TrustSphere (www.trustsphere.com), a pioneer of digital communication integrity solutions, today announced the availability of TrustVault™, a trust-based technology solution that protects organizations from some of today’s most difficult to handle email-based threats.

“The cyber-threat landscape continues to evolve rapidly. Socially-based attacks delivered via email are increasingly targeting an organization’s executives and not just rank-and-file employees. This complicates the task which many of today’s security systems have to perform, forcing them into a trade off between greater security and ensuring business continuity,” said Manish Goel, CEO of TrustSphere. “TrustVault works alongside existing security solutions to ensure that trusted, genuine business traffic can be rapidly recognized and ‘fast tracked’ to business users, enabling security systems to focus more intently on suspicious messages and other threats. The counter balance enables both greater security and improved efficiency for the organization.”

TrustVault Social Graph

TrustVault uses data already present in enterprise email systems to build a social graph of known and trusted senders. Without inspecting message content, each email and sender is mapped against this ever-growing social graph and analyzed for proper delivery as prescribed by the organization’s own policies. Once positively identified as genuine and trusted, a sender’s email can always be delivered to intended recipients, even if other systems may have erroneously blocked or quarantined the very same messages.

“Using social graphs to validate trusted senders is an intelligent way to ensure that legitimate emails are always delivered,” said Mark Levitt, director of enterprise software and communications at research firm Strategy Analytics. “TrustSphere applies this innovative approach to address the false positive problem where valid email communications are not delivered because they look suspicious based on known spam patterns. TrustSphere uses this same approach to ensure delivery of legitimate emails that might be blocked by denial of service attacks and to identify suspicious emails such as spear phishing that often evade spam filters.”

TrustVault also applies a proprietary reputation and identity analysis before authenticating senders for priority delivery of their messages. Called TrustCloud™, this global, dynamic whitelist validates that senders are who they claim to be, and continuously checks their email “reputation” to protect recipients against spear phishing attacks as well as messages from newly compromised email accounts that can be laden with spam or malware.

False Positive Mitigation

A key problem that many enterprise IT organizations are unaware they have is excessive email false positives – those legitimate messages erroneously identified by spam filters as spam and sent to junk folders or spam quarantines. Most analyst firms agree that the acceptable number of false positives is 3.5 messages per million (using the six sigma multiplier) or less. But after analyzing hundreds of millions of emails at enterprises across North America, TrustSphere finds the average number of false positives to be in excess of 10,000 messages per million – with some organizations well beyond that.

Once senders can be recognized as genuine and trusted, there is no need for their emails to go through probability-based spam checks. With TrustVault, known and trusted senders’ messages bypass such systems, delivering them straight to anti-virus and anti-malware systems and on to the inbox.

Safeguarding Against DDoS Attacks

With distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks against businesses on the rise, TrustVault provides an innovative way for IT departments to maintain active email communications during such an attack. Not only does TrustVault identify known and trusted senders, it also looks at the cadence of email conversations across the organization and applies logic to identify those senders that are most important to an enterprise. During a DDoS attack, TrustVault continuously builds critical data which is supplied to an organization’s gateway security systems which reserves a pool of connections to ensure delivery of messages from these trusted senders. This method ensures business continuity regardless of the severity of the attack.

Protection Against Spear Phishing

TrustVault also protects against threats posed by email that gets delivered. Cyber criminals have found a new way to defraud executives and corporations of millions of dollars through spear phishing – email-based communication that lures victims into divulging confidential information such as identity, bank accounts, passwords and more. Unlike its spam-based cousin phishing, a person is 24 times more likely to open and react to a spear phishing email. TrustVault is able to distinguish between legitimate senders and suspicious emails, which enables the IT security department to act on the results. Such actions often include delivering emails to appear in a different color in the inbox.

Combatting Social DDoS Attacks

The same method for countering spear phishing can also be used to combat voll-e, the socially engineered DDoS attacks. Voll-e has gained prominence through the “Occupy” protest movement, where protestors are encouraged to send innocuous emails en masse to executives at banks and other financial institutions. Because these emails have no content that would normally trigger a spam filter and come from multiple sources, they are able to elude conventional email protection and get delivered, rendering the recipient’s inbox virtually unusable. TrustVault differentiates between suspect messages and those from trusted senders, delivering suspicious emails into a separate inbox. This delivery method ensures that an organization’s executives can continue to work as usual and remain uninterrupted even when under such an attack.

