Tumbleweed Press Releases
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Deploys Tumbleweed's Email Firewall To Help Meet HIPAA Standards
Comprehensive Email Encryption Capabilities Help Health Insurer Safeguard the Privacy of Member Health Information
Redwood City, CA - December 1, 2003 - Tumbleweed® Communications Corp.(Nasdaq:TMWD), a leading provider of mission-critical communication solutions for enterprises, financial services, healthcare and government, announced today that Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) has selected and implemented the Tumbleweed MMS™ email firewall as its solution for encrypting email communications containing personal medical information of members. Tumbleweed has more than 100 healthcare customers, including 22 Blue Cross Blue Shield organizations.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina is committed to delivering innovative healthcare products, services and information for its nearly 3 million members. Part of this commitment includes protecting the privacy and security of protected health information (PHI) of its members. Impending HIPAA privacy and security regulations gave BCBSNC an opportunity to upgrade its email infrastructure as part of its compliance process.
BCBSNC was looking for a solution that would provide secure, encrypted messaging with the many different constituencies the company communicates with every day, including hospitals, physicians, brokers, employers and members. In addition, BCBSNC wanted an email management solution that would integrate well into the company's existing IT infrastructure and provide flexible policy-based administration and management. After evaluating a number of email security solutions and vendors, BCBSNC selected the Tumbleweed MMS email firewall.
"We needed a safe and secure email delivery method for communicating protected health information," said Mike Serozi, BCBSNC Director of Network Services and IT Security. "Tumbleweed's email firewall provided us with the necessary level of security to meet HIPAA standards for the transmission of PHI, as well as a policy enforcement mechanism to ensure that the security is applied."
About the Tumbleweed MMS Email Firewall
Tumbleweed MMS has been recognized as the #1 enterprise software solution for fighting spam according to Network World (http://www.nwfusion.com/reviews/2003/0915spam.html), and the #1 email firewall software for large enterprises by Information Security Magazine. MMS protects, filters and secures email traffic at the Internet gateway with an integrated set of anti-spam, anti-virus, anti-hacker, content filtering, email relay, and encrypted messaging capabilities - minimizing email communications risks and reducing email management costs. MMS is used by over 400 of the largest, most demanding messaging infrastructures in the world, and is available in both appliance and software editions.
The Tumbleweed MMS email firewall is available in both appliance and software editions. The Tumbleweed MMS Appliance is the only Windows-based email firewall appliance on the market today, offering lower procurement costs, streamlined installation and configuration, and lower ongoing maintenance requirements - with the enterprise-class scalability, flexibility and extensibility of Tumbleweed's industry-leading email firewall solution.
About the Tumbleweed MMS Secure Redirect
Tumbleweed MMS Secure Redirect automatically secures and encrypts outbound email based on company-defined security policies - without user intervention. Through intelligent, policy-based routing and encryption, Secure Redirect enables organizations to safely use email to communicate with customers, partners, and suppliers by automatically applying the most appropriate security delivery method for each recipient. Secure Redirect offers numerous ways of delivering secure email, including S/MIME to the gateway or desktop, online web delivery with email notification, and offline web delivery via Secure Envelope™. This represents the industry's broadest set of proven secure delivery options, ensuring ease of use and rapid adoption, regardless of what email client users have on their desktops.
"While HIPAA regulations clearly show a need to secure email communications containing PHI, they don't specify on how to enforce," said Dave Jevans, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Tumbleweed Communications. "Tumbleweed's email firewall provides the technology that allows firms like Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina to meet their specific HIPAA requirements for secure email delivery."
About Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina is a leader in delivering innovative health care products, services and information to 2.9 million members, including approximately 500,000 served on behalf of other Blue plans. The company offers its members the Blue ExtrasSM value-added programs, which provide discounts and information on a wide variety of health-related services at no additional cost. BCBSNC also offers life, dental, long-term care and disability insurance products. For 70 years, the company has served its customers by offering access to quality health care at a competitive price and has served the people of North Carolina through support of community organizations, programs and events that promote good health.
BCBSNC's HMO and POS products have earned Excellent Accreditation from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), an independent, not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of health care delivered to people everywhere. BCBSNC also has North Carolina's first and only NCQA accredited PPO plan - Blue OptionsSM. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Access BCBSNC online at www.bcbsnc.com.
About Tumbleweed Communications Corp.
Tumbleweed is a leading provider of mission-critical Internet communications software products for enterprises, financial services organizations and government. By making Internet communications secure, reliable and automated, Tumbleweed's email firewall, secure file transfer, secure email, and identity validation solutions help customers significantly reduce the cost of doing business. Tumbleweed products are used by millions of end-users and tens of thousands of corporations. Tumbleweed customers include ABN Amro, Bank of America Securities, Catholic Healthcare West, JP Morgan Chase & Co., The Regence Group (Blue Cross/Blue Shield), Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), St. Luke's Episcopal Healthcare System, the US Food and Drug Administration, and the US Navy and Marine Corps. Tumbleweed Communications was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Redwood City, Calif. For additional information about Tumbleweed go to www.tumbleweed.com or call 650-216-2000.
SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT
Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, particularly with respect to the features, advantages, and performance characteristics of the Tumbleweed's MMS email firewall and Secure Redirect products. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "potential," "continue," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," and similar expressions. For further cautions about the risks of investing in Tumbleweed, we refer you to the documents Tumbleweed files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, particularly Tumbleweed's Form 10-K filed June 4, 2003, Form 10-Q filed November 14, 2003, and Form S-3/A filed November 18, 2003.
Tumbleweed assumes no obligation to update information contained in this press release, including for example its guidance regarding its future performance, which represents the Company's expectations only as of the date of this release and should not be viewed as a statement about the Company's expectations after such date. Although this release may remain available on the Company's website or elsewhere, its continued availability does not indicate that the Company is reaffirming or confirming any of the information contained herein.
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Contact:
Atomic PR
James Hannon
415/703-9454
james@atomicpr.com
Copyright 2001-2004
Tumbleweed Communications Corp.
All Rights Reserved
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