BEWARE: REFUNDS MAY TAX YOUR NETWORK AND PRODUCTIVITY

For Release on Monday, August 6

For More Information:
Marcie Kennedy/Megan Flynn
Elron Software
781/993-6091, 781/993-6316
mkennedy@elronsw.com
mflynn@elronsw.com

Productivity and Network Congestion Could Become An Issue As Workers Spend Their Refunds Online

Burlington, Mass - July 06, 2001 - As American taxpayers start to receive their refund checks in the mail, retailers are enticing them with ways to spend their newly found money. Online retailers like Home Depot, Target and Wal-Mart offer customers free check cashing and no payment plans until they receive the check. Even MSN.com has a list of items priced at or below the $300 amount most Americans will receive by fall. All these great offers, combined with the usual back to school frenzy, may send American workers to the Web to take advantage of comparison shopping and online bargains. Although most employers agree that moderate surfing and shopping should be allowed in the workplace, Elron Software alerts organizations that this increase in traffic could tie up legitimate business.

“Everyone’s looking forward to getting their tax refund check in the mail. Retailers are trying to emerge from their sales slumps by offering customers some great deals, but this can prove problematic for companies who spend invest significant budget dollars providing Internet access” said Ray Boelig, CEO and president of Elron Software. “To minimize the risks, organizations should develop a policy outlining acceptable usage and enforce it with software. We find most employees agree with filtering as long as communicated upfront and an acceptable use policy is put in place,” said Ray Boelig, CEO and president of Elron Software.

During this tax return and back to school season, customers of IM Web Inspector have many options to control traffic, boost productivity and minimize the legal liability associated with unmonitored Internet usage. Organizations may choose to monitor their employees’ Internet access by choosing from a variety of pre-configured reports including “Top Ten sites visited” and “Access by time of Day”. Unlike other solutions that depend on continual and expensive block list updates, IM Web Inspector`s exclusive SmartList™ technology verifies "suspect" sites based on actual Web page content. From there, depending on the company’s Internet Usage Policy, they may choose to block access to sites deemed inappropriate. As validated in a recent five star review from SC Magazine, IM Web Inspector is flexible enough to adapt to an organization’s individual needs.

ABOUT ELRON SOFTWARE, INC.

Elron Software provides a comprehensive Internet Policy Management (IPM) solution that enables organizations to enhance the productive use of their Internet connections while limiting the risks associated with connecting their internal networks to the Internet. The Internet Manager product family consists of IM Message Inspector, IM Web Inspector, IM Firewall and IM Anti-Virus. Elron Software has licensed its products to over 3,500 organizations and government entities. With worldwide headquarters in Burlington, Massachusetts, Elron Software is a private company whose investors include Elron Electronic Industries (Nasdaq: ELRN) and Critical Path (Nasdaq:CPTH). For more information, please visit www.internetmanager.com.

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