Kaspersky Lab Announces its New Generation of Business Protection - Kaspersky Endpoint Security 8 for Windows and Kaspersky Security Center

Providing intelligent and proactive protection, Kaspersky Endpoint Security 8 for Windows delivers comprehensive security, fueled by the latest cloud-data and policy enforcement, to keep IT departments ready for what’s next

 Woburn, MA – October 6, 2011 –Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of secure content and threat management solutions, announced today the release of Kaspersky Endpoint Security 8 for Windows and Kaspersky Security Center, the company’s most significant business product announcement in four years. These new endpoint protection products have been engineered to deliver a fundamentally new level of deep corporate-wide threat protection and comprehensive control, centrally deployed, administered and monitored by a fully unified protection management system.

Today’s IT departments are striving to secure technology that is not only constantly evolving, but is also used by an increasingly mobile, cloud-centric, geographically distributed work force.  Businesses that harness the latest technologies to compete more effectively are too often being told ‘no’ by their IT departments due to the security concerns and logistical costs. A clear need exists for a security suite that is an enabler of change, not a roadblock.

Kaspersky Lab’s new security products have been designed with these IT challenges in mind to offer comprehensive protection and control with efficient and granular administration.  Built from the ground up and several years in the making, the anti-malware experts at Kaspersky Lab have developed a new approach for securing and controlling endpoints, reducing risk and empowering employees and organizations that are investing in the new frontiers of corporate computing and connectivity.

Kaspersky Lab recently surveyed 1,300 IT professionals from businesses of all sizes across 11 different countries to learn more about how organizations are responding to the changing IT security landscape.  Nearly one-third (31%) of respondents reported that recent malware attacks on their organization resulted in some form of data loss. See the full results of Kaspersky Lab’s Global IT Risk Research Survey here: (Download Report)

Kaspersky Endpoint Security 8 Overview and Independent Test Results

Kaspersky Lab’s new multi-layer anti-malware protection, fueled by a global intelligence network and unparalleled malware research expertise, has been built from the ground up.  With new management capabilities and advanced application, web and device control features, Kaspersky Endpoint 8 for Windows provides a seamless approach to business protection.  In addition, Kaspersky Endpoint Security 8 for Windows is fully integrated with the cloud-based Kaspersky Security Network (KSN) to provide real-time protection against new and emerging threats, and provide timely data to boost Kaspersky’s real-time application controls intelligence.  Detailed information about Kaspersky Endpoint Security 8 for Windows can be viewed here: (Kaspersky Lab Product Information)

The first independent test of Kaspersky Endpoint Security 8 for Windows was conducted by AV-Test.org, an independent German research center.  Kaspersky Lab’s new solution was tested alongside six other similarly-equipped security products from different vendors, and the new Kaspersky endpoint protection was awarded the highest overall score.  Specifically, Kaspersky Endpoint 8 for Windows 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 Security Center Overview

Kaspersky Security Center replaces the Kaspersky Administration Kit and supports Kaspersky Endpoint Security 8 for Windows as well as all existing Open Space Security suite of products.  Designed as a central protection management system, the new Kaspersky Security Center protects both physical and virtual environments, with a focus on providing comprehensive management and in-depth security control through a single pane of glass. Kaspersky Security Center offers wizard-driven templates to suit the needs of smaller growing businesses as well as large enterprises.  Managing protection for multiple platforms from a single console improves visibility and response time, ultimately making IT operations more efficient and ready to address new business requirements.  Detailed information about Kaspersky Security Center can be viewed here: (Kaspersky Lab Product Information)

New Features and Technology Overview

Kaspersky Endpoint Security 8 for Windows and Kaspersky Security Center introduce a significant number of new and enhanced features.  The most notable among them include:

Deep Protection

• Integration with the Cloud: Kaspersky Endpoint Security 8 for Windows integrates with the Kaspersky Security Network, a cloud-based threat intelligence database that gathers reputation data for files, applications and URLs from millions of Kaspersky users worldwide, giving Kaspersky Lab’s experts real-time information on global and region-specific cyber-threats.  The stream of immediate information provided by the Kaspersky Security Network allows other core elements of Kaspersky Lab’s security technology to respond to the latest threat intelligence, protecting users faster than ever before.  Learn more about the Kaspersky Security Network here: (Download Data Sheet)
• Application Control and Whitelisting: IT administrators can proactively strengthen their security posture against targeted attacks through system-wide or employee-specific policies, including:
  • Allow or block certain applications, or entire application categories.  Flexible creation of policies enables an administrator to apply, for instance, stronger safeguards to critical endpoints.
  • Monitor and prioritize application vulnerability updates using Application Vulnerability Monitor, providing complete reports on outdated software with critical vulnerabilities running on the network.
• System Watcher: By monitoring and logging system behavior and actions of applications, System Watcher can reverse the damage caused by a program if it is found to be malicious. This means harmful registry changes, file modifications and other system settings can revert back to their pre-infected state.  System Watcher also benefits from the real-time information collected by other components of Kaspersky Endpoint 8 for Windows, including the Kaspersky Security Network, firewall, and more.
• Enhanced Anti-Virus Engine: At the core of Kaspersky Lab’s security technology, our new antivirus engine incorporates improved Pattern-Based Signature technology which offers efficient malware detection with smaller update sizes.

