A New Take on Endpoint Security

A New Take on Endpoint Security

Small and mid-sized businesses are becoming keenly aware of the increasing need to protect their endpoints from exposure. Endpoint devices include servers, laptops, and desktops, and these devices are vital to a business’ operations. While threats are becoming more sophisticated and targeting endpoint devices, end users are demanding increased productivity and access into the network (remote, VPN, web-based, telecommuting, use of unmanaged devices). Throw regulatory compliance mandates into the mix, and businesses are finding themselves scrambling to implement, monitor and enforce controls that protect endpoint devices.

The reality
Each of the following business problems related to endpoint protection has different technology requirements and issues:

• Endpoint management costs are increasing: Cost of downtime impacts both productivity and revenue. Costs to acquire, manage and administer point products are increasing, as well as the demand on system resources.
  Complexity is also increasing: Complexity and manpower to manage disparate endpoint protection technologies is inefficient and time consuming.
• Growing number of new known and unknown threats: Stealth-based and silent attacks are increasing, and antivirus technology alone is not enough to stop many of these attacks. A layered solution is necessary, but this can be difficult to manage, and costly to deploy.
• Non-compliant endpoints on the network: Controlling the array of endpoints and monitoring compliance is an important yet increasingly difficult task.

The variety of threats to endpoints in today’s security landscape is growing, and each threat requires specific security technology, which can lead to multiple consoles and disparate solutions.

For example:

• Virus, malware, and Trojans are stopped with antivirus
• Spyware and rootkits are picked up by antispyware
• Worms can be stopped with a firewall
• Buffer overflow and zero day exploits can be thwarted with intrusion prevention
• Slurping & ID theft can be managed by device control
• Non-compliant endpoints can be turned away with network access control

Individually, these technologies are too complex and costly for many small and mid-sized businesses to manage. Because of these inefficiencies, many of these businesses are left with inadequate endpoint protection. However, Symantec has a new unified approach to endpoint security that can make unified protection a reality.

Symantec Endpoint Security Solution
With Symantec’s Endpoint Security Solution, your business utilizes a single agent and console that includes all of the security solutions needed to reduce endpoint exposure. This means increased protection control and manageability for your business. It also means cost, complexities, and exposure are reduced.

At its core, Symantec’s Endpoint Security Solution is comprised of two products:

• Symantec Endpoint Protection v11.0 — Provides best-of-breed antivirus, antispyware, network threat protection, and proactive threat protection technologies.
• Symantec Network Access Control v11.0 — Ensures endpoints are protected and compliant prior to accessing the network. Provides monitoring for non-compliant and unauthorized endpoints, as well as remote and wireless workers. Symantec Network Access Control (SNAC) Starter Edition is a perfect fit for businesses that want to explore a NAC solution using Gateway or self-enforcement methods.

Benefits of Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.0

• Provides a single unified agent that offers antivirus, anti-spyware, firewall, IPS, device control and NAC capabilities
• Reduced footprint allows for better performance than with previous versions of Symantec AntiVirus
• Integrates award-winning and market-leading proactive technologies from Symantec, Sygate, and Whole Security into a single technology
• Reduces the total cost of ownership and administrative effort of endpoint security
• Flexible Policy – Delivers location-aware policies depending on the connection location and type of connection, user or device identity

Conclusion
With Symantec’s Endpoint Security Solution, you can protect your small or mid-sized business and its critical assets by preventing security outbreaks and malware and crimeware from spreading. Unlike our competitors, Symantec Enterprise Protection offers proven world-class protection in a single agent deployment without added resource overhead, so you can efficiently manage your business’ IT security and be confident that corporate assets and business are protected. Your business will enjoy optimum protection from known and unknown threats by providing seamless and multi-layered endpoint protection and simplifying endpoint security administration. Symantec Endpoint Protection will help you save time and money while protecting your assets and business.

A note on deployment:
Altiris, a service-oriented management solutions provider, is now part of Symantec. The Altiris Client Management Suite offers the ideal configuration and deployment tools for Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.0 and Symantec Network Access Control 11.0. Using the Altiris suite, your IT staff will be able to deploy, manage, and troubleshoot Symantec’s Endpoint Security Solution from virtually anywhere.

from Symantec