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Tumbleweed Licenses Email Firewall Patents to Proofpoint

Redwood City, CA — April 7 , 2005 – Tumbleweed® Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: TMWD), a leading provider of email security, file transfer security, and identity validation solutions, today announced the licensing of two technology patents to Proofpoint, Inc.

Proofpoint, a provider of messaging security solutions for large enterprises, has licensed Tumbleweed U.S. Patent No. 6,609,196 titled "Email Firewall with Stored Key Encryption/Decryption" and Patent No. 6,393,568 titled “Encryption and Decryption Method with Content Analysis Provision,” and has obtained an option to license additional Tumbleweed patents.

“We’re pleased to assist Proofpoint in bringing a broader choice of features through our licensed patents,” said Jeffrey C. Smith, Tumbleweed’s CEO and chairman. “We will always continue to develop and innovate for the industry."

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

About Tumbleweed Communications Corp.
Tumbleweed provides security solutions for email protection, file transfers, and identity validation that allow organizations to safely conduct business over the Internet. Tumbleweed offers these solutions in three comprehensive product suites: MailGate, SecureTransport and Valicert Validation Authority. MailGate provides protection against spam, viruses and attacks, and enables policy-based message filtering, encryption and routing. SecureTransport enables business to safely exchange large files and transactions without proprietary software.  Valicert Validation Authority is the world-leading solution for determining the validity of digital certificates.  Tumbleweed’s enterprise and government customers include ABN Amro, Bank of America Securities, Catholic Healthcare West, JP Morgan Chase & Co., The Regence Group (Blue Cross/Blue Shield), St. Luke's Episcopal Healthcare System, the US Food and Drug Administration, the US Department of Defense, and all four branches of the US Armed Forces. Tumbleweed 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
Tumbleweed cautions that forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on plans and expectations as of the date of the 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 development and enforcement of the Tumbleweed patent portfolio. 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 16, 2005.

Tumbleweed assumes no obligation to update information contained in this press release, 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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