), a
cross-industry association focused on eliminating the online fraud
and identity theft, reported over 3,300 active phishing sites in
May 2005 - more than double the number reported in October 2004.
Sophos is a member of the APWG.
Phishing also has a negative financial impact on businesses. A
July 2005 study by the Ponemon Institute, a data privacy and
business ethics research firm, shows 59% of consumers reported
reducing online transactions as a result of phishing
scams.1 Also, a June 2005 Gartner survey
of 5000 US consumers reported that the number of phishing attack
email recipients grew by 28 percent.2
According to the Gartner survey, "Phishing attacks are not
subsiding, despite some industry theories that phishing is a fad
that peaked in 2004. An estimated 2.42 million US adults reporting
losing money in phishing attacks. According to these victims, total
financial losses this past year amounted to nearly $929 million.
Perhaps the biggest impact for businesses is a newfound and serious
consumer distrust of email."
"Phishing attacks costs legitimate companies like financial
services and online retailers money and time," said Gregg Mastoras, Senior
Security Analyst at Sophos. "This Sophos service will automatically
notify users of the service, enabling them to warn their customers
and immediately appeal to law enforcement agencies and ISPs to shut
down a phishing site."
The service provides email samples and additional information to
help companies respond quickly to phishing attacks and reports on
overall phishing activities. It also identifies fraudulent websites
to users of the PhishAlert service.
Sophos PhishAlert service is designed to capitalize on the
research and expertise of SophosLabs™, a global network of security
research centers, to proactively catch, analyze and identify
phishing attacks in its global network of spam traps.
-
Ponemon Institute, 'Email Authentication
Survey,' July 2005
-
Gartner, 'Increased Phishing and Online
Attacks Cause Dip in Consumer Confidence,' Avivah Litan, June
2005
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.