Iconix Announces SP Guard, Spear-Phishing Defense for the Enterprise
Uses Simple Visual ID to Protect Against Focused Attacks, Espionage
San Jose, California — April 6, 2011 — ICONIX, Inc., the industry leader in visual email solutions,
announced today that it has released the initial version of a product that defends against spear-phishing. The product, called
SP Guard™, allows email recipients to differentiate real email from spear-phishing emails though the display of an
authenticity indicator in the inbox and in the open message.
Recent security breaches at many major enterprises were revealed in the documents stolen from HBGary by
Anonymous.com. The HBGary documents revealed that hackers routinely bypass firewalls and other technical
security measures by using spear-phishing emails that target executives, tricking the recipients into downloading
malicious software and infecting their own networks. Additional breaches initiated by spear-phishing include
attacks on government organizations such as the widely-publicized G20 document theft at the French Finance
Ministry, and attacks on service providers such as the recent email address theft at Epsilon.
U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D. RI), who chaired a U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence task
force on U.S. cybersecurity in 2010, observes on his Senate webpage, "Cybercrime has put our country on the
losing end of what could be the largest illicit transfer of wealth in world history."
"At Iconix our core expertise is combining email authentication methods with display technology to identify
legitimate email senders," said Jeff Wilbur, vice-president of marketing at Iconix. "SP Guard is the first release of
our technology specifically designed to be deployed by business and government enterprises in the fight against
spear-phishing. Academic research starting in 2004 at the U.S. Military Academy has demonstrated the power of
well-crafted spear-phishing emails to deceive intelligent and well-trained individuals into taking steps that
compromise cyber-security. The concerns identified in the academic work have now become an unfortunate
reality. Because SP Guard allows email recipients to easily and accurately distinguish real email from fake email,
we believe that it is an important addition to any comprehensive enterprise security solution."
SP Guard is available immediately from Iconix, Inc. More information is available at
http://www.iconix.com/business/spearphishing.php.
About ICONIX, Inc.
ICONIX, Inc. is the leading provider of trusted email identification solutions. ICONIX provides the industry's first visual solution for
businesses and consumers. The patented Iconix® solution enables recipients to quickly identify messages from legitimate senders,
which proactively combats widespread email-based identity theft techniques, such as phishing. The Iconix® Truemark® service
is the only standards-based visual authentication solution that works across various email platforms. For more information, visit www.iconix.com.
Iconix, Truemark, the Iconix logo and the Check-lock icon are registered trademarks in the United States and
Iconix, Check-lock, the Iconix logo, SP Guard, the Iconix enabled logo, and the Check-lock icon are trademarks or
service marks of ICONIX, Inc.
