Tag Archives: Endpoint protection

Panda Security

Panda Endpoint Protection Is Given The VB100 Certificate By Virus Bulletin For Windows 10

Leave a comment

virus-bulletin-panda-awards

Panda Security’s cybersecurity solutions have been recognized by the independent consultancy Virus Bulletin, which specializes in the prevention, detection, and elimination of malicious software and spam.

The publication, which regularly features analyses of the latest virus threats and evaluations of the leading anti-malware products on the market, has awarded Panda Endpoint Protection the VB100 certificate in the most recent comparative examination of 2016 with Windows 10 Pro.

The publication, which regularly features analyses of the latest virus threats and evaluations of the leading anti-malware products on the market, has awarded Panda Endpoint Protection the VB100 certificate in the most recent comparative examination of 2016 with Windows 10 Pro.

Panda Security consistently maintains excellent results in the latest tests, placing the Spanish company in a privileged position.

See the complete report with study results here.

Quality Assurance Certification

Windows 10 has become the predetermined OS for Windows launched by Microsoft. There have been various issues which have set off alarm bells for some of the most cautious users.

The first characteristic of Microsoft’s new operating system that we should be aware of is that it has been designed like a cloud service. This means that now, whether you like it or not, you will share more information than ever with Microsoft. Fortunately, there are some things that you can configure to minimize the damage if you consider this to be a threat to your security.

Another of the characteristics of Windows 10 that has caused much debate is the “Advertisement ID”. It is basically a code, a unique identification number, which works like the cookies of a webpage.

For some, the new location options that Microsoft has included may feel invasive. Also potentially invasive is the fact that, as happens with Apple’s Siri or with Google Now, this tool requires access to large quantities of personal information in order to respond to whatever questions a user may ask it.

If this new operating system still hasn’t convinced you, and you’d prefer to keep your information private after installing Windows 10, the most advisable course of action would be to turn to a good cybersecurity solution such as the one offered by Panda Security, compatible with Windows 10 and vouched for by Virus Bulletin.

The post Panda Endpoint Protection Is Given The VB100 Certificate By Virus Bulletin For Windows 10 appeared first on Panda Security Mediacenter.

Panda Security

How To Evaluate a Next- generation Endpoint Protection

Leave a comment

Adaptive-defense-document

We are lately seeing blogs attempting to publicly demonstrate that next-generation protection solutions, like Adaptive Defense, are vulnerable. These proofs of concept aim to demonstrate that there are malicious files that evade detection when reaching a system or attempting to run. The problem with these demonstrations is that the writer expects the malicious files to be stopped before being run. But that’s a mistake, and reveals a clear misunderstanding of this new protection model based on the continuous monitoring of process activities.

To be truly effective, a next-generation solution must provide continuous protection against all types of attacks. This means that it must offer continuous prevention, detection at runtime, visibility into every action taken, and intelligence to block malicious actions such as lateral movements.  It is not enough to provide detection at file level based on a list of malware files. Efficient security means being able to protect systems before, after and during an attack.

The cyber-security ‘war’ goes beyond the ‘battle’ of detecting malicious files when they reach a computer or attempt to run. It will be won by whoever is capable of efficiently, seamlessly and unobtrusively monitoring every process running on devices, blocking those that, despite being apparently and initially harmless, show malicious behaviors. Today’s malware is extremely sophisticated and should never be underestimated. But not ony that…

Protection is not only about detecting threats before, after and during an attack, it is also remeadiation and prevention.

That’s why a next-generation solution must also include response and remediation capabilities. These products are known in the security sector as EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) solutions, and they incorporate forensic analysis tools capable of tracing every action taken on the endpoint in order to remediate and prevent present and future attacks.

Why past methodologies are no longer valid

Panda Adaptive Defense integrates all of those features into a single Next-Generation protection solution based on continuous monitoring, and which provides prevention, detection, visibility and intelligence to block known and unknown attacks. In addition to continuous monitoring via hundreds of sensors, Adaptive Defense also provides forensic analysis tools for efficient remediation and prevention.

When  you read these proofs of concept, you must understand that they are not real. The fact that a security solution doesn’t detect a file as malware at the time of reaching a system doesn’t mean that it is not efficient. On the contrary, in the particular case of Adaptive Defense, it is perfectly possible that the solution doesn’t detect the file at that time, but it will detect it as soon as it attempts to run, or will monitor and block it during an attack.

This ability is not present in traditional solutions based on a more or less generalist malware blacklisting strategy, and which rely on detecting malicious files on the system or when attempting to run. With these solutions, if a malicious file is not classified as malware, it will be allowed to run regardless of the actions it carries out during its life cycle.

