School children will be protected by Sophos Web Security and
Control
IT security and data protection firm Sophos has announced that
Slough Borough Council Local Education Authority has invested in
Sophos Web Security and Control to improve online security across
48 nursery, primary and secondary schools.
As the council's main priority is to protect students against
the growing number of web threats with the appropriate online
security measures, an easily enabled, enhanced filtering system was
needed. Before a borough-wide solution was deployed, the technical
team at SBC conducted a trial across a sample of primary and
secondary schools, comparing different filtering systems.
After testing Sophos's web appliance against offerings from
leading competitors, the IT team at SBC opted for Sophos's security
solution as they felt it gave them the best control over the entire
filtering system. 48 appliances were then rolled out across all
schools during the summer holiday period with the help of the
Sophos support team so that it would be in place for the new school
year.
Having installed Sophos's product, SBC has benefited from an
efficient and trustworthy system which has boosted staff confidence
when it comes to protecting 20,000 students from potential threats
posed by the web. The schools have since experienced better control
over e-safety measures, allowing different levels of filtering for
a variety of user groups; all schools are now compliant with the
BECTA guidelines.
John Worgan, ICT Advisor for Slough Borough Council LEA
commented: "Before discovering what Sophos had to offer, we had
problems as pupils of all ages, as well as staff had a single
common level of filtering, limiting access to web-based resources.
In addition, the technical team was wasting a lot of valuable time
with filtering and online security issues, especially in our
secondary schools. We are very confident with Sophos's web security
solution and all the schools have been happy with the results to
date."
"The dangers posed from browsing the web present a significant
threat, particularly to young students," said Ciaran Rafferty, VP
UK & Ireland at Sophos. "Many schools are ill-equipped to deal
with evolving issues of internet safety which is why an effective
online security solution is crucial. Slough Borough Council LEA is
now fully equipped to deal with any potential threats and have a
reliable filtering system so that students can use the internet
with confidence."
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.