Prescott demands firewall protection

Managed security for deputy prime minister's offices following Blaster and Netsky attacks

Written by Gareth Morgan

Security reseller Total Network Solutions (TNS) has won a contract with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) to install firewalls, after viruses hit one of the department's offices.

Last year, the Nottingham office of the government department was struck by the Blaster and Netsky worms.

The effort involved in clearing up the viruses persuaded the ODPM's Regional Co-ordination Unit (RCO) to increase its protection.

TNS initially won a contract to install a Fortinet firewall in the Nottingham office, but the ODPM has now rolled out protection to all of its 15 regional offices.

"This was our first major installation of Fortinet," explained Gary Murphy, public sector sales manager at TNS. "We'd only just decided to go with them."

TNS now provides a managed service for the ODPM, ensuring that the department's firewall is updated against the latest threats.

"There's just so much patching work to do that system administrators are hard pressed to find the time. Our approach means that we can manage the system on behalf of our customers and ensure they fully protected," said Murphy.

The attack last autumn proved to be a wake-up call for the ODPM, said Chris Benefield, the RCO's senior ICT project manager.

"We're a Novell-GroupWise house and had never really been troubled by virus attacks. But managing the security across the 15 sites can be like herding cats. I've now got TNS managing it on my behalf," he said.

  • Have your say
  • Send to a friend
  • Print this
  • Share

Tags:

reader comments

related articles

Security

Security

The latest wave of cyber-crimes and acts of vandalism have demonstrated once again that many systems are still vulnerable to attack. 15 Apr 2004

 

UK set for national cyber-security centre

Prime minister expected to announce new plan to combat e-crime attacks on UK IT infrastructure by foreign states and criminal gangs 15 Jun 2009

Top 10 worst computer viruses

A countdown of the most virulent infections 02 May 2009

Government mishandling economy and environment, says Green leader

Attack on government policies by Caroline Lucas follows her visit to the Vestas protest camp on the Isle of Wight 15 Oct 2009

related whitepapers

today's top stories

Telepresence: coming to a screen near you?

Telepresence systems enable organisations to hold boardroom-style meetings with far-flung participants without the hassle and expense of arranging travel and accommodation. But while the technology is impressive, it does not come cheap, as Martin Courtney discovered when he sat in on a virtual meeting with executives from Philips 10 Mar 2010

Users give their verdict on Azure

Some of the first wave of UK adopters met in London recently to air their views on Microsoft’s cloud computing platform. Dave Bailey listened in 10 Mar 2010

Protests greet new Digital Economy Bill amendment

ISPs, digital rights groups and Liberal Democrat supporters cry foul 05 Mar 2010

Publishing special - Publishers innovate to survive

1) IT could hold the key to the future of publishing 2) Case Study: The Guardian harnesses social and mobile apps 3) How publishers are reacting to the iPad 02 Mar 2010

IT Leaders' Forum in association with IBM

A unique opportunity to hear from expert speakers and engage in a debate about the future of the CIO job function 29 Jan 2010

Advertisement

Keys to successful Service‐Oriented Architecture implementation

This white paper explores best practices and general design patterns for service oriented architecture (SOA).

The Roadmap to IT Maturity — Matching Strategy to Infrastructure for Business Success

This paper defines a roadmap for matching infrastructure strategy to business success.

Advertisement

Keep up to date with the latest products, services and technologies from the world's leading IT companies; ITHound.com brings you over 6,000 white papers, case studies and analyst reports.

Advertisement

Newsletter signup

Sign up for our range of FREE newsletters:

More available - click 'submit' to view

Existing User

Newsletter user login:

Jobs

Related jobs

Job of the week

Job alerts

Sign up here

Find your next job

IT Salary Checker

Check salary here

Advertisement

Latest poll

NHS centralised data

NHS centralised data

Do you think the NHS can be trusted to safely look after personal data electronically?

View poll results

Latest audio and video articles

Video

HP unveils S Series notebooks

'Prosumer' line overhauled 01 Mar 2010

Web Seminar Listings

Preparing for enterprise-scale Windows 7 migration

The web seminar on 18 Feb will discuss how Windows 7 migration can increase IT efficiency in large enterprises, freeing up budgetary and personnel resources to focus on business innovation. Our panel of experts will examine the strategies, tools and services IT leaders can use to migrate successfully and reap the rewards of increased efficiency. 19 Feb 2010

Latest in-depth articles

Martin CaveComment

Lessons to be learned from cricket's internet outing

Imagine the scene. It’s the final of one of the most popular sporting events in the Indian subcontinent and millions of people are glued to their laptops and PCs in anticipation of the four runs required off the last ball of the match. Suddenly the connection jitters and 20 seconds later you see the jubilant crowd flooding onto the field of play… 12 Mar 2010

Wayne GibbonsComment

Social networks are key to cracking China

Business social media can unlock the door to the world’s second-largest economy 10 Mar 2010

Primary Navigation