60% of European Business Do Not Encrypt Outbound Emails, Research Reveals

London, UK - 27 March, 2007 – Tumbleweed Communications Corp. (Nasdaq: TMWD), the industry's leading pure play messaging security vendor, today announced the results of research that shows more than half (60%) of large European businesses do not adequately secure data leaving their organisation by using encryption. This is despite the fact that more than one in ten (13%) of responding European organisations admitted a data breach of unauthorized confidential information leaving their organisations within the last year.

The study of senior IT managers across the UK, Spain, France and Germany, carried out on Tumbleweed’s behalf by respected independent research party Vanson Bourne*, sheds light on the alarming nonchalance of organisations towards the growing problem of data breaches, despite increasing awareness of the problem. The research reveals that ‘users transmitting confidential data in email’ is now Europe’s most painful email policy issue, ranked top of their concerns by (39%) of respondents. ‘Personal use of email’ came a close second with 32 per cent.

Across Europe, more than a third (36%) of those surveyed rated publicity as a particularly painful consequence of a data breach, while a quarter (26%) added fines or lawsuits to their list of concerns. However more than half of the organisations (59%) not already using encryption stated that they did not perceive the business need to do so – showing that there is still significant work to be done to educate businesses on the threats posed by data breaches and the solutions available to prevent them. Only in financial services do the majority of European organisations (59%) encrypt outbound email as a matter of course. 

Soeren Bech, business director EMEA for Tumbleweed, said: “Encryption is key for all internet communications but even more so in the outbound stream with employees, unwittingly or otherwise, sending sensitive information across open and vulnerable networks.  Despite the many high profile incidents recently across Europe of these types of data breaches and the negative impact they have had on an organisation’s reputation, it is alarming that our findings show so many organisations are not taking the ‘threat from within’ seriously. 

“It is time for businesses to take action and invest in adequate security for their communications to prevent the potential of a more costly and embarrassing data breach.  We urge European businesses to ensure that encryption plays a pivotal role in their new email security strategy, especially for the outbound stream.”

Tumbleweed warns that organisations should remember that the ‘threat from within’ is only part of a larger security problem for organisations because external threats such as spam and viruses continue to be an ongoing concern. A key finding from the research is that spam is still a major pain point for European businesses when managing email, with all respondents listing it as one of their top three concerns. The most frequently listed problem caused by spam was it getting through to end users whose subsequent complaints contrived to increase the workload of IT administrators.  The spam situation was most acutely felt in Spain where 45 per cent of respondents deemed excess time spent by administrators as ‘painful’ or ‘very painful’ to the organisation.

Viruses too remain a real drain on organisations’ IT resources, with the survey revealing that 30 per cent of European businesses had been infected by a virus in the previous twelve months, increasing to 36 per cent in the largest organisations. All of these issues highlight the urgent requirement from organisations to better manage the growing external and internal pressures they face whether related to technology, security, user management or corporate compliance.

Safe Harbor Statement
Tumbleweed cautions that forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on current plans and expectations as of the date of this press release, and that a number of factors could cause the actual results to differ materially from the guidance given at this time. These factors are described in the Safe Harbor statement below.

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 results of the Vanson Bourne study.  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 March 14, 2007.

Tumbleweed assumes no obligation to update information contained in this press release. Although this release may remain available on Tumbleweed’s website or elsewhere, its continued availability does not indicate that Tumbleweed is reaffirming or confirming any of the information contained herein.

About Communications Corp.
Tumbleweed Communications Corp.(NASDAQ:TMWD), the industry’s leading pure play messaging security vendor, provides world-class innovative messaging security solutions for organizations of all sizes.  Organizations rely on Tumbleweed's solutions to securely manage their Internet communications, spanning email management to file transfers. Tumbleweed has more than 2,400 customers worldwide, representing industries such as Finance, Healthcare, and the U.S. Government. The world’s most security conscious organizations rely upon Tumbleweed technology including Bank of America Securities, JP Morgan Chase & Co., the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the U.S. Department of Defense. Our award-winning products build on thirteen years of R&D and 26 security patents in the U.S. alone – many of which are licensed by other security vendors. More information can be found at www.tumbleweed.com.

Tumbleweed and the Arrows logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Tumbleweed Communications Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

###