Businesses Lose Millions Due to Flaws in Anti-virus Software According to New Report from MessageLabs and Hurwitz Group.

Business Editors/High Tech Writers

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 30, 2002

Hurwitz Group Cites Inadequate Virus Protection Results

in Critical Downtime and Associated eBusiness Costs;

Businesses Should Consider Outsourcing Email Security

as Value-Added Layer of Protection

Highlights:

- Traditional anti-virus software lets viruses through to one in

ten users

- Two years after the LoveBug, mass mailing viruses like SirCam and Goner still
causing havoc around the world

- Viruses now need to be dealt with at source: The Internet

- Hurwitz Group collaborates with MessageLabs to average cost to clean up

Businesses need to reassess their anti-virus security policies according to new research released today by the Hurwitz Group in conjunction with email security company, MessageLabs.

The report suggests that despite anti-virus software being used by 95% of businesses, making it the most widely used form of IT security, email viruses are still infecting 10% of users and costing US business millions of dollars each year. So why does the problem continue to plague businesses around the world? Existing solutions are not well designed to meet current and more importantly future strains of viruses.

To examine the exact costs associated with virus prevention and clean up, the Hurwitz Group has produced economic models for both a small business (250 employees) and a medium sized business (5000 employees). The models reveal that a virus infection will cost a small business $22,500 in lost productivity (assuming that the server is down for 10 hours), $500 in help desk calls, $2,500 in user downtime and $1,250 in cleaning their system, that's a total of $26,750. For the medium sized company costs rise considerably to a total of $835,000.

Considering that these companies will already be spending $33,360 and $608,400 per year respectively on updating their anti-virus software with the latest signatures, that's a pretty poor return on investment.

Mark Sunner, chief technology officer, MessageLabs said, `Most anti-virus software was developed in a pre-Internet age when the sharing of an infected floppy disk was as dangerous as things got, now over 90% of viruses are email-borne, spreading across the globe in a matter of minutes. For many companies downloading virus patches amounts to no more than closing the gate after the horse has bolted."

"The source of the virus problem has changed, the first line of virus defence needs to be positioned at the Internet level, not at the gateway or desktop. This is exactly what MessageLabs does and we have never let a virus through to a customer. Scanning at the Internet level also enables the use of advanced heuristic scanning, protecting users from tomorrow's unknown viruses, said Andy Faris, president of MessageLabs, Americas.

The Hurwitz report revealed that small companies could save nearly $37,610 a year by implementing a layer of outsourced email security, provided by companies such as MessageLabs. A larger company could save up to $420,000 annually.

Notes to editors

The following figures are taken directly from the Hurwitz Report, some of which have been used in this release.

Virus costs                        250 employees       5000 employees

Preventative measures
 Manual Signature file
  updates, mail server               $3360                 $8400
 (2/month, 1hour ea.)
 Manual Signature Updates,
  clients (1/month)                  $30,000               $600,000

Infections
 Lost productivity                   $22,500               $750,000
 Help desk call                      $500                  $10,000
 User downtime                       $2,500                $50,000
 System clean-up                     $1,250                $25,000
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Total Costs                     (pound)60,110            $1,443,400

MessageLabs protection

MessageLabs annual service charge     $7,500              $120,000
Residual Prevention measures          $15,000             $300,000

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Combined Costs (Annual)         $22,500             $420,000

----------------------------------------------------------------------
ANNUAL SAVINGS WITH MESSAGELABS       $37,610             $1,023,400

About MessageLabs

MessageLabs is a leading Managed Services Provider (MSP) specialising in email security. Its revolutionary SkyScan portfolio of services enable customers to be protected from threats such as viruses, pornography and unsolicited mail, which are all intercepted before they reach the customers' network boundaries. The SkyScan services are delivered through a global network of email processing engines, or 'Control Towers', which currently spans the UK, Germany, Netherlands, the U.S. and Hong Kong. The network is centrally managed from a Global Operations Centre in the UK and scans email for over 750,000 users with no discernible impact on delivery times.

MessageLabs works with some of the world's largest Service Providers including BT, Cable and Wireless, Energis, KPN Telecom, Telia and WorldCom, and customers include Air Products, the Bank of England, Conde Nast, Fujitsu, Lloyds TSB and Rentokil. MessageLabs is part of the Star Technology Group, with over 350 employees across the globe, and was established in January 2000. For further information, go to www.messagelabs.com.