Business Wire Comments on Hoax News Release and Announces Security Upgrades, Operational Changes

E-Mailed Releases Will No Longer Be Accepted, Effective Immediately, As Business Wire Accelerates Timing of Long-Planned System Upgrades

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In the wake of a fraudulent press release that is now the subject of a Federal criminal investigation, Business Wire will no longer accept client releases submitted via e-mail, effective immediately, Cathy Baron Tamraz, chief executive officer, announced today. The elimination of e-mail was scheduled to be part of a planned security upgrade this August, but this weekend's incident advanced the timetable for the policy change.

“Business Wire on rare occasions accepted e-mails as an accommodation to clients”

All press releases must now be submitted via "BW Connect," Business Wire's proprietary order-entry system, which is audited on an annual basis by leading independent network security specialists. BW Connect has been operational since 1998 without any breaches or incidents. The long-planned security upgrade will introduce additional safeguards to the system's multiple security layers. The system is subject to rigorous testing annually as part of the regulatory compliance sanctioning process in multiple international jurisdictions, as well as routine corporate audits.

"Business Wire on rare occasions accepted e-mails as an accommodation to clients," Tamraz said in explaining the policy change. "Based on this weekend's events, we have put an immediate end to this practice. Business Wire will only transmit releases that have been submitted via authorized users of BW Connect who file directly into Business Wire's editorial system using its secure, proprietary platform."

On June 18, Business Wire transmitted a press release for Javelin Pharmaceuticals that it since learned was fraudulent. The release was not issued or authorized by Javelin Pharmaceuticals. There is currently a criminal investigation underway in what appears to be a case of stolen identity and fraud.

Business Wire transmits more than 250,000 press releases annually; fortunately, such incidents have been extremely rare in the company's near 50-year history.

"We are continuously upgrading our security systems, and we pride ourselves on our track record," noted Tamraz. "We will continue to be extremely vigilant and provide the level of service our clients and media partners have come to expect from us."

About Business Wire

Business Wire, a Berkshire Hathaway company, is utilized by tens of thousands of member companies and organizations worldwide to functionally enhance and communicate investor relations and public relations content to target audiences. As a recognized disclosure vehicle in the United States, Canada, the UK, France, Germany and other EU markets, Business Wire facilitates the simultaneous flow of market-moving press releases from corporations to financial markets and their audiences, including regulatory authorities, media, investors, financial information systems and consumer news services. Business Wire also handles XBRL tagging, document formatting and regulatory filing into the EDGAR and SEDAR systems.

Communications professionals turn to Business Wire to optimize and issue press releases, photos and multimedia to news organizations, journalists, trade publications, search engines, and individuals, with full-text posting to web sites, online services and databases. A range of distribution options enables members to target by geography, industry, news theme and audience demographics.

Founded in 1961, Business Wire has dual headquarters in San Francisco and New York, with 30 bureaus in cities including Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Miami, Paris, Frankfurt, London, Brussels, Tokyo, Toronto and Sydney and reciprocal offices throughout the world. Business Wire's patented NX data platform supports XML, XHTML and XBRL code that enhances news release interactivity, social media sharing and search engine optimization. More information about Business Wire and its services is located on its website at www.BusinessWire.com.