Verizon Broadband Customers Get Help in the Fight Against Spam, Phishing With ’CertifiedEmail’ Service

NEW YORK - Beginning later this summer, Verizon Online customers who subscribe to the company’s e-mail service will have another weapon in their arsenal in the war on spam and other malicious messages.

Verizon announced an agreement with Goodmail Systems Thursday (June 7) to provide Verizon Online customers with CertifiedEmail, a service that specially marks e-mail messages from known commercial and nonprofit volume senders. These specially flagged messages will help Verizon Online customers distinguish certified e-mail from spam or even more troublesome messages, such as phishing attempts. Phishing is a growing problem with Internet e-mail in which senders masquerade as legitimate businesses in an attempt to get the e-mail recipients to disclose vital financial or personal information. The sender can then use that information to gain access to individuals’ credit cards or bank assets.

[Note: In a companion news release, Verizon offers tips and help for combating unwanted e-mail.]

“CertifiedEmail is part of an extensive suite of services that Verizon uses to help protect its customers from spam and other e-mail abuse,” said Peter Castleton, director of Verizon consumer broadband services. "The problem of phishing and fraud erodes trust in e-mail. A certification service, such as CertifiedEmail, enables us to help restore that trust and makes it easier for consumers to identify legitimate e-mail messages.

“Goodmail has established itself as a leading delivery service provider for trusted-class e-mail,” Castleton added. An incoming e-mail with a blue-ribbon envelope icon tells the customer that the sender has been accredited and that the message is from a trustworthy source.

Richard Gingras, Goodmail co-founder and CEO, said, “With spam and phishing hitting historic highs, even in the last six months, we have seen the limits of technologies which attempt to filter out the bad e-mail. Consumers want their mailbox providers to let them know which e-mail messages are real and safe to act on. They want an end to the frustration of having to guess whether an e-mail is real or not.”

Customers who subscribe to Verizon’s e-mail service need take no action to receive the CertfiedEmail service when it is introduced later this summer, and there are no additional charges associated with the service. The recognizable blue-ribbon envelope icon that will begin appearing on CertifiedEmail messages is universal for ISPs and e-mail providers that use the service.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), headquartered in New York, is a leader in delivering broadband and other wireline and wireless communication innovations to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America’s most reliable wireless network, serving 60.7 million customers nationwide. Verizon’s Wireline operations include Verizon Business, which delivers innovative and seamless business solutions to customers around the world, and Verizon Telecom, which brings customers the benefits of converged communications, information and entertainment services over the nation’s most advanced fiber-optic network. A Dow 30 company, Verizon has a diverse workforce of more than 238,000 and last year generated consolidated operating revenues of more than $88 billion. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.