Blue Coat Stops IM ‘Buddylinks’ Spim

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Feb. 13, 2004 — Blue Coatâ„? Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: BCSI) today announced that its ProxySGâ„? appliances safeguard enterprise networks from the recently discovered “BuddyLinks” adware application. This recently discovered form of instant messaging adware, or spIM, disrupts business productivity, and serves as a “proof-of-concept” for future instant messaging threats.

Symptoms
An unwanted adware application is propagating through the AOL Instant Messenger community. The adware can be executed when users visit the www.wgutv.com or download.buddylinks.net Web sites, or receives a message from an AIM buddy with the content “Check this out: [URL]”. When the user clicks on the link within the instant message, a Web browser is directed to a Web site with a download prompt. If the download is accepted, software is downloaded which sends the same message to the entire AIM buddy list. Variants of the URL exist, although the site from which the actual software is downloaded is consistent.

Solution
Blue Coat proxy appliances are ideally suited to address and stop Web-based adware from impacting the network and business productivity. There are two parts to this solution:
Blocking the download of the offending software – If you are running Blue Coat’s ProxySG the easiest solution is to simply block the download of the software that performs the propagation of the IM message.

Blocking the propagation of the AIM message – If you are running Blue Coat’s ProxySG appliance and are using the IM Control feature, you can simply configure a rule that will recognize the signature of the URLs in question and prevent the IM message from being propagated to other users. The Blue Coat IM Control feature makes public instant messaging business-ready by applying method-level controls and content filtering. Blue Coat recommends that customers visit http://www.bluecoat.com/support/self-service/2/aim_buddylinks.html for more instructions on configuring its ProxySG appliances. Those interested in learning more about the benefits of proxy appliances should also visit http://www.bluecoat.com for more information.

About Blue Coat Systems
Blue Coat enables organizations to keep “good” employees from doing “bad” things on the Internet. Blue Coat wire-speed proxy appliances provide visibility and control of Web communications to address today’s new business risks — such as inappropriate Web surfing, viruses brought in via back door channels such as instant messaging and Web-based email, and network resource abuse due to peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing and video streaming. Trusted by many of the world’s most influential organizations, Blue Coat has shipped more than 18,000 proxy appliances. Blue Coat is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and can be reached at (408) 220-2200 or www.bluecoat.com.

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FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: The statements contained in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements, including statements regarding Blue Coat Systems’ expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future, including expectations about revenue growth and operating performance. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are based upon information available to Blue Coat Systems as of the date hereof, and Blue Coat Systems assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. These and other risks relating to Blue Coat Systems’ business are set forth in Blue Coat Systems’ most recently filed Form 10-Q for the quarter ended October 31, 2003, and other reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.