Commtouch Names Brian Briggs as Chief Financial Officer

MCLEAN, Virginia, December 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Commtouch^® (NASDAQ: CTCH), a leading provider of Internet security technology and cloud-based services, today announced that Brian D. Briggs will replace outgoing CFO Ron Ela as of January 1, 2013.

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Briggs will join Commtouch after serving as executive vice president and CFO at SecureNet Payment Systems, a payment processing technology provider. He brings more than 22 years of finance and operations experience, offering extensive expertise in profitability building in both public and private equity sectors, including leading an IPO and over four years of successfully serving as CFO of a publicly traded company. Prior to his post at SecureNet, Briggs served in various management roles at Custom Direct , Ashton-Potter, Ithaca Bancorp (now M&T Bank), and Ernst & Young.

Briggs earned a degree in finance and economics from Cornell University and completed executive education programs at Harvard Business School, The Wharton School, Stanford Graduate School of Business and Johnson School of Business - Cornell.

With a focus on operational excellence and strategic planning, Briggs will lead Commtouch's finance, accounting, investor relations and regulatory compliance functions. His role is integral in furthering Commtouch's growth through the delivery of private label cloud-based security solutions specifically designed for OEM and service provider markets.

"I am extremely pleased to announce the appointment of Brian Briggs as Chief Financial Officer," said Shlomi Yanai, CEO at Commtouch. "As we continue our focus on our OEM business and the private labeling of cloud-based Security-as-a-Service solutions, ensuring strong leadership within our senior management team is key. With experience serving as a CFO of a publicly traded company, Brian brings the finance and operations background we need as we build upon our business. I welcome Brian to the Commtouch team."

"I believe Commtouch is uniquely positioned for sustained growth, and I am honored to become part of its senior management team," Briggs said. "The company continues to leverage its powerful technology and extensive network of partners and customers.  In taking the role of CFO, I look forward to helping lead Commtouch's strategic planning to ensure the ongoing success of its acquisitions, R&D and greatly expanded go-to-market strategies."

About Commtouch

Commtouch^® (NASDAQ: CTCH) is a leading provider of Internet security technology and cloud-based services for vendors and service providers, increasing the value and profitability of our customers' solutions by protecting billions of Internet transactions on a daily basis. With six global data centers and award-winning, patented technology, Commtouch's email, Web, and  antivirus capabilities easily integrate into our customers' products and solutions, keeping more than 350 million end users safe. To learn more, visit http://www.commtouch.com.

• Blog: http://blog.commtouch.com/cafe
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/commtouch
• LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/commtouch
• Twitter: @Commtouch

Recurrent Pattern Detection, RPD, Zero-Hour and GlobalView are trademarks, and Commtouch is a registered trademark of Commtouch. U.S. Patent No. 6,330,590 is owned by Commtouch.  All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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; 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 our newer product offerings; availability of qualified staff; and technological difficulties and resource constraints encountered in developing new products,  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  http://www.sec.gov.

Company Contact:
Ron Ela, Chief Financial Officer
Commtouch
(US) +1-650-864-2291 (Int'l) +972-9-8636813
ron.ela @commtouch.com

U.S. Investor Contact:
Christopher Chu
Grayling
+1-646-284-9400
[email protected]

Israel Investor Relations Contact:
Iris Lubitch
EffectiveIR
+972-54-252-8007
[email protected]

Commtouch Media Contact:
Matthew Zintel
Zintel Public Relations
+1-281-444-1590
[email protected]

SOURCE Commtouch