Mailprotector Provides Guidance On Valentine's Day and IRS Email Threats

PRESS RELEASE

GREER, SC - February 12, 2009 - Mailprotector, a technology leader in fully managed email security services, today issued safety recommendations to all email users based on a report from the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team that two new types of email messages pose a threat to email users.

The first type of malicious email is a phishing scam that appears to be sent from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. The bogus email invites users who follow an embedded link to receive stimulus package payments. The unsuspecting users are asked to provide personal information either via a web site or an attached document and are promised a stimulus package check from the IRS.

The second bogus email contains malicious code within spam email messages related to Valentine's Day. The messages include a link to a website that is filled with hearts and instructions to users to select one image. Once an image has been selected the user will be prompted to download an executable file that can destroy computer systems.

"Infiltration of a corporate email network can have devastating effects," said David Setzer, CEO, Mailprotector. "Unfortunately, the reality of the world today is that some people find profit by doing harm to those who are unsuspecting. Tricking people into giving up personal information or having them install software that can collect valuable customer data from companies can have far-reaching and long-last effects for all involved. It is crucial in today's economy to proactively guard against all forms of email crime."

Setzer and other computer experts note that a hidden by-product of the flailing economy is the increase in cybercrime. According to reports, IT professionals who were previously gainfully employed are now turning their considerable technical talents and using them to steal and exploit sensitive data.

To best protect your organization from being affected by this malware, Setzer offers the following advice:

* Utilize the service of an email security provider to scan and filter all email messages before they reach end-users; * Do not open email from unknown people or companies; * Do not follow links included in emails, if you must visit a link in a message open a new web browser and type it in manually; * Use caution when visiting new or unfamiliar web sites, especially if asked to accept a download request;

With cybercrime on the rise SMBs are turning to email security providers like Mailprotector to protect email networks. Mailprotector processes and protects more than 10 million messages per day for more than 3,000 customers around the globe. The IT analyst firm, Radicati Group, forecasts the email security market to grow from $3.9 billion in 2008 to more than $6.2 billion in 2012.

Designed to protect against spam, viruses, vulnerabilities, attacks and availability challenges, Mailprotector is a highly accurate hosted solution that dramatically reduces email security based IT management problems. Mailprotector provides the most affordable, completely managed, and rapidly deployable email security service available to small and medium sized businesses with a high level of personal touch.

With these threats accelerating, providing proper email security is as important as ever. Cybercriminals are continuously devising new and different approaches to monopolize email vulnerabilities, which takes constant expert attention to prevent. To learn more about Mailprotector and its offerings visit www.mailprotector.net.

About Mailprotector Mailprotector, a division of VirtualConnect Technologies, Inc., is a leader in email security. Founded in 1999, the company is a pioneer in the managed email security industry with its Exchange Spam Filter and has since grown into a complete managed security suite protecting all email hardware and software platforms (Exchange, Groupwise, IMail, SmarterMail, Sendmail, qMail, Merak and all others) from outside the network perimeter. Today, Mailprotector provides uninterrupted virus and vulnerability scanning, spam and phishing filtration, attack and email backup protection as well as data loss prevention (DLP) to more than 3,000 organizations on six continents. For more information visit www.mailprotector.net.

Contact Joe Austin Ventana PR (818) 591-2646 [email protected]