Symantec on Monday introduced new client-side security software for the enterprise that borrows some tools and techniques from the company’s consumer line.
Client Security integrates firewall, anti-virus, and intrusion detection defenses for desktops and laptops, then puts all the protected clients under control from a single management console.
Its target: systems that are beyond the enterprise perimeter, such as employee PCs, mobile workers’ notebooks, and branch office systems unguarded at the gateway.
“If clients always stayed behind the perimeter, you wouldn’t need something like Client Security,” said Murray.
“But they’re moving beyond the perimeter, and enterprises need to protect every aspect of the corporate environment.”
Among the new features in version 2.0 are several which made their debut in the consumer-level Symantec Internet Security, said Murray.
Client Security now includes a Web ad blocker, as well as an adware/spyware detector, all tools that have been part of the Internet Security for consumers.
Client Security also boasts several new features expressly for enterprises, including a virtual private network (VPN) compliance checker that verifies an outside system meets set policies before it’s allowed to connect with the network.
Administrators can demand that remote machines accessing the network via a VPN tunnel, for instance, have up-to-date virus definitions and a properly configured and enabled firewall.
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