Press Release

FaceTime Launches IMPact Index, Alerts and Center to Track the Frequency and Severity of Threats

FaceTime's IM and P2P Activity (IMPact) Strategy, in Collaboration with Leading Security Vendors and Network Providers Allows Enterprises to Plan Against Attacks

FOSTER CITY, CALIF - April 11, 2005 - FaceTime Communications today announced that its FaceTime IM and P2P Activity ("IMPact") Center is expanding its scope to address the over 400% rise of Instant Messaging and Peer-to-peer threats with the introduction of the IMPact Index, IMPact Alerts and the online IMPact Center. The IMPact Index will allow IT and security managers to get an aggregated, point-in-time snapshot of the threat level from IM and P2P borne malware and take action accordingly. The FaceTime IMPact Index reports today's threat level at 3.

The IMPact Index is a single metric (number), ranging from 1 to 9, that enables security and messaging professionals to quickly and easily assess the risk level posed by viruses, worms and other malware propagating through real-time communication channels like IM, P2P, IRC, etc. An IMPact Index of 1 indicates that there are a few, low risk threats in the environment whereas an IMPact Index of 9 indicates the presence of several high risk threats. When Index levels are at or above 7, network security managers are advised to take immediate action to protect their networks.

The IMPact Index, produced by FaceTime's IMPact Center with contributions from strategic partners, is an automated and manual research effort focused on emerging threats borne by IM and P2P networks. In addition, FaceTime distributes the IMPact Alert, an e-mail notification system which communicates details of IM and P2P borne viruses and worms to subscribers.

"All of the information on the outbreaks of viruses, trojans and other security threats are a bit overwhelming," said Kailash Ambwani, president and CEO of FaceTime Communications. "The IMPact Index is a collection of inputs to help network managers understand when there is a need to take immediate action."

The IMPact Center conducts research to identify emerging threats and then offers rapid response through IMPact Alerts and remediation strategies to counter these exploits. Key IMPact research areas include:

The propagation of viruses, trojans and worms over IM and P2P networks
Emerging strategies and tactics used by SPIMmers (spam over IM networks)
The tracking of IM and P2P clients, protocols, client variations and application behavior
Best practices for corporate and regulatory compliance of IM and P2P

"With the most widely used IM network in business today, America Online is pleased to support FaceTime's IMPact Index and its research into emerging threats on instant messaging networks. AOL is taking strong steps to control IM spam and malware propagated over instant messaging networks," said Brian Curry, vice president, AOL Premium and Subscription Services, America Online, Inc.

"Reuters Messaging (RM) is a leading, secure, financial market instant messaging network. Reuters recognizes that its customers need reliable capabilities to communicate proprietary information; therefore we take pride in the levels of security and controls applied to RM. We strongly support research initiatives like FaceTime's IMPact Center that can help identify and remediate emerging threats and risks potentially transmitted over uncontrolled IM and P2P networks," said David Gurle, EVP Global Head of Collaboration Services at Reuters.

"IM and P2P represent new propagation vectors for malware, IM spam, adware and spyware today. We encourage FaceTime's IMPact research initiative focused in the area of these new emerging threats," said Enrique Salem, Senior Vice President, Security Products and Solutions for Symantec.

"IM and P2P have created significant and growing threats for enterprises," said Michael Osterman of Osterman Research. "FaceTime's leading security solutions for real-time communications, coupled with their extensive research organization to deliver the IMPact Index, IMPact Alert and IMPact Center are significant steps forward in preventing the malicious threats that can expose enterprises to enormous liability."

FaceTime conducts this research from its labs in Foster City, Calif. and Bangalore, India, with a team of researchers in each location. To access FaceTime's IMPact Index, please visit: www.facetime.com/impactcenter.

View more partner support for FaceTime's Impact Index

About FaceTime Communications
FaceTime Communications enables the safe and productive use of instant messaging, Web usage and Unified Communications platforms. Ranked number one by IDC for four consecutive years, FaceTime's award-winning solutions are used by more than 900 customers – including nine of the 10 largest U.S. banks – for security, management and compliance of real-time communications. FaceTime supports or has strategic partnerships with all leading public and enterprise IM network providers, including AOL, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Skype, IBM and Jabber.

FaceTime is headquartered in Belmont, California. For more information visit http://www.facetime.com or call 888-349-FACE. The FaceForward blog, at http://blog.facetime.com, offers thoughts and opinions about the changing nature of Internet communications.

PR Contact:

Emily Chamberlin
650-762-2945
echamberlin@ar-edelman.com