AXE FALLS ON INTERNET ABUSERS AT MAJORITY OF U.S. COMPANIES.

SurfControl, Scotts Valley, Calif., a leading Internet filtering company in the global security market, has released independent research that shows American companies will not tolerate employees that misuse Internet or email facilities on the job, and the majority of companies have actually fired people who fail to follow Internet acceptable use policies (AUPs).

The survey is the basis of TechRepublic's White Paper, "Managing Content Security: Update 2002"

Viewing and distributing pornography, spending work time on recreational surfing, and using email to harass others are all cited as reasons for firings, according to the survey conducted by TechRepublic, part of CNET Networks. The study also showed that people have been dismissed for using email or the Internet to leak confidential company information, to steal intellectual property or to disclose insider financial information.

"Email and the Internet are the most important communications tools used to conduct business today, yet they're also the most vulnerable to threats," said Kevin Blakeman, president of SurfControl. "This TechRepublic study confirms that companies want to manage employee productivity and protect company confidential information, and they are prepared to back up their corporate policies on Internet use with action."

With SuperScout Web Filter 4.0 and Email Filter 3.5, SurfControl offers the most comprehensive tools for Internet access management and email filtering. SuperScout Web Filter 4.0 makes it easier for company managers to determine who goes where on the Internet and when they go there. It offers great precision in setting and implementing the rules for Internet access, down to the individual user and individual Web page.

SuperScout Web Filter 4.0 also helps employees adhere to the company's AUP by giving them more information. It offers the ability to customize "deny pages" sent to employees, explaining why access to a particular Web site has been denied.

SuperScout Email Filter 3.5 helps prevent the divulging of confidential or proprietary information by giving companies the intelligent tools to stop emails containing this information from being sent to unauthorized recipients.

The survey also found that email-borne viruses present a significant to high cost to companies in terms of lost productivity or data and network down time. More than 64 percent of respondents said such events would cost their organizations more than $10,000. Of these companies, almost half said virus infections would cost their companies more than $100,000.

"Security threats are growing more complex and more sophisticated, so businesses' weapons against them need to be more sophisticated as well. Installing firewalls and anti-virus software without installing SuperScout Web and email filtering is like locking the doors but leaving the windows wide open," said Blakeman.

The September 11th terrorist attacks have resulted in heightened security in more than 70 percent of companies, the TechRepublic research revealed. Of these, more than half are reviewing security policies and infrastructure to be sure existing procedures and systems are optimal. More than one third of these are implementing even stronger security measures including policies, procedures and technologies as a direct result of the War on Terror.

TechRepublic conducted the research in January 2002, and 1,948 IT executives from companies of various sizes across the United States participated by completing an online questionnaire. The White Paper, "Managing Content Security: Update 2002" can be downloaded for free from the SurfControl website at www.surfcontrol.com/business/resources/

About SurfControl - The Internet Filtering Company

SurfControl plc (London:SRF/NASDAQ Europe:SRFC), is the Number One Internet Filtering company in the global security market. The SurfControl family of products employs expert filtering, Pass-Through, and Pass-By technologies to create a productive Internet environment in the workplace and a child safe environment on the Internet at home and at school.

This comprehensive line of Internet monitoring and policy management solutions includes SuperScout Web Filter - the market leader in Internet productivity in the corporation; SuperScout Email Filter - managing content security; CyberPatrol - the market leader in responsible Internet usage in the home and at school; and the SurfControl Content Filtering SDK - the proven filtering solution for ISPs, Search Engines, Internet Appliances and ASPs.

SurfControl works with a variety of industry partners such as AT&T, Check Point Software (NASDAQ:CHKP), Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO), Hewlett Packard (NYSE:HWP), IBM (NYSE:IBM), Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), and Microsoft Corp.'s Web TV (NASDAQ: MSFT).

SurfControl employs more than 350 people worldwide and has 8 offices: in the USA, in California and Massachusetts; in the UK, in Manchester and London; Rotterdam, Holland; Vienna, Austria; Frankfurt, Germany and Sydney, Australia.

For further information, visit http://www.surfcontrol.com.