Comprehensive and Unified Management and Control

• Application Privilege Control: Using administrative policies or cloud-assisted categories, application behaviors and their access to system operations can be restricted or blocked.  Applications are assigned to one of four existing groups - Trusted, Low Restricted, High Restricted and Untrusted - each with different access rights to system and network resources and users’ data.
• Device Control: Allows companies to create flexible and especially granular policies to manage device access privileges to endpoints, which can be tailored for the needs of individual employees based on access policies, or even down to specific device serial numbers.
• Web Controls and Content Filtering:  Assign administrative access to web resources, based on URL, content type and data type.  Control permissions by user groups or other hierarchies to permit, prohibit or limit Internet access.  Additionally, flexible scheduling rules and auditing ensure impressive control and oversight of corporate web usage policies.

Streamlined Management

• Virtualization Support: Kaspersky Security Center supports VMware’s virtual machine management, and provides full management of Kaspersky Lab solutions on non-persistent virtual machines.  IT administrators have the ability to create 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, without the need for third-party virtualization tools. Additionally, Virtual Administration Servers may be defined to simplify and/or share administration among remote offices.
• Web Console and Dashboards: In addition to the local management console, a convenient Web Console allows monitoring of network security status from any Internet accessible machine.  Uncluttered dashboards provide relevant and actionable information and administration activity logs, allowing IT managers to control from home or while on the road.
• Improved Reporting: A variety of comprehensive reports are available to provide network administrators with information on Kaspersky Lab system performance and overall security status immediately at a glance.  IT managers can also prepare and export standard or customizable reports, which can be run on a pre-defined schedule or generated as required and distributed via email in HTML, XML and PDF formats.

As always, all Kaspersky Lab customers receive free high-quality technical support directly from Kaspersky Lab’s North American-based technical support representatives.  With Kaspersky Lab’s world class support, network administrators always have somewhere to turn for help.

Quotes:

Eugene Kaspersky, co-founder and CEO

Kaspersky Lab

“Kaspersky Endpoint Security 8 for Windows is a key addition to our comprehensive security solutions, which helps businesses to combat modern blended threats. It combines efficient anti-malware protection with a broadened feature set, designed to build stronger corporate security policies and control the attack surface. Our new products offer near real time protection by tightly integrating signature-based, proactive and cloud-assisted detection technologies.”

Randy Drawas, Senior Vice President, Marketing Operations

Kaspersky Lab

“Whether supporting mobile workers with their smart devices, pushing critical data and applications through the cloud, or finding new efficiencies in virtual environments, businesses are looking for ways to enhance productivity, competitiveness and profitability. With this naturally come even greater IT security risks.”

“It is with great pride that we introduce Kaspersky Endpoint Security 8 for Windows and Kaspersky Security Center for businesses around the world. This newest version of business security from Kaspersky Lab has been built from the ground up to offer unparalleled intelligent protection with elegantly integrated security management and control, in a way that is intended to establish a new standard for corporate-wide protection.”

Pricing and availability

Kaspersky Endpoint Security 8 for Windows and Kaspersky Security Center are now included in Kaspersky Open Space Security, a corporate IT security platform developed by Kaspersky Lab. Please contact a Kaspersky Lab sales representative for detailed information and pricing.  Kaspersky Lab’s new endpoint and administration software is available as a free upgrade for all Kaspersky Open Space Security customers with current licenses.

About Kaspersky Lab

Kaspersky Lab is the world's largest privately-held Internet Security company, providing comprehensive protection against all forms of IT threats such as viruses, spyware, hackers and spam. The company's products provide in-depth defense at work, at home and on the road for home and mobile users, small and medium sized businesses and large enterprises, protecting more than 300 million systems around the globe. Kaspersky technology is also incorporated inside the products and services of approximately 100 of the industry's leading IT, networking, communications and applications solution vendors. For further information about the company, please visit http://www.kaspersky.com/. Friend us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/KasperskyLabAmericas. Follow @Kaspersky on Twitter.

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