Security news
Security news10 December 2002
Sophos secures anti-virus protection for Aviva
Anti-virus leader defends financial services giant's network from attack
Sophos, a world leader in corporate anti-virus protection, today announced that it has been chosen to defend Aviva's UK corporate network against malicious virus attacks. Aviva, (formerly CGNU), one of the world's largest financial services groups, has selected Sophos's anti-virus software to protect its 35,000 desktop computers in a deal covering the next five years.
Alongside the UK deployment, Aviva has also implemented a global framework, which enables its international sites to switch easily to Sophos and benefit from the high detection rates, stability and ease of use which characterise Sophos products. This could increase the number of Sophos protected machines to more than 70,000.
Aviva chose Sophos Anti-Virus following the successful deployment of the software at Norwich Union, one of its subsidiary operations. Norwich Union first purchased the software in 1999, and went on to buy 22,000 licences from Sophos in 2000.
"During the time we have used Sophos Anti-Virus we have recorded an increase in the number of viruses stopped from under 250 a year to over 2,500 a month. The need for reliable and robust counter-measures is obvious, and Sophos coped with everything we asked of it," said David McRoberts, Norwich Union's UK IT Security Manager. "We had to have a product with good technical support that we could deploy and update easily and efficiently. Sophos combines those three critical elements of quality of product, technical support and ease of distribution, which is why we've extended the agreement in the UK, and are encouraging our global operations to consider Sophos solutions as well."
"Financial companies - especially those of the size and reputation of Aviva - simply cannot put the security of their networks at risk," said David Stanley, general manager, UK at Sophos. "This significant extension of the Aviva agreement is a great endorsement to the quality of the product and the service provided by Sophos."
About Aviva
Aviva is the world's seventh-largest insurance group, the largest insurer in the UK and one of the top five life companies in Europe. Its main activities are long-term savings, fund management and general insurance. It has worldwide premium income and investment sales of £28 billion from continuing operations and more than £200 billion in assets under management. The group has 64,000 employees and 25 million customers.
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
