Volume and Complexity of Spam and Phishing Continue to Increase in March 2005

Specifically, from February 2005 to March 2005 Mail-Filters has seen: -- A 14% increase in the volume of spam messages -- A 17% increase in the volume of phishing messages In February Mail-Filters reported it had identified a recurring pattern of spikes of phishing messages sent over weekends compared to weekdays. This pattern held true during the month of March as well. However, also in March, Mail-Filters saw a noticeable increase in weekday phishing message attacks aimed at corporate users. Other interesting information about phishing attacks identified by Mail-Filters during the month of March includes: -- Phishing websites were kept open by phishers for as little as 30 minutes, as long as 3 days, and averaged 4.25 hours. -- There was a noticeable increase in phishing attacks via instant messaging software; something that was predicted by Mail-Filters in February. -- There was a noticeable increase in the sophistication of the attacks, including pharming attacks. Mail-Filters anti-spam filtering technology catches both spam and phishing messages. In addition, Mail-Filters recently announced PhishRepellent which offers technology that not only blocks inbound phishing messages, but also blocks users from inadvertently accessing phishing web-sites.