Adaptive Defense might also let it run, albeit keeping an eye on it at all times and reporting its activities to our Machine Learning Intelligence platform. This system, which is in constant evolution and correlates data from thousands of endpoints with hundreds of sensors, will determine if the file’s activities constitute malicious behavior, in which case it will prevent it from running. Then, the file will be immediately classified either automatically or by a team of cyber-security experts. This analysis will determine with complete accuracy the nature of the attack. The old model doesn’t provide any of this.

Welcome to the Next-Generation Panda Security!

The post How To Evaluate a Next- generation Endpoint Protection appeared first on Panda Security Mediacenter.

Avast

5 questions with Timmy Forson: Business Support Hall-of-Famer

Leave a comment
Business support person, Timmy Forson

Business support Hall-of-Famer, Timmy Forson

Timothy “Timmy” Forson is one of Avast’s business products finest Support Specialists. He began working at Avast on June 1st, 2015. We sat down to learn more about one of our support Hall-of-Famers. This is 5 questions with Timmy!

1. What is your role at Avast Software?

Senior Support Specialist. Basically I support all our business solution customers, from Endpoint and Server protection to Avast for Business via email, phone, and chat. I work from our Charlotte, North Carolina office.

2. What is your approach to supporting customers?

First, I analyze the customer’s issues one step at a time, this way I can gather a clear and concise picture of the overall problem. Then through a streamlined method of troubleshooting, I can provide a solution for the customer’s issue and communicate that as plainly as possible.

In this, I am not only solving the customer’s issue but also educating the customer about what caused the issue and how it can be further avoided. This way the customer walks away truly feeling how much they mean to us and not just like another number to the company. We want our customers to have a positive experience with support.  

3. What is your favorite part of chat support?

Not knowing what will show up in chat next. It is very rewarding taking someone’s bad day and turning it around just like that.

4. A lot of us have been “that customer,” the one that runs to support for something obvious. What is the funniest issue you’ve ever had to resolve? (KEEP IT G-RATED TIMMY ) :-)

This would have to be a customer that came into chat one day and needed help downloading the installer file from the console. I asked the customer to click on the blue “add new devices” button. They looked all over that page for the button and could not find it….about 30 seconds later they reply ”…oh…the blinking blue button that says ‘add new devices?” ….Yes….that is it I replied. Everyone has those moments.

5. Traditionally the last question is not work related. I understand you fly stuff. Tell me all about that, then tell me what your favorite plane is and why?

I have been flying since the age of 14 (it runs in the family). I started out in a J-3 Piper Cub and rapidly moved my way up through the Cessna Caravan and also have time in a B-200 King Air and a BeachJet 400.

Currently, I fly search and rescue for the Civil Air Patrol (CAP), an auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force. We conduct 95% of all homeland search and rescue missions. We operate a beefed-up Cessna 182, and the Gruman GA-8.

Along with flying the big airplanes, I also enjoy designing, building, and flying R/C model aircraft as well. I currently have a collection of 12 airplanes and 4 helicopters. Here’s a video of Timmy flying one of his helicopters in the meeting room at Avast offices in Charlotte.

I would have to say that I have two favorite aircraft; the first one is from WW2 called the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt. It was a formidable fighter with a reputation for taking a pounding and bringing its pilots home safe. The other is my favorite fighter of today – the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet. I fell in love with these aircraft the first time I saw them when I was 5 years old at an airshow in Maryland.

Flying is the one thing that I can say without a doubt I am 100% passionate about. I am also a member of the Avast Aviators group on Google Plus. It is an internal group for anyone in Avast that enjoys the splendors of aviation.

Follow Avast on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google+ where we keep you updated on cybersecurity news every day.

Avast

Avast for Business: Zero to One Million endpoints protected in less than a year

Leave a comment

Avast for Business takes off

 

Since the launch of Avast for Business, a free, cloud-managed security solution, in February 2015, organizations worldwide have deployed it to protect more than one million PCs, Macs, and servers from cyberattacks and data breaches.

Avast for Business is successful across diverse sectors

Avast for Business is extremely popular with Education, Non-profits, Retail, Healthcare, IT consulting firms, and small business because many organizations lack the IT resources to install costly and complex security solutions. Avast for Business is easily scalable and managed from anywhere. Additionally, Avast for Business starts at a price everyone can afford: Free, making it a natural fit for organizations worldwide.

