SAN JOSE, Calif., February 7, 2002 - Cisco Systems Inc. announced today that it is one of the member companies supporting the National Cyber Security Alliance's Stay Safe Online campaign to educate home and small business computer users on critical elements of cyber security.

The Alliance is a new partnership of government organizations and businesses from various industries aligned with the common goal of educating Americans on the need for computer security as an aspect of homeland defense. Alliance efforts include national computer security awareness days coinciding with the days Americans change their clocks; a new web site, www.staysafeonline.info; audio technical discussions with security experts; and public service announcements.

The Alliance is calling on all American citizens to be vigilant in their efforts to deploy sophisticated security measures to protect home and small business computer systems and networks, and to work together to spread the message on cyber security.

"Millions of dollars are lost as a result of cyber attacks each year, but consumers, corporate teleworkers and small businesses should know that even if they have limited knowledge of technology, they can still take steps to insure that their computers and networks can not be used to launch attacks against others across the Internet," said Ken Watson, Manager, Critical Infrastructure Assurance Group at Cisco. "As a member of the National Cyber Security Alliance, Cisco Systems supports this cooperative effort between the public and private sectors to improve cyber security for home and small business systems."