This is the last in the series (maybe I’ll add to this in future) and I thought I’d run through some of the cloud offerings Symantec has. Like most software vendors, Symantec has a number of solutions that have been placed in a cloud environment allowing access from anywhere, and packages as ready-to-go as possible.
Symantec Endpoint Protection Small Business Edition
Great application to protect data and information on servers, workstations or laptops and targeted at the small to medium-sized companies. It’s east to set up and can be installed self-service style by someone in IT in the company. Management is easy as you’re able to add or remove users or devices with minimal effort. It offers protection in the form of a firewall and IPS, antivirus, Reputation (through Insight), Behaviour by monitoring different types of file behaviour (through SONAR) and has the ability to block the use of USB devices. Best of all is that it is managed from the Cloud, and you can access this management platform from anywhere.
There is a trial which you can access on the link below:
https://hostedendpoint.spn.com/default.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2f
Endpoint Protection Cloud
Endpoint Protection Cloud is aimed at larger companies who want to leverage Cloud as a means of managing and protecting their onsite hardware. This is great to use if you staff with limited experience in managing a security platform, or not enough staff to do this, and offers the Security-as-a-Service option for a company.
Management of the software is done through the Cloud portal, and Endpoint Protection Cloud is a fully functional version of the software you would normally install onsite. It is a proven product, a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant, and worth a look if you are wanting to move an existing Endpoint Protection installation to the Cloud, or implement a new installation of it.
As before, there is a trial version available which is worth a look at:
Email Security.cloud
This is a cloud-based security application that protects your Office 365 environment, and while Office 365 has some form of protection, this simply does it better and more in-depth.
You’re able to implement more advanced levels of security to protect your data and emails for your organization that you would using the built-in security on Office 365 itself.
There is no trial for this so you need to contact a reseller to see if you’re able to get access to look into it further.
Symantec Cloud Workload Protection
If you’re looking for a way to protect your workloads on either a public cloud, or a hybrid cloud environment then Cloud Workload Protection is the application you should look into. It’s easily deployable from the AWS Marketplace and setup should be relatively easy and painless as a result. As with other Symantec products, you’re able to manage your workloads across any of your environments (private cloud, public cloud, hybrid cloud) while also scanning AWS S3 buckets for instance in order to keep them free of any malware or data breaches and theft.
As you’re looking at moving into a Cloud environment, something like Cloud Workload Protection should give you the necessary levels of single-pane management and security across your expanding environment, and not have to add more layers of protection, which in turn will complicate matters.
You can get your free trial on the link below:
https://securitycloud.symantec.com/cc/#/onboard
So while Symantec has a number of other options when it comes to software running in the Cloud, I chose the above to give you an idea of what’s on offer. As I have mentioned before, you’re using some form of Cloud computing as it stands now, be it O365, Dropbox, Gmail etc.
Using a vendor’s software but running from the Cloud frees up your local onsite resources required to run the same application, and you can manage this from anywhere, at any time, across numerous platforms. Ease-of-use is guaranteed as these would mostly be set up to be up-and-running quickly and with little effort. You've also got access to software that's patched probably faster than you would be able too, and have access to the latest software which would simply be a click away. No more lengthy upgrades to server management software that needs to be planned for, or operational time taken to do so.
As you consume more cloud services, it’s going to be more apparent you need a single place from which to control, deploy, and manage any services, and trialling what Symantec has to offer will be the ideal place to start.