Security news
Security news30 July 2003
Bega Valley Shire Council selects Sophos Anti-Virus
Sophos Australia and New Zealand, a leader in anti-virus protection for businesses and government departments, has today announced that Bega Valley Shire Council will deploy more than 250 Sophos Anti-Virus licences across its operations to protect Windows workstations, laptops and network servers.
Bega Valley Shire Council's Information Services Manager Ron Dale said protecting Council's day-to-day operations from viruses, worms, trojans and other malicious programs was the major priority behind the decision.
"We selected Sophos because of its proven track record in similar environments and for its ease-of-use, excellent administration features and automatic updating service. Council can rest easy knowing that its computer systems will be protected around the clock by the Sophos service and backed by 24x7 live support," he said.
The Council operates from 7am-10pm weekdays and also Saturday mornings. According to Dale, most recovery situations occur outside of normal working hours, so Sophos's 24x7 support was viewed as being of critical importance.
The Bega Valley Shire, with a population of 30,000, is halfway between Sydney and Melbourne on the south coast of New South Wales. The Council provides local government and infrastructure management services across some 6,052 square kilometres and its various operational centres are connected via the Internet and a dedicated wide area network.
The Council will also deploy Sophos's administration tool, Enterprise Manager, for simplified ongoing administration and to ensure automatic updating. According to Dale, "This will deliver significant labour and cost savings to the Council, especially considering our widespread geographic territory, while ensuring best practice anti-virus protection for the long-term".
Sophos's Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand, Rob Forsyth, said that protecting operational resources and sensitive ratepayer information from computer viruses is a critical requirement for any council.
"Given the impact and associated costs of a virus incident on a large distributed network, the financial savings obtained through deployment of a robust anti-virus product, are self evident. It's gratifying to see Bega Valley Shire Council taking steps to protect its computer systems with Sophos and ensure that its local government services are available without interruption.
"Their decision to deploy Sophos will ensure the Council receives ongoing and cost-effective protection, and sends a clear message to Bega Valley Shire businesses and other local governments that they too should ensure their operations are protected and updated at all times," Forsyth said.
Download now
- USA number 1 for malware and spam
- Huge surge in email attachment attacks
- Scareware makes users buy bogus products
About Sophos
Sophos enables enterprises all over the world to secure and control their IT infrastructure. Sophos's network access control, endpoint, web and email solutions simplify security to provide integrated defenses against malware, spyware, intrusions, unwanted applications, spam, policy abuse, data leakage and compliance drift. With over 20 years of experience, Sophos protects over 100 million users in nearly 150 countries with its reliably engineered security solutions and services. Recognized for its high level of customer satisfaction and powerful yet easy-to-use solutions, Sophos has received many industry awards, as well as positive reviews and certifications.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com
