With more and more services moving into the cloud, many small businesses are finding it difficult to protect themselves from the plethora of threats that infest the internet. Security used to be a little simpler before that advent of hosted applications and cloud based services and small businesses were able to get by with just malware protection on their PCs and servers. Today, those same businesses have to contend with a variety of threats, ranging from data interception to intrusions to blended attacks, and Web-based business services only increases the risks.
Panda Security may have the answer to that dilemma with a new security service aptly named Panda Cloud Office Protection. Panda’s new service offers a unified threat management and security mitigation by managing the delivery of desktop security via the cloud to give small businesses the best of both worlds for combating ever-increasing threats.
With hosted services, cloud based storage, social networking sites, web mail, and Web 2.0 applications (Ajax and .Net), it has become increasingly difficult to differentiate where data is stored and precisely where applications execute. Add to that the increasing use of remote computing and virtual desktops, and security becomes a very complex endeavor indeed.
Panda’s service aims to reduce the administrative burden associated with traditional security layers, which are typically deployed at the PC level, the Server level and at the edge of networks. Those traditional solutions use a HIPs (Host-Based Intrusion Prevention) approach that requires anti-malware and anti-intrusion engines, as well as security suite software, installed on every endpoint and a security/management server installed at the edge of each managed network.
At best, that proves to be an expensive undertaking involving hardware, software and licensing expenses. At worst, that proves to be a management nightmare, which sucks up time and money, while providing less than ideal protection. Any way you look at it, traditional security solutions prove to be lacking when it comes to the small business environment, especially if those small businesses have multiple sites and leverage a mobile work force.
Panda’s goal is to offer businesses increased protection and eschew all of the required elements of the past by eliminating the most of the traditional HIPs components. How is that possible? Panda is turning to the very same environment that creates security problems to build a comprehensive security solution – and that environment is the cloud.
Panda Cloud Office Protection is a security solution for networked PCs – based on the concept of Software as a Service (SaaS), which shifts installation, maintenance and management chores to the cloud. That reduces the need for on-site security components and solutions, which are often hard to maintain and prove to be expensive. The idea here is to let small businesses focus more on their core competencies instead of pushing resources towards the administrative burdens of security.
The net result is increased security, which is simple to use and offers reduced operating costs. The product combines 2 pieces of technology, local software clients for endpoints and a management console that runs in the cloud (on Panda’s servers), which is accessed via a web browser.
Installation proves to be very easy, with all the security software delivered to the local PC or server via an installation agent, manually launched at the PC, or automatically installed using login scripts, active directory policies or other policy tools. The PC install can be silent, in other words, no end user activity is required to install the client portion of the product.
The installation file is smaller than six megabytes, making downloading and installation almost instantaneous. Once installed, the product adds a small “panda bear” icon to the taskbar, which users can click on to execute manual scans, check the basic status of their PCs and so on. Ease of use seems to be the rule of the day, at least with the client portion of the product. All screens are easy to understand and access to online (as well as local) help is just a mouse click away. For the most part, end users can simply ignore the little panda bear on their task bar and let the software take care of security.
Administrators will use the management console to perform a variety of tasks, ranging from managing individual PC’s security settings to generating reports to tracking licenses. The management console also offers real-time network statistics, which can come in handy for tracking security problems and reacting to those problems quickly, before they spread.
The management console requires no installation or setup, as a SaaS product, administrators simply access the console via a web browser using the credentials assigned by Panda. The console is intuitive, which ultimately is a good thing, simply because most security suites have become overly complex. The browser based interface has the various management options divvied up by tabs at the top of the screen. “Status”, which is the default tab, is launched when accessing the console and gives a 10,000 foot view into the security status of the collective endpoints using a couple of informative graphs. The graphs offer a quick assessment of the types of infections and the source of those infections and prove to be a good indicator that the product is working properly.
The “Computers” tab offers a view into the status of each protected endpoint and allows the administrator to drill down further to gather information about registered endpoints, including their statuses and other pertinent details. Administrators can select to “blacklist” PCs, removing PCs from the security database. Adding a computer to the blacklist eliminates managed protection for that system.
An “Installation and Settings” tab provides the functionality needed to deploy the client software, create groups and modify profiles. Administrators will find multiple ways to deploy the client, including a direct download “.MSI” application file, a network deployment tool and an internet URL that when launched in a browser will automatically install the client software on a PC. The profile’s control allows administrators to vary the level of protection, control actions taken by the client software and manage the default settings on each client PC.
Administrators can use profiles to customize end-point pop-up messages and create automated actions, such as automatically cleaning infected files, scheduling updates and enforcing firewall policies. Although Panda Cloud Office Protection offers numerous features and capabilities, there is some room for improvement. For example, the administrative interface could offer a more comprehensive look at individual PCs, allowing administrators to check the scan results and status of an individual PC, without running a report. What’s more, it would be beneficial if an administrator could remotely instigate an immediate security scan on an individual PC and then monitor the results in real-time, without having to define a scheduled event. More comprehensive system activity reports with easy to define filters would be another welcome improvement. The client application also has some room for improvement – for example, if the end user could simply click on the “Panda Bear” icon and determine the security status of their system (ie. Group membership, deployed policies, local reports), that could ease tech support issues and give the end user a better understanding of the security used on their systems.
Panda Cloud Office Protection brings many features to the world of SMB security at an affordable price of $55 per user per year. The company does offer multi-year discounts, further lowing the total cost of ownership. From the security standpoint, the product proves to be a good value by offering all of the needed security functions at a competitive price, while throwing in remote, consolidated endpoint management. Small business operators and their solutions providers will also find additional value in the product’s ease of use and hands off approach to endpoint security – which ultimately makes security more foolproof and guarantees a higher level of protection. Although the product could benefit from some minor administrative and management improvements, users will still find themselves well protected from the vast array of viruses, malware and other security ills found in today’s internet connected world.
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