All Macs on campus are currently running Sophos 7 for Mac OS X. Sophos 8 for Mac OS X has been out for a while but due to performance issues, we have not been ready to release it until now.

Our concerns have been addressed, so we’re happy to release Sophos 8.0.3 onto the University Mac family. This will happen this week and with no user intervention required. When it happens you’ll notice a larger update than normal and the GUI is more in keeping with OS X.

Hardware requirements for Sophos 8 are identical as for Sophos 7 and we would recommend a reboot afterwards at your convenience.

What do you gain? Other than the better GUI you now get the “Live Protection” module which Windows users have been enjoying for a while.

http://www.sophos.com/en-us/why-sophos/innovative-technology/live-protection.aspx

 

While we’re on the subject on Mac security please ensure that your departmental Mac OS X and iOS devices are fully patched as there is a lot of Mac malware around at at the moment, e.g. Flashback (an OS X botnet comprising an estimated 600,000 Macs). Please note that Apple are only patching you if you’re on 10.5 Leopard or later.

http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2012/05/14/apple-lion-security-updates-malware/

 

We would like to remind you that Sophos Antivirus protection is free for use at home by all University staff and University students. This does not include other people living in the same house.

However, if you’re a Mac user then Sophos is free for *everyone*:

http://www.sophos.com/en-us/products/free-tools/sophos-antivirus-for-mac-home-edition.aspx

 

If you have any further questions, please contact its-help@reading.ac.uk

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