Symantec Multi-tier Protection

Symantec Multi-tier Protection Overview

Symantec™ Multi-tier Protection safeguards enterprise assets and lowers risk by providing unmatched protection against threats for laptops, desktops, mobile devices, mail servers, and SMTP gateways. It includes Symantec™ Endpoint Protection and Symantec™ Mail Security for groupware and the SMTP gateway, stopping spam and viruses while reducing security risks.

Endpoint protection:

Symantec Endpoint Protection delivers more than world-class, industry-leading antivirus and antispyware signature-based protection. It also provides advanced threat prevention that protect endpoints from targeted attacks and attacks not seen before. It includes turnkey, proactive technologies that automatically analyze application behaviors and network communications to detect and block suspicious activities, as well as administrative control features that allow you to deny specific device and application activities deemed as high risk for your organization—you can even block specific actions based on the location of the user. This multilayered approach significantly lowers risks and gives you the confidence that your business assets are protected. It is a comprehensive product that gives you all the capabilities now, along with the ability to enable the pieces you need, as you need them. Whether the attack is coming from a malicious insider or is externally motivated, endpoints will be protected. Symantec Multi-tier Protection also includes the Symantec AntiVirus™ for Linux®, Symantec AntiVirus™ for Macintosh® solutions, and Symantec Mobile AntiVirus for Windows® Mobile.

Mail protection:

Symantec Mail Security helps provide highly effective mail protection against spam and viruses, and enforces company email security policies on SMTP gateways, Microsoft® Exchange, and IBM® Lotus Domino® servers.

Symantec Premium AntiSpam™ for Microsoft Exchange and IBM Domino servers is based on the Symantec Brightmail™ antispam technology and offers 97% antispam effectiveness and less than one in a million false positive rate1. Its multi-layered spam prevention leverages multiple filtering technologies, including spam signatures, heuristics, reputation filters, language identification, and proprietary methods.

The Symantec Mail Security 8300 Series is a gateway solution that protects against inbound and outbound email- and instant messaging (IM)-borne threats, enabling organizations to secure vulnerable messaging systems. With advanced content filtering, IT can more effectively control sensitive data and meet regulatory compliance mandates and corporate governance demands. The Symantec Mail Security 8300 Series simplifies how organizations can better protect valuable enterprise assets while minimizing system downtime and preserving employee productivity.

Symantec also offers a range of consulting, technical education, and support services to guide you through the migration, deployment, and management of Symantec Multi-tier Protection and help you realize the full value of your investment. Essential Support Services provide confidence that your critical assets are protected around the clock. For organizations that want to outsource security monitoring and management, Symantec also offers Managed Security Services to deliver real-time security protection.

Note: The Symantec Mail Security 8300 Series offers either a physical or a virtual appliance form factor with the same features and functionalities. The Symantec Multi-tier Protection bundle includes licensing for both virtual and physical appliances. Hardware is sold separately.

Key Benefits:

Secure:

• Industry-best threat landscape intelligence—Symantec protection mechanisms utilize the industry-leading Symantec™ Global Intelligence Network to deliver an unparalleled view of the entire Internet threat landscape. This intelligence results in actionable protection and peace of mind against evolving attacks.
• Multilayered defense—The integrated Symantec Endpoint Protection solution for Microsoft Windows operating systems, Symantec AntiVirus for Linux and Macintosh, and the award-winning Symantec Mail Security 8300 Series, Symantec Premium AntiSpam, Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange, and Symantec Mail Security for IBM Domino solutions are included. This combination provides heightened protection against the evolving threat landscape for multiplatform networks, and it protects against email-borne virus threats and security risks in a turnkey package with guaranteed interoperability.
• Comprehensive protection—Symantec Multi-tier Protection integrates best-of-breed technologies to stop security threats—even the most devious new and unknown attackers—before they penetrate the network. It detects and blocks malicious software in real time, including viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware, adware, bots, and rootkits.
• Proactive protection—TruScan™ Proactive Threat Scan uses a unique Symantec technology to score both good and bad behaviors of unknown applications, enhancing detection and reducing false positives without the need to create rules-based configurations.

Simple:

• Easy to install, configure, and manage—Symantec Endpoint Protection makes it easy to enable, disable, and configure desired technologies to fit into your environment.

Seamless:

• Symantec Network Access Control ready—Each endpoint becomes “Symantec Network Access Control ready,” eliminating the need to deploy additional network access control endpoint agent software.
• Integration with Altiris endpoint management solutions—Distributing software packages, migrating older Symantec AntiVirus or other antivirus deployments, and viewing new agent rollout status and activity are easier.

Key Features:

More than antivirus:

• Antivirus and antispyware—Symantec Endpoint Protection provides unmatched, best-of-breed malware protection, including market-leading antivirus protection, enhanced spyware protection, new rootkit protection, reduced memory footprint, and new dynamic performance adjustments to keep users productive.
• Network threat protection—A rules-based firewall engine and Generic Exploit Blocking (GEB) block malware before it can enter a system.
• Proactive threat protection—Protecting against unseen threats (i.e., zero-day threats), it includes TruScan Proactive Threat Scan, which does not rely on a signature.
• Single agent and single management console—The Symantec Endpoint Protection portion of Symantec Multi-tier Protection provides antivirus, antispyware, desktop firewall, IPS, device and application control, and network access control (with the purchase of a Symantec Network Access Control license) on a single agent—all managed by a single management console.
• Symantec AntiVirus for Linux and Macintosh, and Symantec Mobile AntiVirus for Windows Mobile—Symantec AntiVirus for Macintosh and Symantec AntiVirus for Linux remove viruses from email attachments, Internet downloads, and other sources to safeguard the enterprise network. Symantec Mobile AntiVirus for Windows Mobile enables secure mobile computing by providing comprehensive virus protection against malicious threats that target Windows Mobile operating systems.

Antispam and email protection:

The Symantec Brightmail AntiSpam™ engine delivers greater than 97 percent effectiveness and a false positive rate of less than one in a million, making it one of the industry’s most accurate solutions.

• Scans inbound and outbound email and IM traffic for compliance with regulatory and governance requirements
• Provides incident management and reporting capabilities that enable organizations to implement policies and analyze and manage violations
• Delivers automatic spam signature updates every 7 minutes to help ensure effective, real-time protection against new threats
• Offers unparalleled protection, as evidenced by the industry’s only record of 36 consecutive VB100 effectiveness ratings
• Provides real-time analytics and reporting, gaining visibility into email and IM usage and growth patterns

Comparison:

Symantec Endpoint Protection product family
	Symantec Endpoint Protection	Symantec Endpoint Protection Small Business Edition	Symantec Multi-tier Protection
Antivirus
Antispyware
Desktop firewall
Intrusion prevention
Device and application control
Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange
Symantec Mail Security for Domino
Symantec Mail Security for SMTP

Shaded Area = Centrally managed by a single agent and single console

Documentation:

Download the Symantec Multi-tier Protection Datasheet (PDF).