Intel Security has revamped its product range around the "protect, detect, correct" mantra it debuted this time last year.
Intel Security's latest range of McAfee products addresses four facets of security: dynamic endpoint, pervasive data protection, data centre and cloud defence, and intelligent security operations, with appropriate integration to improve their effectiveness.
Dynamic endpoint comprises McAfee Endpoint Security 10.5 and McAfee Active Response 2.0 software, with capabilities including dynamic application containment to prevent infections spreading, APT protection using containment and machine learning using both static pre-execution analysis and dynamic post-execution analysis from the cloud to help detect zero-day malware in near real time, and integrated web and endpoint protection.
A demonstration of these capabilities showed that even if the cloud-based portion detected a previously unknown threat after the malware was executed on a PC, its effects could be reversed automatically by restoring the system to its previous state.
{loadposition stephen08}Pervasive data protection is designed to accomodate the growing use of SaaS. Components include McAfee DLP for Mobile Email 10.0, McAfee Web Gateway Cloud Service, and McAfee Cloud Data Protection (currently in beta, includes cloud access security broker capability).
"Sometimes 'bad' is just an employee trying to get their job done," said vice-president of enterprise solutions marketing Candace Worley, giving the example of someone uploading flies to Box or Dropbox so they could work on them on a home computer after hours.
Data centre and cloud defence combines server security, network security and threat intelligence sharing to enable a single view of security across data centre environments. The capabilities of McAfee Server Security Suite 4.5 and McAfee Virtual Network Security Platform 8.3 include cloud workload discovery, and unified perimeter and virtual machine protection, with tight integration across McAfee Management for Optimised Virtual Environments Anti-Virus (MOVE AV), McAfee Virtual Network Security Platform, McAfee Advanced Threat Defense, McAfee Threat Intelligence Exchange, VMWare NSX and OpenStack.
Intel Security corporate vice-president and general manager of corporate products Brian Dye said this aspect of the portfolio was aimed in part at "preventing the re-emergence of the VMware problem" by providing visibility into diverse and sometimes otherwise opaque environments. The company's products in this area are "literally best in market", he claimed, adding that the products "do much more together than they do on their own."
Intelligent security operations simplify the job of integrating, monitoring and orchestrating security subsystems. Contributing products include McAfee Cloud Threat Detection, the McAfee Advanced Threat Defence appliance (with version 3.8 software delivering 80% more throughput than versions 3.4 to 3.6), McAfee Enterprise Security Manager 10 (in beta this quarter, featuring a new and contemporary HTML 5-based interface), along with new consulting, deployment, assessment and incident response services.
"Cybercriminals are forcing cybersecurity companies to redraft the rules of engagement for defending the civilised world; to effectively counteract them, we have to abandon old security playbooks to become more unpredictable and collaborative and make cyber defence a priority," said Chris Young, senior vice-president and general manager of Intel Security Group. "Our strategic charter is simple, yet disruptive: integrate, automate and orchestrate the threat defence lifecycle to drive better security outcomes – ultimately reducing more risk, faster and with fewer resources."
And there's more to come. "We're going to be relentless in empowering you with better analytics," said Young. This will include combining the best features of machine and human analysis, as "it's the cybersecurity model you must have".
He also promised "awesome announcements" would be made at CES in January 2017.
Details of the new products are available here.
Disclosure: The writer attended Focus 16 as a guest of Intel Security.