St. Bernard Software Helps Manage The Risks of Holiday Shopping Sprees During Company Time; Provides Tips on Balancing Employee Internet Use with Company Security Concerns This Gift-Giving Season.

SAN DIEGO -- With this year's online shopping sales expected to increase by 25% over last year(a), St. Bernard Software warns organizations that the temptation to push aside work in order to surf the Net could be at an all time high this December. With the convenience of online shopping gaining popularity in the workplace, companies should be aware that this is not only a resource utilization and productivity issue, but can also increase security risks within the corporation.

The term 'Cyber Monday', or the Monday following Thanksgiving weekend, was labeled as the most popular online shopping day of the year. If companies don't manage workers' online activity, this can result in a significant loss of productivity and strain on network resources. On top of these concerns, unmanaged Web access can lead to potential security threats, such as spyware and malware infections or phishing scams. Holiday offers are bound to be filling inboxes and popping up all over the Web, but with cyber exploits at an all time high, a little innocent shopping can put plenty of coal in a network's security stocking.

St. Bernard Software offers the following tips on how to avoid distracted workers from seeking bargains online and how to ensure perimeter protection from possible security risks:

1. Reaffirm the corporate Acceptable Use Policy. If companies do
       not allow personal shopping at work, a friendly reminder
       should help enforce the rules.

    2. Make sure there is an email filtering solution in place to
       block email phishing and spam from entering the organization
       and tempting workers.

    3. If an Internet filtering solution is installed, make sure it
       blocks connections to spyware, malware and phishing sites. To
       provide more flexibility, companies can use their solution to
       create a 'lunch hour' policy for employees to shop
       appropriately and safely.

    4. If an email or Internet filtering solutions in not place, ask
       the IT department if it is on their wish list this year.

"Online shopping is at an all time high this holiday season, and many organizations need to feel comfortable that they can provide employee Internet access, as long as there is an understanding of Acceptable Usage Policies and security awareness," said Steve Yin, VP of sales and marketing at St. Bernard Software. "Content filtering is becoming a 'must have' tool in order for companies to protect their network from security attacks, and ensure employee productivity remains high. St. Bernard Software is hoping to ease this pain for small-to-medium sized companies that don't necessarily have the budget or resource to install and maintain a costly, complex Web filtering solution."

St. Bernard Software's latest version of the iPrism dedicated Internet filtering appliance delivers perimeter protection from emerging Internet threats in HTTP, instant messaging and peer-to-peer traffic, including spyware, malware and phishing. iPrism's proprietary combination of hardware, OS and application makes iPrism a true appliance solution for Internet filtering and was judged to be the #1 Web Filtering appliance by IDC.

(a) Los Angeles Times (Comparison Sites Ease Bargain Hunts, November 28, 2005)

About St. Bernard Software

St. Bernard Software is a global provider of security solutions, including Internet and email filtering appliances, patch management and data backup. Deployed across millions of computers worldwide, the company's award-winning products deliver innovative security solutions that offer the best combination of ease-of-use, performance and value. Established in 1995 with headquarters in San Diego, CA and an international office in the United Kingdom, St. Bernard Software sells and supports its products directly and through partners, distributors and OEMs worldwide. For more information, please visit www.stbernard.com.

(C)2005 St. Bernard Software Inc. All rights reserved. The St. Bernard Software logo, and Open File Manager are trademarks of St. Bernard Software Inc. UpdateEXPERT, ePrism and iPrism are registered trademarks of St. Bernard Software Inc. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are hereby acknowledged.