Expert Patrick Sweeney Explains Security and Political Implications of VoIP and Video Network Control

SonicWALL, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNWL), a leading secure network infrastructure company, announced Patrick Sweeney, VP of Product Management and its resident expert on Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and video technologies, is available for comment about the threats associated with VoIP and video transmissions. He is also available to discuss the emerging requirements to control bandwidth and prioritize business critical applications as converged networks continue to grow. If interested, he can comment on the recent attempts by certain governments to control VoIP use.

The mainstream use of digital telephony by businesses is growing. Businesses large and now small are turning to VoIP and video to reduce expenses, simplify telephony administration, increase collaboration and improve productivity. Nevertheless, this switch also carries dangerous side effects. Because packet-based voice and video is only effective in real-time, quality of service (QoS) interruptions, hackers and--sometimes even political leaders -- can increase message latency, jitter, packet loss and echo that either makes the communication unintelligible or blocks it. Each day employees download large files such as streaming audio and video or collaborate using video conferencing making bandwidth prioritization critical for conducting business.

Sweeney is available to talk about the security and technical issues, as well as the political implications of these actions that can include:

    --  Denial of Service (DoS) attacks causing VoIP services to fail
    --  Directory Harvesting entailing hackers using brute force to search for
        VoIP on a network
    --  Eavesdropping using man in the middle attaches spoofing the MAC address
        of two users forcing the VoIP packets hackers force the packets to pass
        through their system for eavesdropping
    --  Registration Hijacking where hackers get the Session Initiation Protocol
        (SIP), disable a valid user's SIP registration, and substitute it
        with their IP address
    --  Spam over Internet Telephony (SPIT) produced by botnets using
        compromised systems to target millions of VoIP users.
    --  Vishing (Voice Phishing) seeking to make users disclose sensitive or
        personal information for identity theft

    --  Voice Service Theft involving unauthorized users who get access to a
        VoIP network

Recent examples of government intervention include: a coalition of government forces in Russia against the use of VoIP, South Korea's interference with VoIP transmissions and Costa Rica's objection to installing VoIP in the country.

Because of these emerging VoIP threats, an ideal solution delivers comprehensive protection against VoIP and video security threats, while providing the bandwidth and prioritization tools needed to optimize quality of service, says Sweeney..

    BIO:         SonicWALL Vice President, Product Management Patrick Sweeney
                 Patrick Sweeney is SonicWALL's Vice President, Product
                 Management for all SonicWALL Business Units. With more than
                 20 years of software development and product management
                 experience, his current focus at SonicWALL is developing
                 products that keep networks secure and wipe out the scourge
                 of spam and phishing from inboxes, digital telephony and
                 video everywhere.

    WHAT:        Sweeney is available to discuss packet manipulation trends in
                 VoIP and video technology and the potential political issues
                 spawned by hackers and dictators working together in
                 countries like China and Belize.

    RESOURCE:    Easily managed and highly cost-effective, SonicWALL Converged
                 Network Security solutions offer a high performance, multi-
                 layered security approach that also maintains quality of
                 service for time-sensitive voice and video applications.
                 Further, all VoIP traffic between third-party VoIP telephony
                 devices can be easily configured to traverse any SonicWALL
                 Secure Remote Access (SRA) solution.

                 To view the more information on SonicWALL's
                 VoIP solutions, go to:
                 http://www.sonicwall.com/downloads/SB__VoIP_US.pdf

About SonicWALL, Inc.

SonicWALL is committed to improving the performance and productivity of businesses of all sizes by engineering the cost and complexity out of running a secure network. Over one million SonicWALL appliances have been shipped through its global network of ten thousand channel partners to keep tens of millions of worldwide business computer users safe and in control of their data. SonicWALL's award-winning solutions include network security, secure remote access, content security, backup and recovery, and policy and management technology. For more information, visit the company web site at http://www.sonicwall.com/.

Safe Harbor Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements include but are not limited to statements regarding the benefits associated with SonicWALL's converged network solutions and the emerging threats in the VoIP market. These forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the time the statements are made and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements. In addition, please see the "Risk Factors" described in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008, for a more detailed description of the risks facing our business. All forward-looking statements included in this release are based upon information available to SonicWALL as of the date of the release, and we assume no obligation to update any such forward-looking statement.

NOTE: SonicWALL is a registered trademark of SonicWALL, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

SOURCE SonicWALL, Inc.

http://www.sonicwall.com

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