“The technology advances in our next generation solution, TrustVault, will have broader implications to enterprises beyond email integrity,” adds Goel. “Through TrustVault we will be extending integrity to all forms of enterprise digital communication, including instant messaging and VoIP. TrustSphere has already begun pilot deployments for the use of TrustVault social graph data for more efficient business intelligence.”

TrustSphere has created an email integrity health check that can show an enterprise exactly what email vulnerabilities exist that can impact business continuity. Without any risk for exposing content, an email integrity health check typically takes just a few a minutes to set up. IT departments interested in an email integrity health check should visit: http://www.trustsphere.com/email_health_check/.

About TrustSphere
TrustSphere is a pioneer in ‘Messaging Intelligence’ a next-generation approach to ensuring the security, integrity and reliability of the messaging systems that organizations rely upon. The company was recognized as a ‘Cool Vendor’ for 2011 by Gartner and its award-winning solutions have been successfully deployed by both large corporations and major government organizations, proving their industry-leading capabilities. TrustSphere’s solutions are available through a growing number of value-added resellers and systems integrators across the globe. The company has offices throughout the world, including Singapore, New York, Sydney, Tokyo and London.

For more information on TrustSphere and its solutions visit the company’s website at www.trustsphere.com.

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TrustSphere (www.trustsphere.com), a pioneer of next-generation solutions for ensuring the security, integrity and reliability of the messaging systems that organizations rely upon, today announced its membership in the Asia Cloud Computing Association (ACCA). In joining the ACCA, TrustSphere will collaborate with other industry leaders to promote innovation, standardization and increased adoption of cloud computing technologies and applications throughout Asia.

“The cloud is increasingly vital to reliable and secure communication and joining the ACCA aligns with TrustSphere’s commitment to both advancing cloud computing and restoring trust in communication,” said Manish Goel, founder and chief executive officer of TrustSphere. “Establishing trust within the cloud is critical to the future of cloud-based communications, and we hope that working with the ACCA will help the industry accomplish this important goal sooner across Asia.”

Globally, cloud computing is increasing 28 percent annually, but the ACCA estimates that the market for cloud computing solutions in Asia will grow 40 percent annually through 2013. In addition in Japan, the world’s second largest IT market, cloud computing is expected to reach a value of $29.2 billion in 2015.

“We are always looking for new members like TrustSphere that share our commitment to cloud computing and our mission to accelerate the adoption of the cloud in Asia,” said Per Dahlberg, executive director and chief executive officer for the ACCA. “TrustSphere’s expertise and experience in Asia and globally make the company a great addition to our association. We look forward to the perspective they will add.”

In addition to the ACCA, TrustSphere is a member of several other influential organizations seeking to shape the industry, including the Online Trust Alliance (OTA), the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG) and the Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF). TrustSphere actively participates in each organization’s activities, and works closely with each to influence policies and direction.

TrustSphere’s Messaging Intelligence platform is a next-generation solution that enables organizations to secure, monitor and analyze email communication to address critical business requirements. At the heart of TrustSphere’s cloud-based solution is the company’s advanced Trusted Sender Recognition (TSR) capabilities, which enable it to mitigate many email-related issues plaguing organizations today, including: spear phishing attacks, legitimate emails quarantined as spam, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks meant to disrupt email organization-wide, and socially-engineered DDoS attacks that target specific individuals.

About the Asia Cloud Computing Association
The Asia Cloud Computing Association fosters collaboration and innovation in Asia to drive adoption of cloud computing regionally. Asia Cloud’s outreach efforts extend to policy and regulation, security, best practices, and market education. Members include Alcatel-Lucent, AT&T, CITIC Telecom CPC, Cisco Systems, Cloud Garage, EMC Corporation, Genetic Finance, Huawei, Microsoft, NetApp, Nokia Siemens Networks, PLDT/Smart, Rackspace, Telstra International, Telenor Group, and Verizon. For more information, visit www.asiacloud.org. For membership please contact member@asiacloud.org.

About TrustSphere
TrustSphere is a pioneer in ‘Messaging Intelligence’ a next-generation approach to ensuring the security, integrity and reliability of the messaging systems that organizations rely upon. The company has been recognized as a ‘Cool Vendor’ for 2011 by Gartner and its award-winning solutions have been successfully deployed by both large corporations and major government organizations, proving their industry-leading capabilities. TrustSphere’s solutions are available directly from the company and a growing number of value-added resellers and systems integrators. The company has offices throughout the world, including Singapore, New York City, Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom.

For more information on TrustSphere and its solutions visit the company’s website at www.trustsphere.com.

