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Auburn University Switches Anti-Virus to Sophos

Sophos is a world leader with a 20-year history in enterprise IT security and control. Trusted by 100 million users and endorsed by industry analysts as a real alternative to Symantec and McAfee, Sophos provides the best defense against today's blended threats.

• Why did Auburn switch to Sophos from McAfee?

  The enormity and complexity of virus and malware threats to computer end-users have changed dramatically since McAfee was chosen as the Anti-Virus solution for the University in 2001. Because of this, the Virus Protection Team (VPT) wanted to perform due-diligence by evaluating competitive Anti-Virus products before the current McAfee contract expired in June 2009.  As a result, the Anti-Virus Evaluation Committee was formed from members of the VPT. The committee was charged with evaluating leading AV solutions in the marketplace and determining whether Auburn University should continue with the McAfee solution.

  Based on this evaluation, the Anti-Virus Evaluation Committee recommended Sophos as Auburn University’s Anti-Virus solution to replace McAfee.  As a result of the committee's recommendation, the University purchased a 4-year site license, beginning in February 2009, from Sophos to provide the Anti-Virus solution for Auburn University.

  It is the committee’s opinion that the benefits of switching to Sophos will be:
  
  1. Significantly better support from the vendor.
  2. Improved distributed management across campus computing environments.
  3. More effective prevention and removal of virus and spyware threats.
  4. Lower resource use on end-user computers.
  5. More reliable installation and deployment of an anti-virus solution.
  6. Better cross-platform support, including Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Solaris and emerging threats in mobile devices.

  To view the committee's report, go to: Anti-Virus Evaluation Committee Report

• Who is Sophos?

  
  
  Sophos was founded in 1985 and released its first virus scanning engine in 1989. Over the next decade, Sophos expanded its product portfolio, customer base and employee levels, opening subsidiary offices around the world to help support global demand for its award-winning Sophos Anti-Virus.

  In 2003, Sophos entered the anti-spam market with the acquisition of Vancouver-based company, ActiveState, and PureMessage was developed for a range of platforms.

  Sophos moved to its new UK-based headquarters in 2004, and continued to grow. More subsidiary offices were opened, the world's first managed email appliance was launched, closely followed by the Sophos Web Appliance.

  Now, following the acquisition of network access control company, ENDFORCE, in 2007, Sophos has a full range of complementary endpoint, email, web and NAC solutions that filter traffic for security threats, spam and policy infringements, control access to the network, and keep businesses free of viruses, spyware and other malware.

• What does this mean for me?

  Your McAfee Anti-Virus software will continue to be functional and protect your system until June 11, 2009. After this date, the McAfee Site Licence expires for Auburn University and university's McAfee Enterprise server will be taken off line. At that point, your McAfee Anti-Virus client will no longer receive updates and your system will be at risk.
  
  
  

• When can I get a copy of the new Anti-Virus Software?

  The distribution of Sophos Anti-Virus will roll out in phases. Please refer back to this chart for updates in the area that applies to you:
  
  University-owned machines in the Auburn domain should have the anti-virus software loaded automatically. If you have any questions this process, please contact your IT Provider.
  

  Department/College/School	Dates of Sophos Transition
  Agriculture, ACES, AAES	February
  Alumni & Development	TBA
  Architecture, Design, & Construction	TBA
  Athletics	TBA
  Auxiliary Services	TBA
  Business	TBA
  Education	February 16 - 17
  Engineering	February
  Facilities	TBA
  Forestry and Wildlife Sciences	TBA
  Human Sciences	TBA
  Information Systems Support	TBA
  JCS Museum	TBA
  Liberal Arts	February
  Libraries	TBA
  Nursing	TBA
  Outreach	TBA
  Pharmacy	TBA
  Sciences and Mathematics	TBA
  Veterinary Medicine	February

   

  Home Computers and Non-University-owned machines will be able to obtain a copy of Sophos Anti-Virus from the AU Install website at a later date.

Any questions about this transition can be addressed by the committe members at .

Last Updated: Jan. 22, 2011