San Francisco, CALIF. - Brightmail, the global leader in anti-spam technology, today announced that it is working with
EarthLink (NASDAQ: ELNK), one of the nation's largest Internet service providers, to provide data to support
ScamBlocker, EarthLink's new consumer application designed to help protect Internet users from insidious "phisher" site
scams. Brightmail's data will be added to EarthLink's phisher-blocking tool starting May 5th, 2004.
EarthLink is the first major Internet service provider to roll out such a feature, and it is available to all Internet
users, not just EarthLink subscribers.
Brightmail's Probe NetworkT is a collection of millions of decoy email accounts worldwide that are specially seeded to
attract spam, including phishing emails. The Probe Network receives tens of millions of messages a day, allowing
Brightmail to detect phishing scams as they hit the Internet. Brightmail's Anti-Fraud service sends the URLs of phishing
websites in real-time to EarthLink's toolbar, protecting users from the fraudulent websites.
Phishing attacks continue to proliferate at an alarming rate. Brightmail has seen an increasing number of phishing
attacks in the past months - worldwide phishing has increased from 300 million messages in August 2003 to over 2.9
billion messages in March 2004 alone. That represents about 5 percent of all Internet email worldwide.
Phishing is a relatively new online method of gathering confidential information and of identity theft. Phishing emails
direct consumers to fake "phishing" websites that mimic legitimate websites to steal financial and other valuable
personal data. The information collected by the phishers is often used to conduct traditional fraud. For example, credit
card and account information provided is used to produce fake cards that are then used at cash machines. Any company
that does business online is a potential victim - not just financial institutions, but also ISPs and consumer companies
such as retailers, airlines or online bookshops.
"Brightmail is excited to extend its relationship with EarthLink to protect Internet users from fraudulent websites,"
said Enrique Salem, president and CEO of Brightmail. "Phishing has become one of the most dangerous types of email
threats and we are pleased to share our phishing data with EarthLink to strengthen its toolbar."
Users are stopped from accessing known or suspected phisher sites and are redirected to an EarthLink generated Web page
that describes the particular URL's phisher status and whether the particular Web site has been blocked or disabled. The
Web page information will also include definitions of phishers and similar scams and what actions subscribers can take
to further protect themselves from online scams.
About Brightmail
Brightmail, the global anti-spam market leader delivers technology that makes messaging environments secure and
manageable. PC Magazine's EDITORS CHOICE for best enterprise anti-spam software, Brightmail Anti-Spam protects the email
networks of businesses, government agencies, and service providers, blocking unsolicited bulk email, or "spam", while
assuring that legitimate mail is reliably delivered. Brightmail protects over 1,800 enterprises globally, including
Avaya, eBay, Bechtel, Booz Allen Hamilton, Cisco, Cypress Semiconductors, Deutsche Bank, Eastman, Lucent Technologies,
Macromedia, Microsoft, Motorola, SAS and Terra Lycos.
Brightmail also provides spam protection for the leading Internet service providers, including AT WorldNet, Cox Communications, EarthLink, MSN, TelstraClear, Xtra and Verizon Online. Brightmail now protects more than
300 million mailboxes worldwide.