Centrally Managed Virus Protection Service

Centrally Managed Virus Protection is an automated service providing updates for McAfee AV software for schools subscribing to the anti virus element of the Hampshire IT SLA and who are connected to HPSN SWAN.

The majority of Hampshire schools purchase the McAfee virus scan licence via the Hampshire IT SLA and are responsible for ensuring they remain current with relevant McAfee software updates. Rolling out upgrades can be time consuming and disruptive, and schools therefore have the option of using the centrally managed service to automate and simplify deployment.

To participate schools must subscribe to the virus protection element of the Hampshire IT SLA and be connected to SWAN/HPSN2.

How does ePO work?

The service is delivered using McAfee ePO (Electronic Policy Orchestrator), the diagram shows how this has been implemented in Hampshire. By using this model, we achieve the following benefits:

• Schools McAfee virus protection software (engine and signature files) is kept fully up to date.
• Fully automated service.
• Significantly reduced risk of virus infection in schools.
• Hampshire IT and nominated school contact are automatically alerted in the event of any virus activity.
• Consistent with the corporate Hampshire County Council virus protection services.
• Completely secure within the SWAN/HPSN2 environment.
• No training required for the standard service.
• Provides Hampshire IT with real time technical information about the school IT infrastructure (eg, OS and service pack version, free hard disk space, memory size, etc) necessary for support and major project rollout purposes. Please note: Hampshire IT will have no access to any school data.
  

Impact for schools

Initial setup

We can automate the initial ePO set-up process for schools with networks supplied by Hampshire IT, but this isn’t possible for schools running third party networks. Instead, we can provide you with a free of charge MSI (Microsoft Installer)  for you to install the relevant McAfee agents across your network. You can also arrange with your network supplier to install them, who might charge for this work.

After ePO has been set up, schools are responsible for making sure that the McAfee software remains installed on all connected client machines, following these instructions. If your McAfee icon is missing from any client computer following migration to ePO, then it has not installed properly and you should contact the IT Help Desk immediately.

Ongoing McAfee Updates (engine and signature files)

Once the relevant McAfee agents are installed across the school network all approved software updates will install automatically.

Adding new network clients

We have configured EdICTNet to automatically install the relevant McAfee agent onto any new machines added to the network. However, this is not possible for third party networks. You will need to arrange deployment of the agent to all new client machines (via MSI) or arrange with your local supplier to do this for you. Your supplier may charge for this work.

Replacement network

Please contact the IT Help Desk if you are having a replacement local area network installed by a third party supplier but you still require Hampshire IT to provide automatic McAfee anti virus monitoring and updates. Regardless of whether you currently subscribe to this centrally managed service we will still need to configure your server as a Superagent and provide you with the latest McAfee agent. If you are having an EdICTNet installed, there is no need to do anything; this will all be taken care of for you as part of the installation service.

Service charges

The ePO service charge is included in the McAfee Virus Scan option in the Hampshire IT SLA and there are no additional charges for the service, which includes:

• Initial connection to new automated service (as already indicated above, third party network schools may need assistance from their local supplier).
• Auto deployment of Hampshire IT approved McAfee software updates.
• Any virus related help call (from SLA).
• Adding a school specific exception (i.e. file which should not be auto scanned for viruses).
• Setting up virus email notifications for nominated school contacts.

Hampshire IT reserves the right to charge at £75 per hour for any additional requirements such as:

• Local management of the ePO console and associated training.
• Amending standard ePO policies/rules.
• Running/setting up reports for individual schools.

(Additional requirements are unlikely to exceed one hour.)

Hampshire IT responsibilities

• Assistance with the initial connection to ePO.
• Ongoing monitoring of ePO.
• Provide early communication of any version updates etc.
• Assistance in clearing a virus outbreaks should one occur.

School responsibilities

• We would suggest that schools do regular spot checks as a ‘belt and braces’ approach to ensuring machines are kept up to date with the latest virus definitions etc, and report any machines that appear to be out of date to the IT Help Desk.

Next steps

Please complete this form if you would like to sign up to use ePO.

Further information:

ePO FAQ page

McAfee website

Contact us For urgent issues, call the IT Help Desk on 01962 847007. For anything else, see our contact page.