Global cyber security provider F-Secure announced a new release of its flagship endpoint security suite, Protection Service for Business. The new release improves F-Secure’s award-winning endpoint protection technology by offering better behavioral-based blocking capabilities for Windows and Macs to protect them against the real-world threats used by attackers.
According to Allianz’s 2017 Risk Barometer, companies cite cyber incidents as the third biggest risk to their business.* And with good reason. Security researchers detect new malware threats every single day, with even Macs becoming a popular target. More Mac malware was discovered in the first half of 2017 than all of 2016, with spyware accounting for 60 percent of new malware, followed by banking trojans (20 percent) and ransomware (16 percent). And approximately a third of that new malware was discovered in targeted attacks against companies.
“Companies have enough IT problems without online threats, so dealing with them on top of everything else is a serious pain point,” said F-Secure Security Advisor Sean Sullivan. “Investing too much in protection can hurt productivity and eat up resources, but investing less only works until you have to explain a ransomware infection to an investor, a boss, or even worse, the customers. The trick to making security work for big and small companies is to make sure that it can scale up to keep pace with both the company’s growth and the diverse range of threats that growth attracts.”
Protection Service for Business is a cloud-based security solution that’s easy to implement but comprehensive enough to give companies the protection they need. It includes endpoint protection technology that’s won AV-TEST’s Best Protection award 5 out of the last 6 years, so companies can be confident that they’re getting the best protection for their money.
The new Protection Service for Business is the first F-Secure solution to integrate F-Secure’s XFENCE technology. F-Secure released XFENCE as a beta tool for power users last April, and has now integrated XFENCE’s capabilities into Protection Service for Business’ Computer Protection for Macs. F-Secure XFENCE prevents processes and application from accessing files, data, and even microphones, keyboards, and webcams without the user’s permission. It basically acts as a firewall for files by, for example, preventing ransomware from encrypting files on infected devices.
The new release includes many other upgrades, including:
· New version of F-Secure’s DeepGuard behavioral-based detection engine for Windows, which now features more extensive use of artificial intelligence to make decisions about malicious files and processes without prompting users
· Upgraded firewall featuring better compatibility with third-party applications and appliances, as well as an F-Secure expert ruleset to counter threats like self-propagating ransomware and lateral movement
· Improved profile management to make scheduling scans, profile grouping, product filtering, and more, easier for IT administrators
· New Device Control feature that prevents the use of unauthorized hardware such as USB sticks, external hard drives, and webcams
According to Jarno Niemelä, Lead Researcher at F-Secure Labs, behavior-based blocking is a key capability to combat the increasing use of advanced tactics, techniques and procedures used by cyber criminals.
“The time it takes for common cyber criminals to adopt cutting-edge techniques from nation-states and other advanced attackers has been reduced from years to months, and basic security measures like signature scans aren’t enough anymore,” said Niemelä. “That trend isn’t slowing down anytime soon. So blocking attacks based on how they behave rather than how they look is really the only way forward for security, and that’s what our technology delivers.”
