SecureData, a member of the JSE-listed ERP.com Group, and the African distributor for TippingPoint Technologies, a division of 3Com, today announced that its TippingPoint(tm) Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) product line is the first comprehensive(tm) network-based solution to block phishing attempts and guard against identity theft. The IPS uses a variety of mechanisms to detect and prevent phishing scams including vulnerability protection, pattern-matching protection, and behavior-based protection.
"We've seen a sharp decrease in phishing site activity since deploying the TippingPoint anti-phishing filters, and blocked more than 9,000 phishing attacks per hour, commented Randy Williams, CTO at Everyone's Internet (EV1Servers.net)."
"Phishing occurs when a perpetrator masquerades as a legitimate organisation in order to obtain personal or financial information from an individual and use it for malicious purposes. Since phishing scams usually appear to originate from a trustworthy source, they are extremely difficult to prevent and can be very costly to those who fall prey to them.
According to a recent report from industry analyst firm Gartner, an estimated 2.42 million U.S. adults reported losing money because of phishing attacks last year, and total financial losses relating to these attacks amounted to nearly $929 million. FraudWatch International research indicates that more than 15,000 phishing scams have been reported.
There are several steps used by phishers in the process of identity theft, and the TippingPoint IPS blocks these attempts at every phase.
In order to launch a campaign, phishers compromise a legitimate site or server by taking advantage of programming flaws in the Web site code and system flaws in the server. The TippingPoint IPS offers comprehensive protection against these targeted attempts to compromise a site by exploiting vulnerabilities, including those in network infrastructure or even Web site code, such as HTML, PHP, ASP and JavaScript vulnerabilities.
Once a phishing site is in place and appears as the legitimate site of a well-known institution, phishers send mass emails to draw people to the site. Many of these e-mails have distinguishing characteristics, which the TippingPoint IPS uses to detect and block the e-mails at the mail gateway so they never make it to end users. In addition to using pattern-matching and behaviour-based techniques to block phishing e-mails, the TippingPoint IPS also analyses e-mail headers and content for defining phishing characteristics.
Should a phishing scam fool the end user into clicking on a fraudulent link, the IPS can again use its vulnerability and behaviour-based filters to block the site. Because several phishing sites take advantage of vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer, Outlook messaging software and other popular browsers and email clients, the IPS can determine if the Web site is forged by detecting these vulnerabilities. The TippingPoint IPS also inspects the fraudulent Web page for defining content and characteristics common to many phishing campaigns.
"There are specific criteria we look for to determine if the Web site is legitimate, if the e-mail is coming from a phishing mass mailer tool, and if the design guidelines for Web sites, emails and links are accurate," added Tod Beardsley, lead counter-fraud engineer for TippingPoint. "Because we are using behaviour-based and vulnerability detection methods, we are able to block thousands of phishing scams."
For further information, please contact Andrew Ochse at tel. +27 11 257 8600; fax +27 11 257 8699; e-mail andrewo@securedata.co.za
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TippingPoint, a division of 3Com, is the leading provider of network-based intrusion prevention systems that deliver in-depth Application Protection, Infrastructure Protection, and Performance Protection for corporate enterprises, government agencies, service providers and academic institutions. Our innovative approach offers customers unmatched network-based security with unrivaled economics, ultra-high performance, scalability and reliability. TippingPoint is based in Austin, Texas
3Com Corporation
3Com is a leading provider of secure, converged voice and data networking solutions for enterprises of all sizes. 3Com offers a broad line of innovative products backed by world class sales, service and support, which excel at delivering business value for its customers. When customers exercise choice, their choice is 3Com.
SecureData
SecureData, an ERP.com company, is Africa's Premier IT Security Solution Provider. SecureData's solutions incorporate Antivirus and Content Security, Endpoint Security, Network Security, Intrusion Prevention and Authentication & Identity Management. SecureData's comprehensive "Managed Security Services" include design, audit, implementation, vulnerability assessment, out sourcing and hosting. SecureData distributes, sells and supports category leading IT security products to the public, corporate and SME sectors throughout Africa as well as products and services to the SOHO and consumer markets through partnerships with ISPs. As well as being the sole distributor in Sub-Saharan Africa for Trend Micro, SecureData is the Sub-Saharan African distributor for USA-based TippingPoint Technologies as well as for Application Security, eEye, Precise Biometrics, Red-M, Rocket Software, RSA Security, SPI Dynamics, St Bernard and Websense. For more information, visit SecureData at www.securedata.co.z
ERP.com
ERP.com is a JSE-listed company focused on the implementation, integration and management of enterprise applications in an e-business environment. For more information, visit ERP.com at www.erpcom.co.za
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