Mimecast tackles growing security threat from spear-phishing and previews new whaling protection

RSA Conference, San Francisco – Mimecast Limited (NASDAQ: MIME) will preview the first email security cloud service designed to protect customers from the growing threat from email attacks known as CEO Fraud, Business Email Compromise or whaling. The new service, known as Impersonation Protect, will extend Mimecast’s Targeted Threat Protection, the company’s comprehensive email security protection against spear-phishing attacks with malicious links and weaponized attachments.

“Email remains the attack vector of choice for cyber-criminals, and they are constantly evolving their tactics to bypass traditional email security defenses. Whaling attacks can be extremely difficult for employees and IT pros alike to spot and they need help to put an end to this multi-billion-dollar fraudulent activity,” said Peter Bauer, chief executive officer, Mimecast. “Mimecast Targeted Threat Protection already defends thousands of employees around the world. The new Impersonation Protect service will add another layer of critical security to protect against the threat from whaling or CEO fraud.”

According to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), whaling email scams alone were up 270 percent from January to August 2015. The FBI also reported business losses due to whaling of more than $1.2 billion in little over two years, and a further $800 million in the six months since August 2015.

Mimecast is exhibiting at the RSA Conference 2016 in South Expo #S2438. At its booth, Mimecast security experts will discuss the top email attack strategies being used against millions of organizations around the world today. The company will be demonstrating its cloud-based email security services and the capabilities of Targeted Threat Protection including:

• Impersonation Protect: protection against whaling attacks and CEO Fraud. These attacks use highly targeted email attacks to trick key employees into making fraudulent wire transfers or into disclosing personal or corporate information through social engineering, email spoofing and content spoofing. The new service is expected to be available in the first half of 2016, and a beta program is available now for existing Mimecast Targeted Threat Protection customers.
• URL Protect: protection against spear-phishing emails that include malicious Web links. This attack uses legitimate-looking emails and links to direct employees to spoofed or malicious websites that contain malware, or steal information like usernames or passwords for key Web services.
• Attachment Protect: protection against weaponized attachments. These attacks use attachments within targeted emails containing malicious code which is activated by the employee when opened, leading to a keylogger, backdoor or ransomware attack.

About Mimecast

Mimecast (NASDAQ: MIME) makes business email and data safer for 16,200 customers and millions of employees worldwide. Founded in 2003, the company's next-generation cloud-based security, archiving and continuity services protect email and deliver comprehensive email risk management.