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11 April 2002

Sophos helps teachers and pupils get top marks for virus protection

Anti-virus vendor produces guidelines for safe computing in the classroom

Sophos, a world leader in anti-virus protection, has today released a series of information packs outlining how schools can protect themselves against virus attack. The first set of guidelines, produced for use by teachers, includes advice on safe computing procedures, describes the different types of virus threat and offers suggestions for classroom activities. Sophos has also produced two sets of guidelines for pupils - one for primary and one for secondary students. All these resources can be downloaded free of charge from the company's website.

Sophos has issued these guidelines as a resource to complement the National Curriculum. Although information and communications technology is now taught in every UK school, little provision has been made for the teaching of safe and ethical computing. Sophos hopes these guidelines will inform teachers and pupils not only of how to defend against viruses, but also of the dangers of writing and distributing them.

"Many teachers and pupils have a limited knowledge of computer viruses and are unsure of how to protect themselves against attack," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant, Sophos Anti-Virus. "With films glamourising cybercrime and some virus writers achieving 'fame' through their actions, these guidelines not only summarise how to prevent infections, they also cover the consequences of deliberately spreading malicious code - making it clear that virus writing really isn't cool."

Sophos has issued these information packs as part of a long-standing commitment to helping schools protect themselves against viruses. The company's software is deployed by all Northern Irish secondary schools and 50% of schools in England and Wales. Sophos also offers heavily discounted software licences to all UK educational institutions.

Read Sophos's pupil and teacher guidelines.

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