Companies May Get More Than Bargained for With Freeware and Shareware, Warns Websense Inc.; Freeware and Shareware Sites on the Web Jump More Than 300 Percent in 2001

Business Wire, Feb 14, 2002

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 14, 2002

People get what they pay for -- and in the case of employees downloading freeware applications -- sometimes more than they want.

Websense Inc. (Nasdaq:WBSN), the world's leading employee Internet management (EIM) software company, reports that the number of freeware and shareware sites on the Web has spiked 315 percent in the past year to more than 4,300 Web sites, representing nearly 1.3 million Web pages. Freeware sites distribute free software downloads, while shareware sites offer software on a free trial basis, often with a built-in expiration date.

For Internet-enabled organizations, this growth equates to big problems, as employees clutter corporate networks with unauthorized applications that waste both internal technical support resources and network bandwidth. IT managers -- who make an average of $76,000 per year, according to a recent InformationWeek study -- waste billions of dollars annually in their own lost productivity responding to freeware and shareware inquiries.

In addition, most freeware and shareware downloads are accompanied by advertising software called "adware" or "spyware" -- or worse, viruses and Trojan horses. Once installed on office computers, adware tracks and reports information about employee surfing habits to marketers. This often results in excess marketing spam directed at companies and can mean more distractions aimed at employees and wasted bandwidth. In severe cases, popular file-sharing downloads Limewire and Grokster recently were found to carry Trojan horse software that took over parts of a user's computer unseen to carry out its own instructions.

"It's rare to get something for nothing, and unfortunately, in the case of freeware downloaded onto corporate machines, businesses lose out," said Frank Gillman, director of technology for Allen Matkins, a leading Los Angeles-based law firm. "Spyware is the dirty little secret surrounding freeware -- and there's no need for corporations or employees to be victims. That's why we use Websense EIM software to prevent access to those sites that offer freeware and shareware downloads."

In addition to reporting employee surfing habits and issuing distracting ads back to workers, many adware applications can access and disclose any data entering or exiting a computer, compromising corporate data security. The stealth software often wastes corporate bandwidth and resources by using an employee's back-channel Web connection to continuously send and receive information, reports Gibson Research.

"The growth of freeware and shareware download sites can make corporations highly vulnerable to internal security breaches and wasted resources, in a time when corporate security is of the utmost concern," said Andy Meyer, vice president of marketing for Websense Inc. "And because 48 percent of Internet users downloaded computer software in the past year, companies can't afford not to manage employee access to free download sites."

Websense Enterprise EIM software enables businesses to flexibly manage how their employees use the Internet. To solve the growing problem of unauthorized freeware and shareware, Websense created Premium Group I (PGI). PGI consists of additional database categories -- including message boards and clubs, advertisements, freeware/shareware downloads, pay-to-surf and instant messaging -- and can be installed into Websense Enterprise software to conserve more network bandwidth.

About Websense Inc.

Websense Inc. (Nasdaq:WBSN) is the worldwide leader of employee Internet management (EIM) solutions. Websense Enterprise software enables businesses to manage how their employees use the Internet. This supports an organization's efforts to improve employee productivity, conserve network bandwidth and storage costs, and mitigate legal liability. Founded in 1994, the company serves more than 15,000 customers worldwide, ranging in size from 100-person firms to global-sized corporations. These include 255 of the Fortune 500, 85 of the Nikkei 225 and 46 of the FTSE 100, encompassing more than 9.6 million customer seats, pre-paid on a subscription basis.

Websense is listed on the year 2001 Software 500 ranking and has been honored by the Deloitte & Touche "Technology Fast 50" program. The company also has strategic technology relationships with CacheFlow (Nasdaq:CFLO), Check Point (Nasdaq:CHKP), Cisco (Nasdaq:CSCO), Inktomi, Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT), Network Appliance (Nasdaq:NTAP) and others. For more information, visit www.websense.com.

Except for the historical information contained herein, this press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements containing the words "planned," "expects," "believes," "strategy," "opportunity," "anticipates" and similar words. Such forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties or other factors that may cause the company's actual results to be materially different from historical results or any results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances arising after the date hereof. The potential risks and uncertainties which could cause actual growth and results to differ materially include but are not limited to, customer acceptance of the company's services, products and fee structures, the success of the company's brand development efforts, the volatile and competitive nature of the Internet industry, and changes in domestic and international market conditions, and foreign exchange rates. Further information on the factors and risks that could affect Websense's business, financial condition and results of operations are included under the "Risk Factors" or "Factors Affecting our Operating Results" sections of Websense's public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, available at (http://www.sec.gov).