The Beagle that Stole Christmas: Mega-Attack Leaves 85% of Global
Mailboxes Unprotected during Holiday Weekend

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 28, 2005--Commtouch(R)
(NASDAQ:CTCH):


-- Beagle multi-wave virus attack had 9 variants, spread over 72 hours

-- None of the leading Anti Virus vendors were able to detect all 9
variants in time, leaving 85% of global users unprotected

Commtouch(R) (NASDAQ:CTCH), the developer of ground-breaking RPD(TM)
technology for real time anti-spam and Zero-Hour(TM) virus protection,
announced today that a multi-variant Beagle attack left 85% of global
users unprotected during the holiday weekend. The top-intensity virus
attack, which had 9 variants spread over the course of 72 hours, was
the most significant Malware attack recorded by the Commtouch
Detection Center in recent months.

Deliberate Planning, Precise Execution

The Beagle multi-wave virus attack began on Wednesday December 21st,
and continued to be mass-distributed, in wave after wave, throughout
the holiday weekend. "During the course of the year, we had seen virus
attacks with up to five variants, and in November many users were
affected by the Sober virus--but nothing prepared people for this
Beagle attack, which had no less than nine fast-distribution
variants," said Oren Drori, Director of Product Marketing at
Commtouch.

"The intensity and speed of this attack are cause enough for concern.
But what is more significant is the virus attack's sophistication. The
nine variants were carefully designed, so that at least one would
escape detection from each of the major AV vendors. It is this kind of
deliberate planning and precise execution that the AV community must
learn to overcome," added Drori.

Variants Escape Major Anti Virus Vendors: 85% of Global Users Unprotected

Since at least one of the variants was able to escape detection by
each of the major AV vendors, subscribers to these leading services
were unprotected during the course of the attack. This means that
about 85% of email users around the world were left without protection
from the attack--until after the entire series of variants had
completed its course and it was too late.

"The damage is difficult to evaluate at this point," said Drori. "The
viruses may be implanted in millions of host PCs, only to be activated
at a certain moment. For example, two of the variants are mass-mailing
worms, which are used for spam/viruses distribution. In addition they
open a dangerous back-door on the compromised computer which could be
abused later."

About Commtouch

Commtouch Software Ltd. (NASDAQ:CTCH) is dedicated to protecting and
preserving the integrity of the world's most important communications
tool - email. Commtouch has 14 years of experience developing
messaging software, and is a global developer and provider of
proprietary anti-spam and Zero-Hour virus protection solutions. Using
core technologies including RPD Recurrent Pattern Detection, the
Commtouch Detection Center analyzes billions of email messages per
month to identify new spam and malware outbreaks within minutes of
their introduction into the Internet. Integrated by over 30 OEM
partners, Commtouch technology protects thousands of organizations,
with 35 million users in 130 countries. Commtouch is headquartered in
Netanya, Israel and has a subsidiary in Mountain View, CA. For more
information, see: www.commtouch.com.

Check the Commtouch online lab for further information, spam
statistics and charts.

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 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; fewer than expected license agreements
resulting from Commtouch's exclusive rights to market DCC; competitive
factors including pricing pressures; technological developments, and
products offered by competitors; the ability of our OEM partners to
successfully penetrate markets with products integrated with Commtouch
technology; a slower than expected acceptance rate for real time AV
solutions in general and the Commtouch Zero-Hour(TM) Virus Protection
product in particular; availability of qualified staff for expansion;
technological difficulties and resource constraints encountered in
developing new products, such as the Zero-Hour solution; and the
failure of Commtouch to meet The NASDAQ Capital Market's listing
standards in the future, as well as those risks described in the text
of this press release and the company's Annual Reports on Form 20-F
and reports on Form 6-K, which are available through www.sec.gov.

Recurrent Pattern Detection, RPD and Zero-Hour are trademarks, and
Commtouch is a registered trademark, of Commtouch Software Ltd. U.S.
Patent No. 6,330,590 is owned by Commtouch.