Case Study: City of Aurora achieves zero spam and stops targeted ransomware with Proofpoint

City of Aurora's security posture starts with its people

The City of Aurora, Colorado—a city of more than 381,000 residents—was overwhelmed by phishing attacks and floods of spam that consumed the security team’s time and blocked progress on risk-based governance and security operations. CISO Tim McCain prioritized stopping email threats, improving the city’s security posture, and increasing the security team’s expertise.

Aurora deployed Proofpoint’s email security suite (Email Protection, Threat Response Auto‑Pull, Targeted Attack Protection, Email DLP, Email Encryption, and Internal Mail Defense), which immediately stopped targeted ransomware attempts, eliminated spam and bulk mail, and gave the city comprehensive visibility into email threats. The program also identified the most‑attacked people, boosted employee awareness and engagement, and increased the security team’s knowledge, confidence, and operational effectiveness.

City of Aurora

Timothy McCain

Chief Information Security Officer