FARM-Africa, the non-governmental organisation promoting rural development in Africa, has installed Sophos Anti-Virus and Sophos PureMessage to protect its network from viruses and spam.
FARM-Africa wants its website and internal IT systems virus free and working optimally. New on-line gift initiatives such as FARM FRIENDS, offer people the opportunity to buy a dairy goat or a brood of chickens to help poor African farmers feed their families. This makes securing purchasers’ bank card details and other classified information essential. The organisation stores on its system important files, images and contact details of supporters and donors, all of which need to be protected against virus infections.
FARM-Africa decided to switch to Sophos’s solution after it experienced virus infections while using its previous protection. The company chose Sophos because of its automated updating, it reports. In addition to scanning emails for viruses, desktop anti-virus protection was essential for the organisation as it uses CDs and floppy disks to distribute information and updates to its offices in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa and Uganda. Poor internet connections in some of these countries makes downloading information over the web almost impossible.
Spam was also a problem for FARM-Africa, which receives up to 150 unwanted emails each day. This spam was not only a nuisance, but it also took up a significant amount of storage space. The organisation says it chose Sophos PureMessage because its message handling options give organisations greater control of their email traffic, allowing them to set various actions based on the likelihood that messages are spam.
What they say
"Many poor African families depend on FARM-Africa to make a lasting difference to their lives. Any time lost to virus infection or spam infiltration has a negative impact on our ability to help," said Christie Peacock, chief executive of FARM-Africa. "Sophos’s comprehensive protection against viruses and spam not only gives us peace of mind that our systems are secure, it also frees up resources so we are better able to help African communities become self-sufficient."
Sophos’s technology was chosen and is now being managed by Modalit, the company that provides a range of outsourced IT services to FARM-Africa.
"We chose Sophos’s consolidated anti-spam and anti-virus solution because it fitted FARM-Africa’s needs, the roll-out on to desktop PCs was problem-free and the products are easy to manage," said Iain Stewart, director at Modalit.
