Kaspersky Lab’s New Endpoint Protection Solution

Kaspersky Lab announces the release of Kaspersky Endpoint Security 8 for Windows and Kaspersky Security Center. The new endpoint protection solution and comprehensive management console are designed to keep businesses ahead of emerging threats with intelligent security solutions from the leading anti-malware experts at Kaspersky Lab.

“With this new release we deliver a comprehensive Endpoint Protection Platform that consists of seamlessly integrated security modules. We have merged real-time, cloud-assisted protection with intelligent proactive endpoint protection, and have created a compelling security center that will help companies of all sizes protect themselves against emerging IT threats, including targeted attacks, and thus improve their productivity,” said Petr Merkulov, Chief Product Officer of Kaspersky Lab.

Deep anti-malware protection, based on Kaspersky Lab’s strong expertise and balanced global footprint, is supplemented with a broad set of IT security features, including Application Control, Web Filtering, and Device Control. Kaspersky Endpoint Security 8 for Windows integrates with a cloud-based security intelligence system, which provides real-time updates for new and unknown threats and support for application whitelisting.

The efficiency of Kaspersky Endpoint Security 8 for Windows has been proven in the first independent testing, conducted by AV-Test.org, the reputable German independent research center. A total of seven corporate security solutions from different vendors were evaluated in the testing, and Kaspersky Endpoint Security 8 for Windows was awarded the highest number of points. Specifically, Kaspersky Lab’s corporate solution successfully detected 100% of widespread malware samples, blocked all zero-day malware attacks, and returned the best result in the detection and removal of active malware from an infected machine. Detailed results of Kaspersky Endpoint Security 8 for Windows in the independent testing can be found at AV-Test.org.

Kaspersky Endpoint Security 8 for Windows is managed by a newly designed Kaspersky Security Center, which succeeds the Kaspersky Administration Kit. This new management console presents many new features for comprehensive control and manageability, supports physical as well as virtual environments, and is scalable to fit the needs growing businesses.
Common Threats in the Corporate Environment

According to a recent Kaspersky Lab survey, in the past 12 months at least one IT Security incident was experienced by 91% of the companies surveyed. Almost a third of company representatives questioned admitted that they had incurred sensitive data loss as a result of malware infection.

Though malware attacks are the most common type of business security threat, only 70% of the companies surveyed have fully implemented anti-malware protection; 3% have no anti-malware protection at all.

The list of the most immediate current threats also includes potentially dangerous software vulnerabilities, network attacks (including targeted and DDos attacks), phishing, and spam. Large companies in developing markets are those most frequently targeted by cyber criminals.

Besides protection from malware, most companies also actively use client firewalls as well as tools for vulnerability checks and updating software. But for protection of corporate infrastructure to be fully effective a security policy covering all endpoint devices needs to be enforced too. Control over programs used, network activity, and external devices can reduce the risk of unauthorized access to sensitive data and thus prevent possible financial losses.

Further reading: the whitepaper on Typical IT Security Mistakes in the Corporate Environment.
Key Features

The new versions of Kaspersky Endpoint Security 8 for Windows and Kaspersky Security Center provide intelligent protection by seamlessly harnessing new and improved features. The most notable among them are:

Enhanced Protection: The new anti-virus engine incorporates improved pattern-based signature technology, which offers efficient malware detection with smaller update sizes. The System Watcher module constantly monitors program activities and can undo damage caused by malicious programs.
Integration with the cloud: Kaspersky Endpoint Security 8 for Windows integrates with the Kaspersky Security Network, a cloud-based threat intelligence database that gathers and exchanges file, URL reputation and malware information in near real-time. Kaspersky Lab’s products and technologies protect more than 300 million users spread relatively evenly over five continents. This provides a balanced global footprint of “sensors” as well as knowledge of region-specific threats, and allows Kaspersky Lab to provide rapid and highly effective protection for businesses.

For more details read the Kaspersky Security Network whitepaper.

Application Control and Whitelisting strengthen companies’ security stance against targeted attacks by enabling IT administrators to set policies to:
allow or block certain applications (or application categories) using Application Startup Control;
monitor and restrict certain applications’ activities using Application Privilege Control; and
monitor and prioritize application vulnerabilities using the Application Vulnerability Monitor. This provides IT administrators with centralized reports about the most critical vulnerabilities of installed software and informs about possible risks.

For more details read the Application Control and Whitelisting whitepaper.

Endpoint Control: In addition to Application Control, this new solution provides effective tools for device control and web filtering, and enforces corporate security policies in order to reduce the attack surface. Device Control allows companies to create flexible and granular policies to manage device access privileges as per bus, device type, or individual device serial number. Web Filtering allows blocking of malicious websites and undesirable web content. Together with protection from web-based threats, Web Filtering ensures highly secure Internet access - especially important for remote or roaming workers.

For more details read the Endpoint Control whitepaper.

Intelligent Personal Firewall and Intrusion Detection System for enhanced protection from network attacks, regardless of connection type or location.
Manageability, scalability and virtualization support: Kaspersky Security Center is a centralized security management system that can create actionable reports on all aspects of IT security. This new management solution is fully scalable and supports virtualization technologies within the Security Center administration structure.
Manageability: Kaspersky Security Center is a central management and deployment console for Kaspersky Lab’s endpoint security solutions. It can use pre-defined policies and settings to provide immediate out-of-the-box protection, or be fine-tuned to allow for more precise and specific safeguards.
Virtualization support with scalability: Kaspersky Security Center is fully scalable and optimized to be used in virtualized environments, and supports VMware’s virtual machine management. Installation and maintenance of relevant Kaspersky Lab solutions on non-persistent virtual machines is also possible. There is also an option to create a two-level administration server hierarchy on a single physical server in order to reduce operating costs and set up an easily scalable security management system. This feature requires no third party virtualization tools.