Spectria Offers Free ``Weapons'' in Fight Against Malicious E-Mail Viruses; Security Awareness for Employees Outperforms Anti-Virus Software Solutions.

Business Editors/High Tech Writers

LONG BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 17, 2000

In the wake of the dangerous "Love Bug" virus, sent around the globe via e-mail May 4, Spectria(SM) , a leading provider of secure eBusiness solutions for the wired and wireless world, Wednesday offered a free, downloadable publication to help organizations of all sizes fight against viruses and worms spread via e-mail.

The publication tells companies and individuals what they need to know about these viruses and offers practical solutions in plainly written language for easy comprehension.

"The companies that fared best in the face of the LoveLetter malicious code outbreak were the ones that have an active and effective security awareness program for employees," said Stephen Cobb, Spectria's director of research and education and a noted security expert and author. "The best weapon with which to protect information will always be information."

The URL for the free security module and free information is: http://infosec.spectria.com/av

Information is the Best Weapon

The collection of Web pages offered by Spectria's InfoSec Services group is designed to help both companies and individuals better understand the problem. For added convenience, a printable hypertext version of the information has been created, which can be downloaded and reproduced for internal education efforts, along with several security awareness posters which can used internally to promote awareness of the email virus threat.

"It is our hope that by educating employees about the problem and letting them know what they can do to help minimize it, companies can reduce their exposure and increase their productivity," said Cobb. "With LoveLetter we saw the huge hole in anti-virus scanning software -- on the morning of May 4 it didn't catch LoveLetter, because it didn't know about LoveLetter."

Cobb notes that by the time scanning software updates were available, the huge rush to download them by organizations seeking a quick fix to the problem caused serious net congestion and delays. But this had little impact on companies who have trained their employees to be wary of email attachments.

Cobb added, "The security-wise employee is just not going to open something like this and get infected -- if fewer people had opened those files, it would not have spread as fast as it did. Right now the need for security awareness on the part of employees is greater than it has ever been, and is likely to remain that way for some time, particularly if we start to see lawsuits and insurance claims seeking damages arising from infection."

Spectria believes that improvements to hardware and software and system design will eventually mitigate a lot of malicious code problems, notably through stronger authentication of users with hardware tokens, linked to encryption software.

The Spectria Approach to eBusiness

Spectria helps companies take advantage of the Internet to enhance their competitive position and penetrate new markets. Business-to-business eCommerce solutions developed by Spectria reduce operational costs and strengthen relationships with customers, suppliers and business partners. The ability to design secure eBusiness applications from the start enables Spectria's clients to transact business and share information over the Internet with a high degree of confidence.

Spectria builds secure eBusiness solutions for the wired and wireless world. For more than 13 years, Spectria's team has provided customers with leading-edge solutions from legacy systems to eBusiness initiatives, as well as the integration between these environments. Our team of architects, business analysts, security experts, subject matter experts and developers strategically plan a client's scalable eBusiness solution. Leveraging our strategic partnerships with technology leaders such as Microsoft Corp., Cisco Systems and IBM, Spectria's delivery teams implement comprehensive solutions to meet or exceed client expectations. Spectria also helps clients support and plan future development paths after initial implementation.

About Spectria

Spectria is a leading professional services firm that assists clients to deliver tailored eBusiness solutions. Spectria develops end-to-end solutions for companies that view technology as a major enabler in their industry. Spectria specializes in responsive, personalized service to Fortune 1000 companies as well as select virtual companies that have a sense of urgency to bring their solution to the marketplace. Spectria offers expertise in all facets of eBusiness including eCommerce, Security, Wireless Computing, Knowledge Management, Business Intelligence, Network Infrastructure, Application Development, ERP Integration, and Business Consulting.

With a collaborative team environment that attracts the finest talent in the industry, Spectria, a business unit of Rainbow Technologies (Nasdaq: RNBO), with headquarters in Long Beach, and additional locations in Playa del Ray, Calif., Irvine, Calif., San Diego, Austin, Texas, and Redmond, Wash.

Current customers include: American Express, Sprint, AT&T, Merk-Medco, Warner Brothers, Arco, Bax Global, Pacific Life Insurance Co., and others. For more information, visit www.spectria.com or call 877/765-8845.

Spectria is a service mark of Spectria (a division of Rainbow Technologies) in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks or service marks are the property of their respective owners in the United States and other countries.