Clearswift Survey Shows: Over a Quarter of Employees Will Do Christmas Shopping at Work This Year.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- Survey finds that more than 1 in 4 plan to do Christmas shopping online in the office

According to Clearswift, the MIMEsweeper Company and world's #1 in content security, more than a quarter of employees (28.8 percent) are planning to do their Christmas shopping from the comfort of their office chairs this year.

The survey, which was based on 900 respondents and carried out on behalf of Clearswift, found that 28.8 percent of respondents planned to use the Internet at work to shop for Christmas presents this year.

"Each year the holiday season brings with it the pressure to get the shopping done. And with the ready resource of online shopping, it is easy to make a quick visit to a retail site during the day to complete the next purchase," said David Guyatt, CEO of Clearswift. "However, organizations stand to lose a great deal of productivity by allowing employees free rein to use the Internet as they please."

Based on a story from ZDnet UK, Dec. 7, 2004, http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/ecommerce/0,39020372,39179177,00.htm, "Online spending on the day after Thanksgiving (or Black Friday, a reference to the volume of sales that pushes many retailers into profits) reached $250 million, up 41 percent from $178m in 2003, according to Web statistician ComScore Networks. On Thanksgiving Day, typically a slow shopping day, online sales totaled $133m, doubling last year's $67m, ComScore said. Online shopping visitors accounted for 11.39 percent of all Web visits that day, up from 8.96 percent in 2003, according to online retail tracker Hitwise."

Another statistic from Clearswift's survey shows that 48.4 percent of respondents spend more than an hour on the Internet for non-work-related reasons. But it is more than just a productivity issue. More than 75.1 percent do not think their boss would be concerned if he knew how they were using e-mail and the Internet. If employees are tempted by offers in spam e-mails, they may unwittingly download viruses, spyware or other malicious code that could cause system downtime or a loss of confidential information.

"We would encourage businesses to establish an Internet usage policy, communicate this with their employees and then enforce the policy using content security tools," commented Guyatt. "By restricting online shopping to lunch breaks or outside office hours, for example, businesses can ensure they maintain productivity without having to resort to draconian measures during the festive season.

"It is also important to remember that the boom in spending over Christmas represents an opportunity for criminals," continued Guyatt. "We would always advise people against responding to spam or opening e-mails from unknown senders unless there is an appropriate level of e-mail security in place to protect against viruses and other malicious attachments," commented Guyatt. "Virus writers are becoming experts in social engineering and are likely to try and exploit our weakness for curiously opening e-cards from strangers."

Clearswift's MIMEsweeper family of e-mail and Web content filtering solutions enables organizations to enforce e-mail and Web usage policies and protect against lost productivity, viruses, spam and other related security threats.

About Clearswift

Clearswift -- The #1 in Content Security

Clearswift secures content and protects against digital attacks by enforcing security policies that increase productivity, reduce IT costs and create a safer business environment. Its world-leading business is founded on providing Total Content Security for e-mail and Web.

The Internet is the greatest business tool ever invented, but with it comes a harrowing collection of threats. Protecting against the circulation of inappropriate images and text, spam, breaches of confidentiality, and viruses is now mission critical. Most companies have firewalls and anti-virus protection, but they are only the beginning of a comprehensive security strategy. By layering together with your existing security tools, Clearswift products close the gaps that the most ubiquitous digital threats pass through every day.

Clearswift enables organizations to protect themselves against digital attacks, meet legal and regulatory requirements, implement productivity-saving policies and manage intellectual property passing through their network.

Clearswift's product portfolio includes the award-winning MIMEsweeper(TM), the world's most sophisticated and versatile content security solutions, as well as a range of specialized security solutions for the most security-conscious environments. Clearswift solutions meet the needs of small and large companies alike, in markets as diverse as finance, banking, manufacturing, retail, and high-tech communications.

Clearswift has more than 20 years' experience in the field of security. Its expertise lies in state-of-the-art policy-based content filtering technology. Clearswift has 15,000 customers and more than 20 million end users worldwide. Clearswift has headquarters both in the United States and the United Kingdom, and sales offices in Germany, Sweden, Japan and Australia.

Clearswift, MAILsweeper(TM), MIMEsweeper(TM), spamActive(TM) and ENTERPRISEsuite(TM) are trademarks or registered trademarks, in the United States, United Kingdom and certain other countries, of Clearswift Limited. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of the individual companies and are respectfully acknowledged.