Symantec enhances protection for small firms

Symantec is offering early threat warnings and automatic backups

Symantec has enhanced its small to medium sized business (SMB) portfolio with a new offering, promising complete protection against internal and external threats, along with business continuity features and improved manageability.

Symantec Protection Suite Advanced Business Edition, available later in the summer, will protect endpoints, provide messaging security, and prevent data loss with content filtering at the mail gateway, the firm said.

Real-time security intelligence from the cloud-based Symantec Global Intelligence Network will provide early threat warnings and automatic backups to guard against zero-day threats, according to Symantec.

The suite also includes backup and recovery capabilities designed to help SMBs quickly recover files and folders or complete Windows systems in the event of a system failure.

Backup, recovery and security capabilities can be purchased in a single suite, lowering total cost of ownership and easing the job of IT administration, the firm said.

Francis deSouza, senior vice president of Syamntec's Enterprise Security Group, warned that cyber criminals are increasingly going after SMBs as they are often only partially protected from threats.

"SMBs today are handling valuable information, and having the right information at the right time can mean the difference between success and going out of business," he said.

"Today's SMBs need complete protection that can be easily deployed and managed while providing the highest level of protection."

Symantec Protection Suite Advanced Business Edition will be available in an on-premise version with add-on software-as-a-service options for hosted email and web security from Symantec Hosted Services, said the firm.