Middle East-based companies are receiving as many as 1.5 million emails per day across their networks with as much as 90 per cent being spam, making them potential targets for devastating cyber attacks, say industry sources.

Companies suffering email-based attacks on their messaging infrastructure and network resources expose their businesses to a number of crippling threats such as data leakage, compliance issues and legal risks.

With a reported year-on-year growth of 300 percent, spam is on the rise at an extraordinary rate, and while companies are powerless to stop it, they can take steps to reduce the impact in the event of an attack.

"E-commerce is the UAE's largest current cyber threat, and with internet usage in the Middle East increasing a dramatic rate, the time for complacency has passed," said Ian Cochrane, marketing manager, Trend Micro Middle East and Africa.

“Middle East-based companies need to understand, and take seriously, the devastating effect a targeted attack can have on a business and implement the necessary steps to reduce this risk as much as possible," he added.

As a recognised leader in gateway secure content management, Trend Micro has created a comprehensive, multi-layer hosted service that brings together the best in spam blocking, antivirus, content control, and system monitoring.

Trend Micro InterScan Messaging Hosted Security (IMHS) is powered by TrendLabsSM a global network of research centres that ensures constant threat surveillance and attack prevention.

With accurate, real-time data, TrendLabs delivers effective, timely security measures designed to detect, pre-empt, and eliminate attacks.

"Companies are experiencing a dramatic increase in email-based attacks on their messaging infrastructure and network resources. Spam, spyware, phishing, botnets, targeted email attacks, and blended-threat attacks are endangering company networks daily," said Samir Kirouani, senior technical engineer, Trend Micro Middle East and Africa.

"Hosting a messaging infrastructure outside the internal network can offer the customer powerful protection against common e-commerce threats such as spam and phishing, provide flexible content filtering, and reduce infrastructure, costs and administration," Kirouani added. - TradeArabia News Service