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TrustSphere, a pioneer of next-generation solutions for ensuring the security, integrity and reliability of the messaging systems that organisations rely upon, has expanded its staff with the appointment of Sydney-based Mark Padginton as its Sales Director for Australia and New Zealand.

Padginton’s responsibilities will include selling TrustSphere’s next-generation solutions throughout the region, establishing relationships with value added resellers (VAR) and partnering with companies with complementary products or technologies.

“Businesses, non-profit organizations and government departments throughout Australia and New Zealand face a variety of email-borne threats, from spear phishers targeting key individuals to steal sensitive data or introduce crimeware, to distributed denial of service attacks to emerging threats that effectively shut down executives’ email,” said Padginton. “I’ve been monitoring the rise of these threats for some time and have joined TrustSphere because it is the right company with the right solution at the right time to combat these threats that comprise the messaging systems which are so vital for organisations to conduct their business.”

Padginton comes to TrustSphere with nearly 20 years’ experience in sales and business development in the IT industry, with a particular emphasis on secure messaging solutions. Before joining TrustSphere he was with Redman Solutions, where he held senior roles in business development and product management. Prior to this, Padginton performed a variety of sales and business development roles as a partner with several IT vendors in Australia and New Zealand, including Actiance, Iron Mountain and Exalead.

“Mark’s proven ability and experience make him ideal for expanding TrustSphere’s presence throughout Australia and New Zealand – two key markets for our security solutions,” said Manish Goel, CEO of TrustSphere. “Organizations worldwide must combat spear phishing and other emerging email-based threats that compromise their messaging systems and impact their ability to do business, and our solutions provide these organizations with the actionable intelligence to restore trust in communication.”

About TrustSphere
TrustSphere is a pioneer in ‘Messaging Intelligence” a next-generation approach to ensuring the security, integrity and reliability of the messaging systems that organizations rely upon. The company has been recognized as a “Cool Vendor” for 2011 by Gartner and its award-winning solutions have been successfully deployed by both large corporations and major government organizations, proving their industry-leading capabilities. TrustSphere’s solutions are available directly from the company and a growing number of value-added resellers and systems integrators. The company has offices throughout the world, including New York City, Australia, Japan, Singapore and the United Kingdom.

For more information on TrustSphere and its solutions visit the company’s website at www.trustsphere.com

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Two key executives of TrustSphere, a pioneer in the Messaging Intelligence space, were honored at the annual Online Trust Forum, the annual event of the Online Trust Alliance (OTA).

Manish Goel, TrustSphere’s co-founder and chief executive officer and also chairman of the OTA’s board of directors, received the organization’s Online Trust Leadership Award. Roland Turner, director of TrustSphere’s Professional Services Group, received the OTA’s International Ambassador’s award for his pioneering work across the Asian region.

“Manish and Roland have been outstanding assets to the OTA, contributing substantial time and energy that have been tremendously helpful in our expansion of the organization,” said Craig Spiezle, executive director and president of OTA. “Manish’s insights and objectivity have been invaluable not only for OTA members, but also for the trust community at large.”

“It’s a both an honor and a surprise for Roland and me to be recognized by the OTA in this way. However the real credit should go to the many members of the OTA who contribute their time and expertise to advancing the cause of online trust,” said Goel. “Trust is fragile and online trust is complicated by anonymity over the Internet and the number of vulnerabilities which exist today. The OTA is the ideal forum for securing our cyber infrastructure today and tomorrow as it enables leaders throughout the industry to collaborate freely on solutions to spear-phishing and other critical threats.”

About The Online Trust Alliance (OTA)
OTA’s mission is to develop and advocate best practices, training and public policy which mitigate emerging privacy, identity and security threats to online services, brands, government, organizations and consumers. OTA’s goal is to increase consumer protection, transparency and control of their data and online activities, thereby enhancing online trust and confidence and the long-term vitality and innovation of Internet-based services. For more information about OTA, visit: https://otalliance.org.

About TrustSphere
TrustSphere is a pioneer in ‘Messaging Intelligence” a next-generation approach to ensuring the security, integrity and reliability of the messaging systems that organizations rely upon. The company has been recognized as a “Cool Vendor” for 2011 by Gartner and its award-winning solutions have been successfully deployed by both large corporations and major government organizations, proving their industry-leading capabilities. TrustSphere’s solutions are available directly from the company and a growing number of value-added resellers and systems integrators. The company has offices throughout the world, including New York City, Australia, Japan, Singapore and the United Kingdom.

For more information on TrustSphere and its solutions visit the company’s website at www.trustsphere.com

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