SANTA MONICA, Calif., April 16 /PRNewswire/ -- CyberMedia, Inc. (Nasdaq: CYBR) announces its acquisition of Walk Softly, Inc., a leading provider of privacy and security technology based in Los Altos, CA. This is a move by CyberMedia to broaden the problem-fixing capabilities of its automatic service and support product line to include protection from Internet-borne security and privacy risks. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

CyberMedia will obtain complete rights to Walk Softly's assets and technology. All Walk Softly personnel will become CyberMedia employees and will operate in CyberMedia's recently-opened San Jose, CA facility. Walk Softly's President, Mark Carlson, will head the new business unit.

Walk Softly technology will first be incorporated in CyberMedia's upcoming "CyberWall" personal Internet security software product, announced today and slated for late summer 1997 release.

"Until recently, the only source of Internet-borne PC problems that most users knew of was viruses - clearly, this spurred the recent boom in anti- virus software sales," says CyberMedia President and CEO Unni Warrier. "But with the explosive use of Active-X and Java on the Internet, and the threats posed by hackers and pranksters, these problems are growing exponentially. The acquisition of Walk Softly lets CyberMedia significantly expand the range of PC problems that our products can solve, as well as positioning us for future growth in the Internet security arena."

"We're pleased to have the resources of one of the world's fastest-growing software companies to assist our market expansion and ongoing product development," said Walk Softly president Carlson. "By leveraging CyberMedia's incredible retail penetration and rapidly-expanding International presence, we will replicate the success CyberMedia achieved with First Aid and Oil Change."

Internet: New Source Of PC Problems
The founders of Walk Softly, through their focus on technologies to address security and privacy issues, have developed an innovative and proprietary security technology for detecting threats posed by Active-X and Java code. Its protective features will plug into CyberMedia's Internet-based ActiveHelp architecture and Oil Change(TM) automatic update technology to provide complete solutions that can be quickly updated as new threats emerge. The new team will work closely together with CyberMedia engineers to help this integration happen quickly and smoothly.

"Internet privacy and security are critical concerns for PC users worldwide. While corporate customers have access to 'firewalls' to protect against such threats, there is no such product available for individual PC users and small offices," said CyberMedia Chief Technology Officer Brad Kingsbury. "This acquisition strengthens our engineering team and lets CyberMedia take a leading role in developing an entirely new category of automatic service and support products."

CyberMedia's mission is to empower computer users to fix computer problems on their own, before they need to call technical support hotlines for help. It is the leading supplier of automatic service and support solutions for PC users; the company's ActiveHelp, product line includes First Aid(R), Oil Change(TM), Uninstaller(TM) and the Tech Support Yellow Pages.

CyberMedia products are distributed through more than 10,000 retail stores in the United States, including WalMart and CompUSA. They are also distributed internationally in Germany, Canada, Italy, France, Austria, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Australia. CyberMedia products are also available from OEM distribution partners, including AST, Sony, Fujitsu, Packard Bell-NEC and Phoenix Technologies. They are also available for sale on the Internet through leading online resellers as well as the CyberMedia web site, http://www.cybermedia.com.

Founded in 1991, CyberMedia employs more than 180, with company headquarters in Santa Monica, CA and offices in San Jose, CA.

For additional information contact CyberMedia, Inc., 3000 Ocean Park Boulevard, Santa Monica, CA 90405; phone (310) 581-4700; fax 310-581-4720; e- mail info@cybermedia.com or visit the CyberMedia web site at http://www.cybermedia.com.