28% of U.S. Adults Continue to Inaccurately Identify Phishing Email Scams

Palo Alto, Calif. – July 26, 2004 – MailFrontier™, a pioneer in email security and leading provider of anti-spam solutions, today announced the results of an independent national survey:  28% of U.S. adults today inaccurately identify phishing emails.  Also revealed in the study was the surprising finding that consumers are still easily fooled by some of the earliest, most unsophisticated phishing scams.  For example, the survey included a highly publicized PayPal phishing email which was identified inaccurately as legitimate by 31% of respondents. The findings generate concern over the level of consumer and business email users’ awareness to this growing email threat.  It only takes one response to a phishing email for an individual to give away access to their personal finances or access to a corporation’s most confidential financial, employee and intellectual property information.

In an ongoing effort to fight phishing scams more knowledgeably and effectively while educating email users, MailFrontier commissioned the survey with Issues and Answers Network, Inc. The survey included five real-life emails and asked consumers to evaluate each email and identify if the email was either legitimate or fraudulent. The questions were added to a bi-monthly online omnibus survey that queried more than 1,000 respondents, ages 18+.  The survey was fielded nationally during July 13-14, 2004.

MailFrontier strongly believes that awareness and education complement technology in reducing the number of victims of phishing scams.  Email users are encouraged to test their “phishing IQ” at www.mailfrontier.com and see if they can better the current national average of 28%. MailFrontier offers educational tips on how to detect email phishing attacks to those who take the test.

Additionally, information on MailFrontier’s Phishing Index, which tracks user vulnerability to phishing, the “Scam of the Week,” which includes actual screen shots of the latest phishing attack, as well as email fraud advisories can be found on MailFrontier’s Email Threat Information Center at http://www.mailfrontier.com/threats/index.html.

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 700 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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