Sobig.F and Blaster Worms Underscore the Importance of Virus Protection for E-Mail Lists

Helsinki, Finland - October 21, 2003

Santa Clara, CA -ISPCON Conference - (October 21, 2003) – L-Soft develops and sells software and outsourcing services for managing e-mail newsletters, discussion groups and marketing campaigns and since the integration of F-Secure’s Antivirus technology into L-Soft’s LISTSERV® product line in 2001, billions of LISTSERV® messages have been safely sent virus-free. August 2003 marked an unprecedented rise in viruses, with both the Sobig.F. and Blaster worms crippling online activity throughout the world.

"In August, we saw the worst virus week in history with major virus outbreaks as well as some completely new techniques and motives behind viruses and their propagation. Hundreds of millions of computer users suffered from network problems, slow computers and overflowing spam e-mails", said Mikko Hyppönen, Director of Antivirus Research at F-Secure Corporation. "It is not just school boys who write them anymore, but more often organized criminals behind these incidents. It is therefore extremely important that every device and connection is properly secured." "Sobig finally convinced the rest of the management it was time to upgrade to LISTSERV 1.8e," said Glenn Darwin, Information Technology Manager at National Corvette Museum, which runs 48 lists about Corvette-related topics with approximately 27,000 subscribers and 33,000 daily messages. "I installed it and the anti-virus software. It works like a charm."

The number of viruses stopped by the Antivirus feature on one of L-Soft’s servers is listed below. The numbers compare the month of August to the largest month of virus attacks in the 6 months previous to that, which was June.

PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM
The Peach server node hosts both discussion and announcement lists for all types of organizations. It has around 1.5 million list subscriptions.

June
2,553 - viruses found - the number of messages found infected by a virus.
60,364,617 - viruses stopped - the number of subscribers that would have received the message with the virus.

August
108,418 - viruses found - the number of messages found infected by a virus.
2,647,370,398 - viruses stopped - the number of subscribers that would have received the message with the virus.

More information about LISTSERV virus protection:
http://www.lsoft.se/products/default.asp?item=secured-by-FS

About L-Soft
L-Soft develops and sells software and outsourcing services for managing e-mail newsletters, discussion groups and marketing campaigns. Founded in 1994, L-Soft has been instrumental in the proliferation of e-mail marketing thanks to the popularity of its flagship software, LISTSERV®. Since then, L-Soft has expanded its portfolio of products and services to include e-mail delivery, outsourcing and consulting services. Recognized in 2003 as Maryland's 37th fastest-growing technology company by Deloitte & Touche, L-Soft’s products deliver about 35 million messages a day to more than 130 million list subscriptions. The company serves approximately 3,000 clients worldwide, including Microsoft, IBM, The New York Times, AOL-Time Warner/CNN, Dow Jones/The Wall Street Journal, The United Nations, the U.S. Senate and Harvard University.

For more information visit http://www.lsoft.com or contact L-Soft via e-mail at: info@lsoft.com or call +1-800-399-5449 or +1 (301) 731-0440.

About F-Secure Corporation
F-Secure Corporation is the leading provider of centrally managed security solutions for the mobile enterprise. The company's award-winning products include antivirus, file encryption and network security solutions for major platforms from desktops to servers and from laptops to handhelds. Founded in 1988, F-Secure has been listed on the Helsinki Exchanges [HEX: FSC] since November 1999. The company is headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, with the North American headquarters in San Jose, California, as well as offices in Germany, Sweden, Japan and the United Kingdom and regional offices in the USA. F-Secure is supported by a network of value added resellers and distributors in over 90 countries around the globe. Through licensing and distribution agreements, the company’s security applications are available for the products of the leading handheld equipment manufacturers, such as Nokia and HP.

More information for Service Providers:
http://www.F-Secure.com/solutions/sp.shtml

Reference customer list (Europe):
http://www.f-secure.com/products/pex/sp-list.shtml

Additional information about F-Secure may be found at www.F-Secure.com or by calling +1 408.938.6700.

Press contacts in the USA:

Melissa Hill, L-Soft				
tel. +1 301.731.0440
pressinfo@lsoft.com

Heather Deem, F-Secure Inc.	
tel. +1 408.350.2178	
Heather.Deem@F-Secure.com