FOSTER CITY, Calif., March 7, 2005 -- Furthering its leadership as the premier provider of solutions that secure, manage, and extend instant messaging (IM) and peer-to-peer (P2P) applications, FaceTime Communications today provided details of the only effective technology architecture available to control spIM (IM spam). SpIM's potential to wreak havoc on enterprise networks and worker productivity is reaching alarming levels driven in part by recent interoperability advances between the public networks.

Greater public IM network cooperation promises to foster real-time collaborative environments like never before. However, these recent inroads also present spimmers with a large and convenient target against which to wage their attacks. IM networks are primed for spIM because they provide a vast, instantly reachable audience, lack anti-spIM controls, and follow standardized buddy-name conventions similar to e-mail that make it easier for spimmers to spoof names.

This reality is evidenced by the growing frequency, sophistication and insidiousness of recent spIM attacks. A recent Pew Internet & American Life survey found that a third of all IM users have received spIM. While the current volume of spIM pales in comparison to spam, it's expected to grow dramatically over the next few years. And even at low volumes, spIM's potential repercussions on the network and user productivity are far greater than spam because:

-- While spam is stored in an e-mail folder until viewed, spIM is viewed immediately. Worker productivity is instantly disrupted and, just as instantly, data at the network and desktop levels can be compromised.

-- Workers aren't trained to question suspicious instant messages. One effective form of spIM uses buddy lists to move from computer to computer. It is effective because messages that appear to come from a buddy are automatically trusted.

-- Few enterprises have a dedicated spIM control system in place.

"Spimmers are getting better at infiltrating IM networks," said Jonathan Christensen, CTO and VP of Products at FaceTime. "Enterprises must get proactive about securing their networks against such attacks by implementing FaceTime Enterprise Edition or be prepared to pay the consequences."

FaceTime Enterprise Edition with its multi-layered anti-spIM architectural approach is the only product that effectively thwarts all forms of spIM. It includes:

-- Patent-pending Challenge-Response Mechanism: Social BOT (automatic "robot" messages that simulate human messages) blocking. Only FaceTime blocks this common form of spIM by confirming a human is on the sending end.

-- White List/Black List Capability: Automatically updated black lists to block known spimmers as well as the option to leverage white lists that only allow the receipt of messages from known senders.

-- Real-Time Content Filtering: Sophisticated content filtering that can be set to intercept messages that contain adult material, known spimmer phrases, URL links and other content.

-- Proxy Architecture: Delivering consistent anti-spIM blocking across all PIM and EIM networks.

About FaceTime Communications

Founded in 1998, FaceTime Communications is the leading provider of security and management solutions that address network and information security and regulatory and corporate compliance for IM, P2P and other real-time communications. FaceTime's award-winning solutions are used by over 500 customers, with over 50 percent of the largest global 100 financial institutions, including seven of the eight largest U.S. banks. Hundreds of customers worldwide, including Chicago Stock Exchange, Dominion Energy, NCR, Southern Company, Standard Bank London, Thomas Weisel Partners, USAS Technologies and Wachovia Securities among others rely on FaceTime solutions. FaceTime has strategic partnerships with all leading public and private IM network providers, including AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo!, IBM, Bloomberg, Jabber and Reuters.

FaceTime is headquartered in Foster City, California. For more information visit http://www.facetime.com or call 888-349-FACE.

NOTE: FaceTime is a registered trademark of FaceTime Communications, Inc. The FaceTime logo, IM Auditor, IM Director, RTGuardian, RTG, RTMatrix, and RTMonitor are trademarks of FaceTime Communications Inc. All other trademarks are the intellectual property of their respective owners.

Jon Lavietes
MSR Communications
+1-415-447-6115
jon@msrcommunications.com