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McAfee offers new protection in the cloud

Geared for enterprise customers, the cloud-based service employs automated tools and security professionals to help detect and eliminate malware in real time.

Lance Whitney Contributing Writer
Lance Whitney is a freelance technology writer and trainer and a former IT professional. He's written for Time, CNET, PCMag, and several other publications. He's the author of two tech books--one on Windows and another on LinkedIn.
Lance Whitney
2 min read

McAfee is tapping into the cloud for a new service designed to offer companies real-time malware protection without the need for any local resources.

McAfee said its new SaaS Web Protection, which launched Tuesday, combines the reporting capabilities from its other products with the same cloud-based platform found in its MX Logic service, which the company acquired almost a year ago.

Relying on its own Global Threat Intelligence network, automated sensors, and a group of more than 350 security experts, McAfee said the new service will be able to detect and predict security threats to customers in real time.

SaaS Web Protection provides a number of specific features, according to McAfee. Using its own TrustedSource technology, the service can detect and block any threats before they hit the customer. The product's reporting service lets IT administrators analyze their Web traffic to identify any trends in malware. And the policy controls allow IT to enforce corporate guidelines on data use and security.

Since SaaS Web Protection is a cloud-based service, McAfee said it can be deployed anywhere in the world and scaled up or down based on the ongoing needs of its customers. The service can also provide security for remote offices and mobile users, noted McAfee, even those outside a company's own firewall.

"Web filtering solutions have evolved from website monitoring to serious malware defense," Marc Olesen, senior vice president and general manager of Content and Cloud Security for McAfee, said in a statement. "McAfee SaaS Web Protection incorporates all of the knowledge and experience we've gathered through the years, as well as the unique expertise and technologies gained from our recent acquisitions."

More companies have been gravitating toward the cloud as a way to save money and reduce the need for internal resources. But concerns remain, especially among IT professionals, over the safety and reliability of porting essential services to the cloud.