Sophos protects JANET gateway from spam, phishing and data leakage
(21/04/2008)

Sophos today announced that JANET(UK), the company that operates the UK's education and research computer network, has selected Sophos's ES4000 email appliance to protect its gateway from spam, phishing and data leakage. The appliance will protect the government-funded organisation from email-borne malware attacks, and since installation, has blocked on average 100,000 spam emails a month.

The organisation purchased two Sophos ES4000 appliances to defend against spam and email-borne attacks. JANET(UK) staff deal with large volumes of external email on a daily basis. Messages often contain confidential information and their business critical nature means they require secure and rapid delivery.

Following the evaluation of a number of gateway products, JANET(UK) opted to deploy Sophos’s ES4000 appliance replacing its existing solution.

Handling up to 80,000 messages an hour, the ES4000 features an intuitive web-based interface, automated security updates, and on-demand remote assistance – greatly minimising administration time. The appliance delivers advanced security by blocking or quarantining approximately 99 percent of spam at the email gateway.

In light of research by SophosLabs that reveals that 95 percent of email is spam, the appliance is an ideal solution for organisations that process large volumes of email and handle confidential information. IT administrators can easily set and monitor user- and group-specific policies regarding the content of both internal and external emails, and help to prevent sensitive data from reaching unauthorised recipients.

"Our ICT administrators are thrilled with the drastic reduction in unwanted email, which formerly flooded our employees' inboxes," said Peter Kent, head of ICT services at JANET(UK). "On one user’s account, the appliance has blocked more than 150,000 spam messages to date, many of which would have slipped through our previous vendor's filter and caused serious productivity problems. Now, thanks to the Sophos appliances, employees are benefiting from not having to read and delete unwanted mail while our ICT administrators enjoy low-level maintenance."

"We chose the ES4000 because of its flexibility, functionality, ease-of-management and use, as well as for Sophos's superior level of customer service," continued Kent. "The standard of support Sophos provides its customers, both pre- and post-purchase, is exceptionally valuable. Such a diligent attitude, combined with reliable solutions, really sets Sophos apart from its competitors."

"Email is now crucial to organisations of all sizes, and this growing dependency should not bring in its wake productivity issues, data leakage problems, or security threats," said Andrew Bradshaw, vice president at Sophos UK. "All organisations strive for efficiency whether that be through increased productivity or managing costs. The aim of our appliance is to minimise administration time, while relieving the company from all the costly problems associated with managing email security."