Commtouch Announces Pre-Emptive Enterprise Solution to Spam Problem; Real-Time Anti-Spam Solution Focuses on Needs of Microsoft Exchange Environments.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 25, 2003

Commtouch(R) (Nasdaq:CTCH), a developer and provider of anti-spam technology and services, today announced ASAP!(TM) (Anti-Spam Adaptive Protection), offering real-time enterprise protection against spam. Built on patent-pending technology, ASAP! adapts its detection capabilities to recognize and counter costly spam attacks as soon as they are launched over the Internet. ASAP! integrates seamlessly with Microsoft(R) Exchange Server to pre-emptively block spam, expected by Ferris Research to cost businesses over $10 billion this year.

Drawing on its extensive experience as a pioneer of email technology, messaging applications and messaging platforms, Commtouch (http://www.commtouch.com) has developed technology that sets ASAP! apart from existing anti-spam solutions. ASAP!'s architecture combines an Enterprise Gateway application with a remote Service Center to deliver the benefits of in-house installation and outsourced service in a single solution.

The Service Center enables Commtouch to analyze the characteristics of tens of millions of email messages every day, so that a spam attack can be identified and a detection 'signature' created before the attack can reach the corporation. The Enterprise Gateway provides IT with the ability to customize ASAP!'s detection to the needs of the organization and its employees.

ASAP! adapts to the needs of end users (no change in email behavior is required) and the needs of IT (centralized control with customizable application of policies), as well as the changing nature of spam attacks themselves. This combination enables ASAP! to offer more than 95% detection and effectiveness as well as near-zero false positives, which occur when email is falsely categorized as spam.

"The key to effective spam prevention is a deep understanding of the characteristics and behavior of email and its users," said Commtouch CEO Gideon Mantel. "Users need to feel in control of their mailboxes, and IT needs to feel in control of the mail system. ASAP! satisfies both groups without requiring either to make any change in their normal use of email."

End User Acceptance

ASAP! is adaptive to the way people use email. People are more likely to use a solution that does not require them to change their behavior. The user can indicate what is spam and what is not spam without leaving the mailbox or changing Microsoft Outlook(R) settings.

IT Control

ASAP! is adaptive to the way IT manages email. It seamlessly integrates with Microsoft Exchange Server and automatically applies existing email policies at the gateway. The result is optimum spam detection with low false positives and no desktop installations to deploy or manage.

Pre-Emptive Spam Detection

ASAP! continuously adapts to spammers' ever-changing methods and techniques. ASAP!'s patent-pending detection technology analyzes email characteristics from the millions of mailboxes monitored around the clock, so if spammers change language or move to HTML or graphics formats, detection capability remains unaffected. Additionally, this approach ensures that the actual content of email in the monitored boxes remains undisturbed, protecting corporate and end-user privacy.

"The data I've seen on ASAP! indicates that it is an extremely robust tool that will provide enterprises with everything they need to fight spam," said analyst Michael D. Osterman of Osterman Research. "A seamless solution that provides high spam capture, low false positive rates and minimal latency in message delivery times, should be welcomed by email users and IT managers alike."

Initial response from resellers supports this view. "We've been testing ASAP! in house before offering it to our customers, and we've experienced a 95% detection rate with no false positives," said Tim Carney, president of NetworkGuys, Inc., a specialist security reseller in Fremont, California.

Pricing and Availability

ASAP! is already in early deployment at a number of enterprise customer sites and will be commercially available this spring. The company also plans to ship a software development kit that allows vendors to integrate ASAP! capabilities with anti-virus, firewall and specialized network appliance solutions. ASAP! pricing ranges from $13 to $20 per seat, depending on the number of users. Sales inquiries can be directed to [e-mail].

About Commtouch

Commtouch Software Ltd. is a developer and provider of proprietary anti-spam solutions. The company's core technologies reflect its twelve years of experience as a leading vendor of email software applications, almost half of them as a global ASP for hosted messages to more than 30 million users. Commtouch is headquartered in Netanya, Israel and its subsidiary, Commtouch Inc., is based in Mountain View, California. The company was founded in 1991 and has been publicly traded since 1999 (Nasdaq:CTCH). To learn more about Commtouch solutions, visit our web site at http://www.commtouch.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including projections about our business, within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. For example, statements in the future tense, and statements including words such as "expect", "plan", "estimate", anticipate", or "believe" are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on information available to us at the time of the release; we assume no obligation to update any of them. The statements in this release are not guarantees of future performance and actual results could differ materially from our current expectations as a result of numerous factors, including business conditions and growth or deterioration in the Internet market, commerce and the general economy both domestic as well as international; fewer than expected new-partner relationships; competitive factors including pricing pressures; technological developments, and products offered by competitors; availability of qualified staff for expansion; and technological difficulties and resource constraints encountered in developing new products as well as those risks described in the Company's Annual Reports on Form 20-F and reports on Form 6-K, which are available through http://www.sec.gov.

Note: Commtouch(R) is a registered trademark and ASAP!(TM) is a trademark of Commtouch Software Ltd. Microsoft Exchange(R) and Microsoft Outlook(R) are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Other terms and product names in this document may be trademarks or registered trademarks of other companies or individuals.