SEATTLE, WA. —October 7, 2002 — Misuse of the Internet by employees is an issue of increasing concern for U.S. companies. In a recent survey conducted by N2H2 at the Human Resource Technology conference, 69 percent of respondents questioned about Internet abuse expressed concern over employees spending too much time on the Internet for non-work related activity.  In addition, 79 percent of respondents acknowledged their company has experienced cases of Internet abuse in their office.

Lost productivity and potential sexual harassment claims can cost companies thousands of dollars. But many corporations are unaware of the costs they are incurring due to inappropriate use of the Internet by employees, or they do not know how to assess the problem within their walls. According to industry analyst group IDC, 30 to 40 percent of employee Internet use is not work related.

"Employers need to take seriously the potential for liability and productivity problems that can result from Internet misuse in the workplace." said Dr. Kimberly S. Young, Executive Director of the Center for On-Line Addiction. "We are now even seeing employees seeking to file claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act for Internet addiction.  Filtering or monitoring software can be an important part of a solution by management, as well as a use policy and Internet abuse awareness training."

An important first step is for employers to detect misuse of the Internet. N2H2, Inc. (OTCBB: NTWO.OB), a global Internet content filtering company that provides software that helps organizations prevent Internet misuse, is offering a free Web use audit to companies wishing to assess employee Internet use.  With no disruption to their employees' Internet experience, organizations can identify potential liability or productivity issues. By installing N2H2’s Sentian software and performing a Web use audit (WUA) companies will be able to quickly and confidentially produce detailed reports about exactly where employees are going on the Internet during the workday. This Web use audit is available at no charge for a 30 day trial (http://n2h2.com/products/sentian.php?os=audit)

By using N2H2’s Sentian software to perform a Web use audit, a manager can easily analyze several days or weeks of employee Internet usage by department, workstation, or individual user.  N2H2 produces reports that detail the amount of time users spend visiting Websites that fall into productivity-related categories such as "news", "sports," "shopping," and "chat," and liability-related categories such as "pornography", "illegal", "hate/discrimination", and "gambling."  Sentian also generates charts, graphs and reports that are exportable into most standard formats.

"With an N2H2 Web use audit, a company can quickly pinpoint inappropriate Internet activity before it becomes a costly personnel issue," said Philip Welt, president and CEO of N2H2.  "For companies that discover they have potential problems, N2H2's line of Sentian filtering and monitoring products can be powerful tools in curbing Internet abuse."

About N2H2
N2H2 is a global Internet content filtering company. N2H2 software helps customers control, manage and understand their Internet use by filtering Web content, monitoring Internet access and delivering concise reports on user activity. These safeguards enable organizations of any size to limit potential legal liability, increase user productivity and optimize network bandwidth.

N2H2's Bess and Sentian product lines are powered by N2H2's premium-quality filtering database - a list consistently recognized by independent and respected third-parties as the most effective in the industry. Based in Seattle, WA and serving millions of users worldwide, N2H2's software products are Cisco Verified, Microsoft Gold Certified and

Check Point OPSEC compliant and are available for major platforms and devices. Additional information is available at http://www.n2h2.com or 206-336-1501 or 800-971-2622.

###