Baltimore Technologies to Enable Secure Online Delivery of Healthcare Services in Australia.

Business Editors and Health/Medical/Technology Writers

DUBLIN, Ireland and SYDNEY, Australia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 3, 2000

Baltimore Technologies (Nasdaq:BALT)(London:BLM) a global leader in e-security solutions, today announced that its product technology and the hosting services of its Australian subsidiary company, Certificates Australia, have been selected by the Australian Health Insurance Commission (HIC), the Commonwealth Government agency responsible for administering many Commonwealth Government payments, including Medicare, to support the delivery of the HIC's new on-line services.

The new on-line services will enable the HIC and health care professionals across Australia to securely exchange data electronically. These initiatives by the HIC will also streamline a number of health care administrative processes for patients, doctors, medical staff, pharmacists and others involved in the delivery of health services.

Commenting on the announcement, Dr Andrew Parkes, General Manager for E-business at the HIC said that "the move was consistent with the Commonwealth Government's policies on the delivery of services by electronic means."

"We are determined to improve the delivery of services to our customers and stakeholders and the Internet is clearly a key tool to help us achieve this objective. Our concern is to promote an environment of trust by ensuring the expansion of our on-line business services will not diminish in any way the privacy, security, authenticity and trust that currently exist," he said.

The HIC secure on-line services will be the first in Australia to be deployed using digital certificates issued under the Commonwealth Government's PKI strategy -- Gatekeeper. The certificates will be generated and managed from a highly-secure domain by Baltimore's own local PKI hosting operation, Certificates Australia, which was the first service to achieve entry level Gatekeeper accreditation in mid-1999 and is expected to be the first fully-accredited operator by the middle of this year.

Apart from the digital certificate services, the HIC is intending to license a range of Baltimore Technologies' products to enable its online business services, including Baltimore UniCERT for registration of authenticated users; Baltimore MailSecure for adding full-strength security and centralized management capability into standard email packages such as Lotus Notes and Microsoft Exchange/Outlook; and Baltimore developer toolkits for PKI-enabling both new and legacy applications.

By utilizing the Baltimore PKI software and services, the HIC will be able to take advantage of the speed, cost and convenience provided by the use of online communications whilst still maintaining complete confidentiality, privacy, security, integrity and trust.

According to Mr John Palfreyman, Baltimore Technologies' Senior Vice-President for Asia Pacific, "The scope of the HIC's requirements for its secure Internet business were particularly challenging. In keeping with the Commonwealth's stringent security requirements the HIC wanted a robust and highly-secure infrastructure which was scalable and Gatekeeper accredited. In addition, they required their PKI to be capable of supporting numerous tightly-integrated but openly interoperable applications. Finally, they wanted to facilitate the establishment of the health sector network to ensure the successful implementation of on-line services. I am proud to say that only Baltimore UniCERT Options(TM) could provide HIC with the complete solution to achieve their objectives, making it easier for them to get started, knowing that they have flexibility to adapt their systems as on-line healthcare evolves into the future."

Given the high value of healthcare payments, which run to several billion dollars annually, in addition to the sensitive nature of the information, it was paramount to ensure strong end-to-end security within the system. This security is achieved through Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) which combines digital certificates, digital signatures and full-strength encryption to provide privacy, integrity, authentication and non-repudiation -- the four pillars of electronic trust.

Later this year, the HIC intends to use the PKI processes and procedures in support of the on-line lodgement of patient Medicare claims from doctors' surgeries. However, as acceptance of electronic communication by the medical community grows, it is intended that the network too will grow to enable the delivery of other HIC on-line initiatives.

About Baltimore Technologies

Baltimore Technologies develops and markets security products and services to enable companies to develop trusted, secure systems for e-business, the Internet and mobile commerce. Its products include a wide range of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) systems, wireless e|security solutions, cryptographic toolkits, security applications and hardware cryptographic devices. Baltimore's global professional services organization offers a wide variety of consulting, training and deployment support to its customers worldwide. Baltimore Technologies markets and sells its solutions worldwide directly and through the TrustedWorld(TM) channel program. TrustedWorld includes many of the world's leading technology companies and a wide variety of global, regional and local business alliance partners.

Baltimore Technologies employs over 700 people worldwide and operates from over 20 cities with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland; London, UK; Boston, USA and Sydney, Australia. Baltimore Technologies plc is a public company with dual listings on NASDAQ (BALT) and the London Stock Exchange (BLM). Intel Corporation is a minority shareholder in the Company. Baltimore Technologies made e-commerce history in 1998 when President Clinton and Ireland's Prime Minister Ahern digitally signed an inter-governmental communique using security technology provided by Baltimore.

For further information and press releases on Baltimore Technologies, please visit http://www.baltimore.com

About the Health Insurance Commission

The Health Insurance Commission (HIC) is a Commonwealth statutory authority established by an Act of Parliament in Australia in 1974 to administer the universal health insurance scheme, known originally as Medibank. The scheme began on 1 July 1975. In 1983 Medibank was replaced by a new scheme, Medicare, operated by the HIC and the organisation has since assumed the administration of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and the Commonwealth Childcare Rebate, the Better Practice Program and the creation of the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register among others. In 1998, Medibank Private moved out of the HIC and became an organisation in its own right.

Today the HIC administers:

-- Medicare

-- the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS)

-- the Commonwealth Childcare Rebate

-- the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register (ACIR)

-- the Practice Incentives Program (PIP)

-- the General Practice Immunisation Incentives Program (GPII)

-- the Compensation Recovery Program for Medicare and nursing

home benefits

-- the Federal Government 30% Rebate on private health insurance

-- payments and claims for the Department of Veterans' Affairs

treatment accounts and for the Office of Hearing Services

The HIC also has the role of preventing and detecting the occurrence of fraud and inappropriate servicing in relation to those programs we administer. As part of this role and its broader purpose of improving Australia's health outcomes, the HIC undertakes education, feedback and best practice programs in cooperation with health professionals, relevant peak bodies, educational institutions and government agencies.

Baltimore Technologies, e-security, TrustedWorld, PKIWorld, Telepathy and Baltimore product names including UniCERT, MailSecure, PKI-Plus and J/CRYPTO are all trademarks of Baltimore Technologies plc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

In order to utilize the Safe Harbour provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, we are providing the following cautionary statement:

This announcement includes forward-looking statements. These statements can be identified by the use of terminology such as "believes," "expects," "may," "will," "should," "anticipates," "estimates" or other similar words. Baltimore Technologies has based these forward-looking statements on the Directors' current expectations and projections about future events. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions about Baltimore Technologies, including, among other things, its ability to implement a change in business model; its anticipated expansion plans and growth strategies, including the acquisition described herein; its expectation of the impact of this expansion on our revenue potential, cost basis and margins; its expectation of the competitiveness of its software products; its intention to introduce new software products and services; anticipated trends and conditions in its industry including regulatory changes; its ability to compete, both internationally and in the U.S. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the events discussed in this announcement might not occur. Baltimore Technologies undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.