Commtouch Achieves Highest Ratings in Survey by Osterman Research; A Winning Combination: Near-Perfect Accuracy and 97% Spam Capture Rate

Business Wire, Nov 3, 2004

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Commtouch(R) (NASDAQ:CTCHC), the innovator of anti-spam solutions featuring Recurrent Pattern Detection (RPD)(TM) technology, today announced its anti-spam solution was the overall top-accuracy winner in an evaluation by Osterman Research. The evaluation included 23 leading anti-spam products, which had been rated by leading independent testing laboratories in 2004.

Commtouch did extremely well in both of the categories surveyed: spam catch rate and accuracy. The company achieved near-perfect reliability against false positives, together with exceptionally high catch rates of 97% based on independent analysis of the product.

Landslide Accuracy Winner; No Loss in Effectiveness

Commtouch's accuracy level is more than 100 times better than any other product evaluated in the analysis. With an accuracy rate of 99.996%, Commtouch erroneously blocked only one in 27,900 messages in the text discussed in the report. "Only by having unacceptable false positive rates of 1% or more did other companies reach catch rates comparable to Commtouch's. Taken together, these results mean that Commtouch has avoided the vicious tradeoff between accuracy and effectiveness," says Michael Osterman, Founder and CEO of Osterman Research Inc.

False Positives: Even More Serious than Spam Infiltration

The Osterman Research study states that, "False positives are an even more critical problem than spam capture efficiency. A valid email that is mistakenly identified as spam can have substantially more dire consequences than simply receiving too much spam. For example, a sales inquiry from a new prospect that is mistakenly identified as spam and remains in quarantine until it is discovered days after it is sent can have serious ramifications for an enterprise. Osterman Research has found that for three out of five enterprises that have deployed anti-spam capabilities, spam capture efficiency is either static or is getting worse"

25 Million End-Users Worldwide

"The results presented in this report help explain Commtouch's growing global reach in protecting organizations from all type of spam. More than 25 million users worldwide rely on Commtouch for anti-spam protection, and our installed base is expanding each month," said Oren Drori, director of product marketing at Commtouch.

An Independent Evaluation

The Osterman evaluation, "Comparative Analysis of Anti-Spam Solutions," provides an objective assessment of 23 leading anti-spam solutions. Using recent test data from a broad range of independent testing laboratories, the study used the best results for each vendor. Osterman Research is one of the leading analyst firms in the messaging market. The report is available at http://www.ostermanresearch.com/whitepapers/download11.htm or at http://www.commtouch.com/analysts_and_publications.shtml

Commtouch Technology

Many traditional anti-spam solutions work by comparing incoming messages to multiple profiles of "typical" spam, categorizing as spam those messages that resemble spam, not because they are proven to be spam. Some existing methods are very sophisticated in categorizing spam/non-spam, but a certain element of guesswork is always involved.

"Commtouch technology is revolutionary in that it eliminates the guesswork from anti-spam solutions," says Drori. The company's Recurrent-Pattern Detection technology detects distribution patterns in spam attacks by proactively probing the Internet. RPD(TM) identifies each new spam outbreak as it emerges, and blocks messages associated with it. Only messages that have been positively determined - not just assumed - to be spam are flagged. That is how Commtouch almost never blocks a legitimate email."

About Commtouch

Commtouch Software Ltd. (NASDAQ:CTCHC) is a global developer and provider of proprietary anti-spam solutions, with an installed base of over 25 million users worldwide. Commtouch's mission is to protect and preserve the integrity of the world's most important communications tool - email. The company's solutions, based on RPD(TM) - Recurrent Pattern Detection, reflect Commtouch's 13 years of experience developing messaging software. Commtouch's patented technologies are offered for OEM integration, and are also available as end-to-end enterprise solutions 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 non-occurrence of any of the company's proposed transactions; the failure of the company to consummate the transactions within the timeframe required by Nasdaq, or to otherwise fail to satisfy the conditions imposed by the Panel for the continued listing of Commtouch shares on The Nasdaq Small Cap Market; the acceleration of the payment date of convertible notes due to a delisting by Nasdaq; 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; availability of qualified staff for expansion; and technological difficulties and resource constraints encountered in developing new products 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.