Magic Quadrant Finds Increase in Targeted Phishing Attacks

Leading analyst firm Gartner just released the 2012 Magic Quadrant for Secure Email Gateways (SEG) * and noted an uptick in targeted phishing attacks. The report states "Phishing attacks continue to oscillate, while more targeted phishing attacks increase. Better protection from targeted phishing attacks is the most critical new inbound protection capability, but only a few vendors have advanced the state of the art against these attacks." Unfortunately, these targeted, difficult to detect email attacks are now par for the course. Just a few weeks ago, fake AT&T bills containing links that directed users to a website hosting the ever-popular Blackhole exploit kit was sent out to at least 200,000 consumers. Traditional email defenses have become ineffective against this attack model. This, of course, leads us back to the latest report. Websense is pleased to be recognized as a Visionary in Gartner's 2012 Magic Quadrant for SEG. We believe it affirms our market leadership and our continued commitment to security innovation. We effectively thwart the latest email threats, including targeted spear phishing attacks. Websense is leading the charge with three advancements: Gateway Threat Analysis- Websense leverages security intelligence from the Websense® ThreatSeeker TM Network and Websense Advanced Classification Engine (ACE), which collects data from more than 900 million endpoints and analyzes up to 5 billion web pages per day. It combats advanced malware, spam, and blended email threats. Spear Phishing Protection with Cloud Sandboxing- Websense sandboxes suspicious URLs embedded in emails when a recipient clicks. Built-in Data Loss Prevention (DLP)- Websense monitors and prevents sensitive data, such as product roadmaps or customers' Personally Identifiable Information (PII), from leaving the corporate network via email. Click here to read the entire 2012 Gartner SEG Magic Quadrant report . Have you seen more targeted phishing emails in your environment? *Gartner, Inc., Magic Quadrant for Secure Email Gateways, Peter Firstbrook, Eric Ouellet, August, 15 2012. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose....(read more)