News

McAfee signs preservation deal with Bletchley Park Trust

Security firm teams up with home of the Codebreakers to preserve heritage site

23 Oct 2013

McAfee has signed a five-year partnership with the Bletchley Park Trust to help preserve the World War Two heritage site.

The Trust looks after the estate in Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, where the codebreaker Alan Turing and his team cracked the German Enigma code, and the first UK signals intelligence centre was established, both of which greatly boosted the Allied war effort.

The site is currently undergoing an 8 million restoration funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and, once completed, hopes to attract 250,000 visitors a year, as well as providing school visit facilities for more than 16,000 pupils annually.

The first phase of the restoration is due to be completed in time for the 70th anniversary of D-Day in June 2014.

McAfee's involvement will see the anti-virus software company sponsor an international Cyber Security Exhibition and Computer Learning Zone, which will be located in a block of Bletchly Park that, until the restoration started, had been derelict for decades.

Gert-Jan Schenk, president of EMEA at McAfee, said: "McAfee is immensely proud to be involved with the preservation and development of such a vital part of British and world history.

"Working with Bletchley Park allows us to make a real impact on the cyber security education of children. Helping to keep the next generation safe was a key driver for partnering with The Bletchley Park Trust, not to mention the chance to help commemorate the part Bletchley Park played in the birth of the information age."

Sir John Scarlett, chairman of the Bletchley Park Trust, added: "The Codebreakers at Bletchley Park during World War Two battled against the very real threat of invasion.

"Today, when we live so much of our lives online, it is vital to understand how best to remain safe in the digital world. Our strategic partnership with McAfee is a fitting tribute to the pioneering men and women who helped to shorten World War Two."