Case Study: University of the Free State achieves near‑total email protection and ends blocklisting with Proofpoint Enterprise Protection

Proofpoint Enterprise Protection blocks attacks, secures email and ends blocklisting

The University of the Free State (UFS), a major South African university serving more than 40,000 students and 4,200 staff, faced escalating phishing and credential-theft attacks that led to compromised accounts, spam sent from legitimate addresses, and repeated blocklisting of its email servers — threatening email delivery, productivity, and institutional reputation.

UFS implemented Proofpoint Enterprise Protection with Targeted Attack Protection, deployed locally with partner KHIPU, using ML-driven detection, quarantine and URL/attachment blocking. The solution blocked virtually all phishing and malware, removed the university from blocklists, stabilized email delivery, and increased productivity for staff and IT.

University of the Free State

Ernst du Plooy

Head of Information Security, Governance and Compliance