[Macpartners] IS&T Provides New Malware Protection: Sophos Anti-Virus

[Andrew Munchbach]

Good Morning,

Information Services and Technology (IS&T) is providing Sophos as the new malware protection product for MIT -- replacing McAfee for all MIT faculty, staff and students.

About Sophos Anti-Virus

After several months of testing, Sophos was selected as the best solution for MIT and the diverse computing needs and configurations of its users. Reasons for this choice include:

  *   The software's ability to work effectively in both managed and unmanaged desktop environments
  *   The software is modular with the ability to expand its malware protection offering as the threat landscape evolves over time
  *   Sophos management console provides IS&T with limited but useful intelligence, including the number of licenses installed -- allowing us to properly license the software.
  *   Sophos has a local office and lab in Burlington, MA as well as other labs around the world.

Using Sophos

Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac, Windows and Linux are available for download via the IS&T Software Grid<http://ist.mit.edu/sophos> (certificates required). Instructions for installing are linked from the download pages.

If you have a McAfee virus protection product installed on your computer, it will continue to run and receive virus definition updates. When you are ready to install Sophos, you will need to manually remove McAfee from Mac<http://ist.mit.edu/sophos/mac> or Linux<http://ist.mit.edu/sophos/linux> machines (instructions for uninstalling McAfee are available from the Sophos download pages). For Windows<http://ist.mit.edu/sophos/win> users, the Sophos installer tool will remove most popular antivirus software already installed.

WIN domain users will begin to see Sophos replacing McAfee on their machines starting in July. The rollout will be staggered over the month, first targeting IS&T computers. A separate communication for WIN domain container administrators looking to opt-in early will be sent out in the coming days.

Once Sophos is installed, IS&T recommends running a full system scan as a baseline. When Sophos finds an infected file, the software provides an alert and locks the file in place. See more in The Knowledge Base<http://kb.mit.edu/confluence/x/3AEYCQ>.

Getting Help

Articles on installing and using Sophos are available in The Knowledge Base<http://kb.mit.edu/confluence/display/category/Sophos+Anti-Virus>. If you have further questions, contact the IS&T Help Desk at 617.253.1101 or helpdesk at mit.edu<mailto:helpdesk at mit.edu>. You can also submit a request online<http://ist.mit.edu/support>.

Regards,
Andrew Munchbach
on behalf of IS&T and the Malware Overhaul Project Team
--
Andrew Munchbach
Network Security Analyst
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
IS&T | Operations & Infrastructure | IT Security Services
security at mit.edu<mailto:security at mit.edu>

http://ist.mit.edu/secure










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