Kaspersky Lab protects the University of Auckland

The University of Auckland is New Zealand’s leading university. Established in 1883, it has grown into an international centre of learning and academic excellence and is New Zealand's largest university.

The University is centrally located in the cosmopolitan city of Auckland, providing an exciting, stimulating environment for over 40,000 students and 5,500 employees. Its mission is to be an internationally recognized, research-led university, known for the excellence of its teaching, research, and service to its local, national and international communities.

Teaching and research is conducted in eight faculties, offering a wide range of courses, from architecture and arts to science and technology. In addition to the faculties, there is the School of Theology, and more than 30 interdisciplinary research clusters in the University ranging from small units to large institutes, which conduct research in various fields of science.

The Challenge:

The internal computer network is a vital system for the University of Auckland, providing thousands of students and employees with a common information infrastructure that consists of 300 servers and approximately 12,000 desktops.

One of the most vulnerable parts of the network is its email gateway, which comprises seven servers and processes up to 1 million emails per day. The email system is prone to a vast number of message-borne threats, ranging from viruses and worms to Trojans and phishing. Such threats are not only potentially harmful to the internal network but could affect the reputation of the entire institution if they infect messages sent from the University. Therefore a decision was made to find an effective antivirus solution which could be integrated with the existing email gateway.

The Solution:

The IT-personnel at the University of Auckland researched the relevant products provided by Sophos, Symantec, McAfee and Kaspersky Lab to determine which of the solutions would be optimal for integrating with the existing email system while providing the highest quality of protection.

They found that Kaspersky Anti-Virus for Linux Mail Server had the best malware detection rates, formidable performance and good integration capabilities, as well as supporting a Linux operating system, which was also a key requirement. At the same time, the Kaspersky Lab solution was the most competitively priced , so it held every advantage over the competing products.

Implementation of Kaspersky Anti-Virus for Linux Mail Server on the existing email gateway platform went very smoothly – the product was installed and integrated with the existing platform in one week. VNK Technologies, Kaspersky Lab’s experienced partner in New Zealand, provided over-the-phone consultation for the IT staff at the University of Auckland, but no on-site assistance was required during the installation process.

Conclusion:

Implementing Kaspersky Anti-Virus for Linux Mail Server on the University of Auckland's email gateway resulted in a remarkable increase in the malware detection rate and improved the overall security level of the entire University network.

The use of Kaspersky Administration Kit, a powerful and flexible tool for centralized management of Kaspersky Lab applications on a corporate network, made administration and maintenance of Kaspersky Anti-Virus for Linux Mail Server easy and simple for the IT-personnel of the University, saving time and resources for other important tasks and duties.

“Kaspersky Anti-Virus for Linux Mail Server provides an effective and reliable antivirus protection for our email traffic. Other highly commendable traits are its high level of integration and impressive manageability. We are completely satisfied with this product and believe that the decision to implement it in our network was the right one,” said Bojan Zdrnja, Security Implementation Specialist at the University of Auckland.