This agreement with the Department of the Interior (DOI), which will exceed $2 million in maintenance and implementation costs, encompasses nine agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and is part of an overall government initiative to enhance the security of sensitive information.
The DOI Symantec enterprise agreement includes an enterprise license for the Symantec AntiVirus enterprise edition for the entire agency. In addition, it provides a blanket purchase agreement allowing the bureaus to take advantage of pre-negotiated costs on Symantec products.
Merlin said that its professional services team will work with departmental staff to implement and manage the security software, enabling the DOI to maintain an increased awareness of its security capabilities and help avoid the loss of important information through viral attacks such as network worms, viruses, Trojans and other malicious programs.
Using Symantec’s data and system protection, the DOI will be able to recover faster from system failures or viral attacks. Firewalls will ensure protection from viruses and network intrusions. Intrusion protection will allow the DOI to regulate and prevent the use of prevent inappropriate use of its information systems. Overall, the applications will focus on securing increasingly sensitive online interactions, such as financial transactions and cross-departmental information, as well as increasingly malicious threats and crimeware.
The DOI is the nation’s principal conservation agency. It is responsible for the protection of America’s natural resources, including fish and wildlife, as well as land and water. The department also maintains relationships with Native American populations, and preserves the cultural and natural heritage of the US. The DOI manages one out of every three acres of land in the US and provides 31 million Americans with power through a network of 820 dams and reservoirs.
