Digital Envoy Introduces New Product Line to Address Growing Trends in Online Fraud; New `Phish'-Fighting Tool Uses IP Intelligence to Combat Online Identity Theft.

Business Editors

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 17, 2004

In order to protect consumers from identify theft as financial service organizations continue to move more of their business online, Digital Envoy, the leading provider of IP Intelligence solutions, today launched IP Inspector(TM), a new family of products designed to address online fraud in its various forms, with the introduction of its E-scam solution.

The first addition in the new series, IP Inspector E-scam is a Web-based solution that prevents e-mail fraud and associated "phishing" attacks. Phishing is the latest online scam that uses seemingly valid e-mails and URLs to deceive consumers into disclosing personal information such as Social Security numbers, bank account details and credit card specifics. In fact, in a January 2004 Anti-Phishing Working Group Trend Report, the number of reported phishing attacks increased 52 percent over those in December.

Using the IP Inspector E-scam solution, consumers can quickly verify the origin of suspect emails and check the validity of embedded URLs, which often appear to belong to legitimate financial service organizations such as banks, insurance agencies, payment processors and credit card companies as well as major online retailers and Internet service providers (ISPs).

"This new product line further demonstrates Digital Envoy's commitment to preventing online fraud," said Rob Friedman, co-founder and executive vice president of business development. "We developed the IP Inspector family to include a series of products that acts as the first line of defense against both current varieties and future mutations of online fraud."

Built around Digital Envoy's IP Intelligence technology - which non-invasively collects information about an IP address such as location, domain name and ISP - the IP Inspector E-scam solution, unlike other anti-phishing products currently on the market, is a consumer-focused tool that financial service organizations, ISPs and other large enterprises can use to protect their customer bases against unwelcomed phishing attacks. Using a three-pronged approach to prevention, IP Inspector E-scam utilizes IP addresses to uncover the location of the sender, to determine the delivering email server, and to validate whether URLs embedded in the body of the email are actually from the company purportedly requesting the information.

"Never giving personal information in response to an e-mail request is obviously the best way to avoid a phishing attack and the associated identity theft and fraud losses," said David Helsper, Digital Envoy's vice president of engineering. "However, because these Internet scammers have become increasingly sophisticated, it's imperative that companies arm their customers with a way to validate incoming emails and stop these thieves in their tracks. That's why we have utilized our IP Intelligence technology to build the IP Inspector E-scam solution: thieves may be able to appear as someone else, but they can't hide their location, which is usually a dead giveaway."

Specifically, IP Inspector E-scam allows consumers using Microsoft Outlook to automatically scan a suspect email when it arrives in their inbox by going to a special, customized Web site provided by their bank, ISP or any other business offering this solution. For non-Outlook platforms such as Eudora or other Web-based email programs such as Yahoo or Hotmail, users can cut and paste the email header and URL information then submit it for a validity check at the same Web site. Any bogus emails appearing to be from the host business will then automatically prompt a warning for the consumer.

Furthermore, automatic alerts are sent to the affected businesses, and consumers can report unrelated scams directly to Digital Envoy where fraudulent emails will be forwarded to the proper authorities.

IP Inspector E-scam will be available during the second quarter of 2004.

About Digital Envoy

Digital Envoy's NetAcuity is the leading IP Intelligence solution, and is used by some of the world's largest networks, Web sites and enterprises including Google, Time Warner, Microsoft, NetBank, Cable & Wireless, Ask Jeeves, Verisign, Disney, Siemens, InfoSpace, Symantec, Network Associates, Digital River, CNN.com and many others. The company's patent-pending technology provides new intelligence about an IP address such as location, connection speed and domain name, enabling a deeper understanding of the online universe.

For more information on IP Intelligence and its various applications, visit www.digitalenvoy.net.