Blackboard Strengthens Data and Application Security for Campus Commerce and Card Platform

Blackboard Transact Meets New Payment Card Industry Standards

WASHINGTON – August 6, 2009 – Blackboard Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBB), a global leader in education technology, today announced the general availability of Release 3.5 of Blackboard Transact^™, a milestone effort that strengthens data and application security for campus commerce and card programs and enables institutions to confidently process credit card transactions while meeting new industry standards well ahead of the deadline for compliance.

Blackboard Transact™ is used by hundreds of colleges and universities to support campus commerce and security management.  Release 3.5 complies with the Payment Application Data Security Standard (PA-DSS) both in application architecture and written operating procedures. Release 3.5 received validation from Trustwave, a leading qualified security assessor company, and acceptance from the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council.

With the release, institutions can host the application and process credit card transactions in a manner that assists in meeting their own compliance validation with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) well in advance of the July 2010 deadline for institutions to only use PA-DSS-compliant applications in their payment environments.

“Payment application security compliance is a very important initiative for our university,” said Stacie Gomm, Associate Vice President for Information Technology at Utah State University. “Our Controller’s office is driving this initiative to ensure that all of our financial systems and processes are PCI compliant. The enhanced security features of the Blackboard Transact platform are an important step towards compliance for our campus-wide ID card solution.”

“This release is a significant milestone for the clients we serve,” said David Marr, President and Chief Operating Officer of Blackboard Transact. “We remain steadfast in our commitment to being a leader in delivering applications that comply with these evolving data security standards. Further, we are excited to also deliver new functionality that enables institutions to serve their communities more efficiently, effectively and securely.”

Blackboard Transact is an integrated technology platform that helps organizations to meet their commerce and security management needs, enhance the student experience and overall campus safety, and streamline business operations while increasing revenue. The Blackboard Transact platform includes capabilities within two integrated modules:

• Commerce Management: facilitates campus ID card issuance, on-campus, off-campus, and online commerce, cashless payment processing for dining, bookstore, vending, laundry, copy, print and parking services, financial reporting, and self-service account management.
• Security Management: monitors all campus activity using integrated door access control, video surveillance and mass notification capabilities. 

In addition, Release 3.5 introduces new capabilities to support enterprise-wide compliance policies and risk management and adds a range of new capabilities including improved database audit logging, user account and password features including forced complex passwords, limited repeat access attempts, account deactivation after 90 days of no use and completely re-written user documentation. 

For more information about Blackboard Transact solutions, please visit http://www.blackboard.com/transact.

About Blackboard Inc.

Blackboard Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBB) is a global leader in enterprise technology and innovative solutions that improve the experience of millions of students and learners around the world every day. Blackboard’s solutions allow thousands of higher education, K-12, professional, corporate, and government organizations to extend teaching and learning online, facilitate campus commerce and security, and communicate more effectively with their communities. Founded in 1997, Blackboard is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Any statements in this press release about future expectations, plans and prospects for Blackboard and other statements containing the words “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “expects,” “will,” and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including the factors discussed in the “Risk Factors” section of our Form 10-Q filed on May 7, 2009 with the SEC. In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company’s views as of August 6, 2009. The Company anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause the Company’s views to change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company’s views as of any date subsequent to August 6, 2009.