Commtouch Real-Time Virus Protection Engine Makes Headway in Europe, North America.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- VirusBuster and BlueCat are First to Implement Commtouch's RPD(TM) Technology for Preemptive Virus Detection

Commtouch(R) (Nasdaq:CTCHC), the innovator of real-time email security solutions today announced that its real-time virus detection engine has been making headway in European and North American markets. Announced in November 2004, Commtouch's complementary method to existing AV solutions has already been adopted by VirusBuster and BlueCat Networks.

"We are very pleased by the early acceptance of our new real-time virus protection offering, among both security appliance vendors and AV solution providers," says Amir Lev, President and CTO of Commtouch. "The market is ripe for complementary AV methods, which can ensure protection during the most crucial hours of the attack -- the hours before new signatures are distributed to all subscribers."

Early Virus Detection: A Crucial Industry Need

"Perhaps the biggest challenge in the road to 100% virus protection is how to protect users during the hours it takes to create a new signature," says Lev. Creating new signatures for emerging viruses can take up to 24 hours -- a crucial period in which millions of users can be infected. A recent CSI/FBI Report estimated that viruses caused damages of $55 billion in 2004, despite the fact that 99% of the organizations surveyed had anti-virus protection.

"The anti-virus industry is hot on the heels of preemptive protection solutions, and Recurrent Pattern Detection is precisely that. By immediately identifying messages that are part of massive outbreaks, RPD protects users in real-time, far before signatures are available."

Outbreak-based Virus Protection

Unlike heuristics, "sandboxing" and other early detection methods, the Commtouch approach is based on analysis of network-wide patterns, not specific messages. Commtouch's RPD technology monitors Internet traffic in real-time, and identifies the unique distribution patterns of spam and malware. This makes it possible to identify new outbreaks as soon as they emerge -- even before the specific characteristics of the new virus are known -- and to detect and block associated messages in real time.

With Commtouch Technology, VirusBuster is First to Detect the New Bagle Variant

VirusBuster, a European developer and provider of security solutions for enterprises and ISPs, made a strategic decision in November 2004 to integrate the RPD technology into its products -- which are available through partners in Europe, South and North America and other countries.

"Implementing Commtouch's RPD technology for real-time virus detection has vastly broadened our protection capabilities. We were the first AV vendor to detect the Bagle.BE variant, on January 27 at 6:30 GMT -- and this was possible thanks to Commtouch's RPD technology," says Peter Agocs, director of development at VirusBuster. "With RPD a basic part of our security solutions, our international user base is more fully protected than ever before."

Commtouch Complements BlueCat's Award-Winning Appliances

"RPD technology has been an integral part of our Meridius Security Gateway(TM) appliance for over a year, enabling our customers to benefit from an almost 100% spam detection rate. The new outbreak protection engine, which is based on RPD, is expected to do the same in blocking new viruses, almost instantaneously," says BlueCat's CEO Michael Hyatt. "We are both confident and excited that our customers worldwide will soon benefit from the highest level of virus protection for documented and emerging outbreaks."

About RPD - Recurrent Pattern Detection

Commtouch's Recurrent Pattern Detection technology detects massive email outbreaks within seconds or minutes of their distribution over the Internet -- immediately blocking mass-mailed messages. RPD's long lasting effectiveness in anti-spam applications has been proven in independent evaluations by groups such as Osterman Research, and RPD is designed to detect all types of outbreaks.

About BlueCat Networks, Inc.

BlueCat Networks, Inc. is a provider of security appliances that are simple, secure, and affordable. Its flagship products, the award-winning Adonis DNS/DHCP Appliance(tm) and Meridius Security Gateway, offer exceptional performance, revolutionary capabilities, and help corporations improve network security and reduce IT costs. For more information, please visit www.bluecatnetworks.com.

BlueCat Networks, the BlueCat Networks logo, Adonis DNS Appliance, Adonis DNS/DHCP Appliance, Adonis Management Console, Meridius Security Gateway, and XHA are trademarks of BlueCat Networks, Inc. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

1Network Computing Magazine, Editor's Choice Award, April 2003; Winner of Network Computing Magazine 2003 Well-Connected Award.

About VirusBuster

VirusBuster's mission is to provide customized, multi-level virus protection tailored to individual customer demands and backed by high quality technical support. VirusBuster has been developing and distributing anti-virus and other IT security solutions for more than 15 years -- including workstation, server and mail server protection as well as anti-virus management systems. VirusBuster products have won several Virus Bulletin 100% Awards, a clear indication of their quality and performance. VirusBuster products are available through its partners in Europe, South and North America and other countries around the world.

About Commtouch

Commtouch Software Ltd. (Nasdaq:CTCHC) is dedicated to protecting and preserving the integrity of the world's most important communications tool -- email. A global developer and provider of proprietary anti-spam solutions, Commtouch has an installed base of over 25 million users. The company's core technologies, including RPD(TM) -- Recurrent Pattern Detection, reflect Commtouch's 14 years of experience developing messaging software. Commtouch solutions are incorporated into OEM applications and are also sold through channels and resellers. Commtouch is headquartered in Netanya, Israel and has a subsidiary in Mountain View, CA. For more information, see: 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 the failure to satisfy the conditions imposed by the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Panel for the continued listing of Commtouch shares on The Nasdaq SmallCap Market; 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; the ability of our OEM partners to successfully penetrate markets with products integrated with Commtouch technology; a slower than expected acceptance rate for real time AV solutions in general and the Commtouch AV detection engine in particular; availability of qualified staff for expansion; and technological difficulties and resource constraints encountered in developing new products, such as the Commtouch AV detection engine, as well as those risks described in the text of this press release or the company's Annual Reports on Form 20-F and reports on Form 6-K, which are available through www.sec.gov.

Recurrent Pattern Detection and RPD are trademarks and Commtouch is a registered trademark of Commtouch Software Ltd.