Education IT admins value easy deployment, management, and the free cost

The sector that has embraced Avast for Business whole-heartedly is Education. IT administrators from universities, school districts, private and charter schools, libraries, and museums all tell us that ease of deployment and management is at the top of their security solution wish list. The fact that it’s also free makes it an easy decision.

“Avast for Business is so easy to deploy and monitor, it’s made the administration of our network much smoother,” said Jothan Virgil, an IT Administrator at Alabama State University. The university has a large network managed by multiple IT professionals, with over 1,000 faculty and staff members and more than 5,600 students. Avast for Business now protects all of them from one console.

“We had AVG before switching to Avast and we really needed to simplify our security solution,” said Tyler Hisel, an IT technician with the Chillicothe City School District in Ohio. He needed software with easy-to-use centralized management where he could monitor the district’s devices. “All we wanted was a simple security solution that worked, and I knew we didn’t have to pay a fortune for it,” he said, “Avast was cost saving and had lots of features that I was surprised came free,” said Tyler. “I’ve got to hand it to you, it’s really an impressive product and it being free just makes it better.”

Non-profits value ease-of-use and the free cost

Monitoring their budget is a priority for non-profits. Avast for Business is free and compared to other antivirus solutions, the optional support costs are nominal. Michael Hensley, Information and Facilities Officer at NeighborImpact, a non-profit human-services agency in central Oregon switched from BitDefender because of the costs.

“The savings on software were extremely helpful in budgeting for our hardware upgrade. The extra money allowed us to get hardware in a different category than we otherwise would have been able to afford,” he said.

Hensley’s staff is not tech-savvy, which contributed to significant security issues in the past.

“The fact that [Avast for Business] is cloud-managed is the primary feature that we needed. We have offices and classrooms distributed throughout the area. We are able to monitor all of our computers from the web-console which has shown consistent improvement.”

SMBs and MSPs value prevention, support, and the free cost

Many businesses have budgeted for security, so free software isn’t the priority, but it certainly doesn’t hurt. Scott Quinn from Montana-based Caritas Design, a small husband and wife web-design firm said, “Any savings are huge for us.”

Despite the huge savings, the primary need is simple managementfrom a solution designed “to keep our clients and servers in a secure environment,” said Levent Silay, of Login Business Solutions, a Managed Service Provider in Istanbul, Turkey. The advantages of Avast’s cloud-managed business security according to Silay are “the quick and easy installation, the monitoring screen that helps in the visualization of all the computers on the network, the online management that can be utilized from anywhere, and the fact that it’s simple and there is no need for training.”

When managing your own business or multiple clients, quick support is essential. Quinn says, “Their support has been amazing on the rare occasions I’ve needed to utilize them. I would, and will, recommend Avast for Business to everyone I encounter.”

Avast for Business is available for every business worldwide

Avast for Business is free for every organization worldwide. Visit Avast for Business to learn more and sign up.

Avast

U.S. schools give an F to 2014-15 IT budget

Leave a comment

AVAST Free For Education saves school IT money

AVAST Free for Education protects schools while significantly decreasing IT costs for security.

The beginning of the 2014/2015 school year is here. Parents and children are ready after a long summer break, but are schools prepared for the start of the new academic year?

AVAST surveyed more than 900 school IT professionals who participate in the AVAST Free for Education program and found that in terms of technology, schools are not as well equipped as parents expect.

  • 8 out of every 10 schools surveyed by AVAST said they do not feel they have adequate funding to keep up-to-date with technologies
  • 1 out of 5 schools still run Windows XP, and 12% of these schools said they do not intend to upgrade the unsupported operating system

Failing to upgrade to the most up-to-date software not only makes machines vulnerable to attacks, but also hinders the amount of programs that can be used by teachers and students. Keeping up with the most current technology is vital, as it has become ubiquitous in daily life, making it a valuable skill for children to have for the future. Despite technology’s important place in education,

  • 4 out of 10 school’s IT budgets are slashed for the upcoming school year
  • More than a quarter of schools have a $0 IT budget for this year

Technology in schools is not limited to instruction. Sensitive information about faculty, staff, and students is stored on administrative computers. This information needs to be protected from cybercriminals, which is difficult for schools with little to no IT budget. Schools without adequate protection put local families, faculty, and expensive hardware at risk.

AVAST Free for Education helps schools by providing them with enterprise-grade antivirus protection for free, saving school districts an average of $14,285 a year. The AVAST Free for Education program saves school IT departments money they can spend on software and hardware upgrades or use for supplies and salaries.

EDU infograph August 2014

Thank you for using avast! Antivirus and recommending us to your friends and family. For all the latest news, fun and contest information, please follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Business owners – check out our business products.