McAfee adds cloud protections to network platform

McAfee said administrators will be able to block attacks well before they threaten client machines

McAfee has added cloud-based security protections to its Network Security Platform offering.

The company said that it would be adding support for the Artemis security programme to network security consoles. Launched late last year, Artemis gathers intelligence data from systems worldwide and provides regular updates over the web.

By adding the protections at the network security level, the company said that it will enable businesses to provide defence against attacks and threats for all machines on the network.

McAfee senior director of product marketing Greg Brown told V3.co.uk that the new protections would allow administrators to identify and block possible attacks before they even reach client machines.

By integrating the Artemis layer with the intrusion prevention and analysis tools on the network security platform, Brown suggested that administrators would have an unprecedented view into the security status of their IT infrastructure.

"We are allowing organisations to see in detail what threats and attacks exist throughout their network and provide protections throughout the entire architecture," said Brown.

"With this technology we are really giving the organisation visibility of threat activity throughout the entire network, we will be able to listen to a bot on the most remote node."

Additionally, Brown said that the Network Security Platform would integrate with the ePolicy Orchestrator (ePO). McAfee has been pushing ePO as a base of operations for all enterprise security activity.

Brown noted that when coupled with ePO, the network platform would be able to integrate with other IT management tools to better analyse network and security traffic as well as manage quarantined devices and sharing of duties among various administrators.

The company plans to role out the Network Security Platform update over the next month, while two new security appliances based on the platform are expected to hit the market early next year.