Telford & Wrekin Council is using Sophos to block spam and
malware at its email gateway.
IT security and control firm Sophos today announced that it is
delivering protection against spam messages and email-borne malware
to Telford & Wrekin Council. Responsible for providing email
services to 84 local primary and secondary schools, the Council's
civil offices have deployed Sophos Email
Security and Control to defend student and teaching staff email
accounts from more than 21 million spam messages a year.
Prior to installing an email security solution, the council
relied on Sophos Anti-Virus to protect local schools from malware,
spyware and suspicious files but did not have any protection at the
gateway. But with pupils and staff receiving increasing levels of
unsolicited emails, the council made the decision to adopt a spam
filter.
Responsible for thousands of student email accounts, Telford
& Wrekin Council needed to ensure their email security solution
not only defended against the latest malware threats, but also
reliably blocked inappropriate and offensive content often sent in
unsolicited emails. Sophos research reveals that 95 percent of
email is spam, of which 32 percent contains links to adult or
offensive material.
"As well as the obvious need to protect our network from
cyberattacks, our principal concern is protecting young people from
receiving or accidentally accessing pornographic or other
unsuitable material that spam messages are so often associated
with," said David James, network administrator at the civil offices
of Telford & Wrekin Council. "We have to make sure that our
student accounts are safe and that our email security is 100
percent reliable."
With the civil offices only providing email services to schools
that opt in to the scheme, it was essential that the chosen
solution guaranteed a high level of service, otherwise schools
could opt out. Telford & Wrekin Council trialled Sophos's email
appliance alongside a competitive solution from Trend Micro.
Following the evaluation, the council opted to install Sophos Email
Security and Control - two ES4000 appliances to scan all incoming
and outgoing mail, and PureMessage to provide protection for
internal email.
Handling up to 80,000 messages an hour, the ES4000 features an
intuitive web-based interface, automated security updates and
remotely monitors and alerts customers to any issues - greatly
minimising administration time.
"In addition to a massive reduction in spam messages making it
to pupil inboxes, the immediate benefit we saw was the reduction in
time that the IT team has to spend handling email administration,"
continued James. "Straightaway we were able to set and monitor user
and group-specific policies. Teachers and pupils no longer have to
waste time sifting through hundreds of spam emails each time they
check their accounts."
"The internet and email provide great value to schools and their
pupils and should be actively encouraged. However, with such a huge
amount of spam traffic, often containing or linking to obscene
material or malicious software, it's important for schools to have
the highest level of protection," said Andrew
Bradshaw, VP at Sophos. "Spam email can not only expose
children to unsavoury content, it can also leave pupils and staff
open to malware attack. The council should be applauded for
safeguarding local children from both malware and spam."
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.