Cyveillance Releases "Costs of Phishing" White Paper

This White Paper Details the Significant Financial Impact of Fast Detection and Takedown of Phishing Sites; Webinar on January 15, 2009 will provide additional details and insights.

Arlington, VA (PRWEB) December 16, 2008 -- Cyveillance, the world leader in cyber intelligence, today announced the immediate availability of "The Cost of Phishing: Understanding the True Cost Dynamics Behind Phishing Attacks" white paper.

In this white paper, Cyveillance's phishing experts demonstrate the financial savings resulting from speedy detection and take down of phishing attacks, as well as significant financial repercussions of slow phishing detection and take downs.

Cyveillance will also be hosting a Webinar to discuss the true cost of phishing attacks and address industry questions on January 15, 2009, you can register here: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/514286338.

Current Phishing Situation:

According to a Gartner study released in December 2007, phishing attacks represent a staggering amount of fraud, costing organizations more than 3 billion dollars annually. Even more shocking than this cost, is the fact that phishing is a steadily growing problem with no end in sight.

For more than six years, Cyveillance has seen customers of both large and small branded companies fall victim to this pervasive form of online fraud, with phishing attacks against more than 2,000 brands across 30 countries. Cyveillance used this extensive experience to establish the baselines used in the model and can be easily adapted to any organization.

Phishing attacks are extremely dynamic and constantly vary, but they typically involve combinations of spoofed junk email (spam), malicious software (malware), and fake Web pages to harvest personal information from unwitting consumers.

Challenge of Evaluating the Cost of Phishing:

Organizations often have a difficult time assessing how phishing affects their finances, as there are numerous factors to take into account when trying to measure the cost as well as the impact phishing has on customers, employee productivity and brand reputation.

Direct Costs: fraudulent charges, compromised accounts, time spent dealing with fraudulent transactions.

Intangible Costs: impact on the organization's brand and reputation, customer trust in online applications, and customer satisfaction.

Reducing the Costs of Phishing Attacks:

Any organization currently targeted by phishers or at risk for such attacks must develop and implement a comprehensive phishing protection and response plan in order to prevent or minimize the direct costs of phishing attacks. The plan should provide response guidelines that cover every phase of an attack in the fastest, most efficient manner.

Based on Cyveillance analysis, the costs associated with phishing attacks are directly proportional to the amount of time that it takes an organization to address the attack, with most costs incurred during the first 24 hours of an attack. Because of the short length of this critical period, speed of detection and takedown of the attack are the two key areas that organizations can have the greatest impact in reducing the costs of phishing attacks.

"Online scams, including phishing and malware, are 'tools of choice' for today's identity thieves for one simple reason - they work. Even the savviest customers of well-known brands can be deceived into sharing valuable personal information through a combination of social engineering and malicious software. The faster you can detect and takedown these attacks, the greater impact you will have to reduce an organization's costs of phishing and fraud, and better maintain your brand reputation and customer trust." Panos Anastassiadis, CEO, Cyveillance.

Supporting Resources:

- Link to entire whitepaper can be found at:

http://www.cyveillance.com/web/forms/request.asp?getFile=112

- Additional information on Cyveillance's anti-phishing experience and solutions can be found at: http://www.cyveillance.com/web/solutions/enterprise/solutions/anti-phishing.asp

- For more information or to register for the Webinar please visit:

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/514286338

About Cyveillance:

Cyveillance, the world leader in cyber intelligence, provides an intelligence-led approach to security. Through continuous, comprehensive Internet monitoring and sophisticated intelligence analysis, Cyveillance proactively identifies and eliminates threats to information, infrastructure, individuals and their interactions, enabling its customers to preserve their reputation, revenues, and customer trust. Cyveillance serves the Global 2000 and OEM Data Partners - protecting the majority of the Fortune 50, regional financial institutions nationwide, and more than 30 million global consumers through its partnerships with security and service providers that include AOL and Microsoft. For more information, visit http://www.cyveillance.com.

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