Barracuda will provide Swansea City with its purpose built NextGen Firewalls, complemented by a Web Security Gateway and Barracuda Essentials for internal users, in order to help protect the organisation’s network over four different sites, including two networks within the club’s Liberty stadium.
Designed for the cloud era, Barracuda’s NextGen Firewalls consolidate advanced, next-generation firewall, link balancing, and WAN Optimisation technologies into one easy-to-manage appliance capable of on-premises, cloud, and virtual deployments. The Web Security Gateway unites award-winning spyware, malware, and virus protection with a powerful policy and reporting engine. Barracuda Essentials is a multi-layer security, cloud backup and archiving solution designed to help make Office 365 secure.
“We are delighted that Barracuda has agreed to become a sponsor,’’ confirmed Swans Chief Operating Officer Chris Pearlman. “Barracuda is a blue chip company in the heart of the Silicon Valley that operates throughout the world.
“A recent internal review highlighted the fact that our IT security system wasn’t protecting us from every attack and we needed a major upgrade” continued Pearlman, “With the club’s players, management team and administration staff all relying on the network day-to-day, we needed to ensure that it was protected from advanced threats. With Barracuda now on board, not only do we have peace of mind that our network is safe, but we are also able to manage the network via a single pane of glass.”
Swansea’s previous solution was outdated, and it was failing to protect the club from today’s advanced attacks, such as ransomware. The organisation also didn’t previously employ a full backup, archiving and security solution for Microsoft Office 365.
Barracuda Networks will also become a Swans’ sponsor. It is the first season that the Premier League has allowed one of the sleeves to carry a sponsor on its shirts. The Swans are one of only a few clubs to confirm a sponsorship deal ahead of the new campaign.
Chris Ross, SVP International, Barracuda Networks said: “Having a football club such as The Swans selecting us to protect their networks is an important accolade for Barracuda. With cyber attackers becoming ever more sophisticated, it’s important that organisations replace legacy solutions so that their cyber security protection stays up-to-date with the latest threats. In the fast-moving world of cyber security, you can no longer afford to get left behind. We’re also delighted to be putting our support behind Swansea City, and would like to take this opportunity to wish the club well for the next season of the Premier League. We’re looking forward to building a strong relationship over the coming year."
