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Cloud-based security solutions specialist Panda Security announced the release of Panda Cloud Office Protection (PCOP) version 6.5, offering technological and functional improvements compared to the previous version, including URL filtering and anti-exploit technologies to detect and remove malware that exploits zero-day vulnerabilities.
The latest edition also boasts compatibility with Microsoft Exchange 2013 and some of the most popular Linux distributions, including SUSE, RedHat, Debian and Ubuntu, and the ability to schedule reports from the Panda Cloud Office Protection console. Up to now, scheduled reports were only available to partners using Panda Cloud Partner Center.
Cloud Office Protection 6.5 also leverages Panda Security’s Collective Intelligence system. The platform’s new anti-exploit technologies are capable of detecting malware such as Blackhole or Redkit that exploits zero-day vulnerabilities in Java, Adobe or Microsoft Office, among others, before it infects users’ computers. The company said the solution’s major differentiating factor lies in its ability to identify new, unknown malware variants capable of infecting thousands of computers around the world.
“We aim to help companies increase their productivity with a solution that allows businesses to monitor and control employees’ use of the Internet, while protecting them when they browse the Web or download contents,” Manuel Santamaría, global product manager at Panda Security, said in a statement. “Our new solution facilitates security management and provides an additional layer of protection against malicious Internet links and exploits that take advantage of system vulnerabilities.”
The solution’s URL filtering feature provides enhanced protection for users against malware and phishing URLs over HTTP and HTTPS, adding an additional layer of security to their Web browsing. This way, if a URL is catalogued as malicious, any attempt to access it or download any content from it will be automatically blocked by the system.
The platform also offers in-depth malware audits and information about the protection status on the network, and IT departments can manage security issues remotely and directly from the centralized Web-based console and connect remotely to endpoints through remote control tool integration to expedite incident resolution. False positives, if detected, are automatically managed, files are restored to the system transparently and automatically.
Small and midsize business spending on-cloud based security solutions is driving the worldwide market for SMB security, which is expected to experience an overall compound annual growth rate of more than 10 percent from 2011 through 2016, according to a 2012 report from IT research firm Access Markets International (AMI) Partners. Cloud security services currently account for nearly 17 percent of worldwide security spending and that figure is projected to increase to 24 percent by 2016, according to the report.