Critical Watch Provides Match.com, Leading Subscription-Based Online Dating Site, with Enterprise Vulnerability Management Solutions.

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 17, 2002

Match.com, a leading global online dating site with more than 3.25 million members with profiles posted, has selected Critical Watch's enterprise vulnerability management solutions as a core component of its Internet security strategy for protecting Match.com's external and internal network infrastructures, the two Dallas-based companies announced.

Critical Watch helps large corporations manage enterprise vulnerabilities as an ongoing operational process. Critical Watch's solutions provide a corporation with expanded visibility into its current security levels, streamlined process controls for vulnerability elimination, and mechanisms to gauge security programs' effectiveness and the progress of teams responsible for day-to-day security management. The result is the ability to link strategic security management with tactical execution to secure the enterprise, Critical Watch executives said.

More than 300 network vulnerabilities - created by inherent flaws in software, misconfigurations and dangerous default settings - surface each month, more than emerged in the entire year of 1998, according to 2002 statistics compiled by the CERT(R) Coordination Center, a center of Internet security expertise at Carnegie Mellon University.

"In addition to the constant discovery of new vulnerabilities, many critical business functions now take place over corporate infrastructures that are increasingly interconnected with customers, partners and other third parties," said David Laizerovich, Critical Watch's president and chief executive officer. "Consequently, vulnerabilities pose a serious threat to business continuity, especially for e-commerce companies that operate their entire business online."

"Match.com offers adults around the world a secure environment in which they can meet other singles," said Tim Sullivan, Match.com's president. "We have earned the trust of our subscribers, and it is of vital importance to us, strategically, to protect their privacy and the integrity of our computer networks and our data. The Critical Watch solution allows us to effectively manage our security on an ongoing basis."

"The acceptance of Critical Watch's technology reflects the new priority that corporations place on security," said Laizerovich. "Security used to be viewed as a technical issue to be dealt with as problems arose," he noted. "Now, it is seen as a strategic management issue that directly affects customer trust, business operations and corporate stock value."

Until recently, companies used annual or quarterly audits to determine their security performance. Often, these audits took weeks to complete and resulted in a complex and detailed report, from which it was difficult for the enterprise to take meaningful steps to minimize risk. This periodic security approach does not provide a clear picture of corporate security performance and can leave the corporation exposed to new vulnerabilities for months, according to Critical Watch executives.

In comparison, Critical Watch offers a complete enterprise vulnerability management solution that blends the following elements:

-- Recurring electronic security assessments of both external and internal networks. The accurate, comprehensive assessment capability is designed to be scalable to test networks of any size anywhere in the world.

-- A flexible and powerful reporting framework that enables companies to adapt report views to the organization's existing processes, team structure and information flow. Besides providing ways to eliminate vulnerabilities, the reporting framework gives visibility into organizational performance at the corporate level, and across remote offices, subsidiaries, divisions, international locations and partners. Reports also track the progress of corporate teams performing remediation.

-- An early warning system that works between assessments to alert corporate customers proactively to new vulnerabilities that threaten them specifically. Called Rapid Alerts, the warning system pinpoints affected machines on the customer's network and specifies necessary corrective steps. The alerts can be mapped to the existing team and organizational structure to facilitate more immediate action.

About Critical Watch

Critical Watch offers high-end enterprise vulnerability management solutions for large, complex corporations that desire to effectively manage infrastructure vulnerability as a core business process. The company's solutions, for which several U.S. patents are pending, provide an effective way to expand visibility into the current state of security, and develop mechanisms to help measure security performance and better control security levels across the extended enterprise.

Founded in 2000, privately-held Critical Watch sells its solutions directly to corporate customers as well as through a network of consulting firms, system integrators and outsourcing companies. Corporations in e-commerce, financial services, healthcare, technology and other industries utilize Critical Watch's solutions. Critical Watch's headquarters are at 6060 N. Central Expressway, Suite 560, Dallas, TX 75206. The telephone number is 214/800-3465 and company's website is www.criticalwatch.com.

About Match.com

Match.com, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ticketmaster and part of USA Interactive, is a leading subscription-based online dating site. The company's personals businesses claim more than 604,000 paying subscribers. With more than 3.25 million members with profiles posted, Match.com offers adults worldwide a fun, private and secure environment for meeting other singles. The company estimates it is responsible for arranging hundreds of thousands of relationships for its members. Match.com powers paid online dating on The Microsoft Network; The Excite Network's Relationship Channels; Talk City; BET Interactive and is the premier provider of personals for Love@AOL, offering the Match.com service across AOL, AOL.com, CompuServe and Netscape.com. The company's website is www.match.com.