Small Business System Safeguards

Small Business System Safeguards

Get everything your business needs to protect your computers against online threats, in one easy to buy, easy to maintain package. McAfee Total Protection takes care of the details, so you don't have to.

Small businesses like yours face the same online threats as large enterprises—but with fewer resources to combat them. Attacks from worms, viruses, spyware, spam, hacking, and phishing attacks, can be as devastating for a smaller business as they can be for a large one. More than a nuisance, these attacks exploit vulnerabilities in networks and systems and cause disruptions of major magnitude. Criminals steal private company and customer information through these online attacks. And protecting your computers from these attacks, as well as cleaning up after them if your unprotected systems are compromised, can seriously drain productivity.

As online threats become more sophisticated and complex each day, many small businesses struggle to keep their systems protected. IT staffs have limited resources and wear many hats. Often, smaller businesses don’t really know which security products they need to protect themselves, so they either over-buy security and waste precious resources, or ignore the problem and leave themselves terribly exposed.

Software as a Service Offloads Security Worries

Small businesses can choose from two sound options to protect their systems—they may buy and manage the security products themselves or they may subscribe to a security service that provides automated protection.

Software-based solutions offer complete desktop protection; however, your business is responsible for software installation and maintenance. Someone at your company must manually install the software on all workers’ desktops and laptops. And they must periodically update the software to keep it functioning effectively.

Software-based protection can seriously impact the bottom line of fast-growing businesses since the total cost of ownership of purchasing individual desktop solutions can be high. For instance, you could pay $30 per user for anti-spyware and anti-virus, $30 for anti-spam, $20 per user for a firewall and another $10 per user for management software. These expenses add up quickly when multiplied over dozens of desktops.

A better option is a security solution delivered as a service via the Internet. Desktop, server, and e-mail protection are available via annual subscriptions for a small fee per seat. Installation is quick, and protection is always on and up-to-date to continuously guard your systems against the newest threats. Plus, there’s no additional hardware or software for you to purchase or maintain for centralized management or storage of security reports.

Once installed, security software delivered as a service is invisible to your users. They can’t alter settings that might later compromise system security. A service solution polices your systems 24 hours a day, seven days a week, providing automatic updates daily. It doesn’t need lunch breaks and doesn’t take vacations. You also get access to a Web-based management console, the McAfee SecurityCenter, for configuration of and reporting on your security.

Besides providing the most effective protection possible, a service solution can increase IT productivity. Since your IT staff doesn’t perform manual software upgrades at any time, or react to outbreaks, they are free to focus on more strategic work instead of spending their time loading software disks or updates onto computers. With a service solution, even your company’s remote users are protected from online threats since updates are automatic.

“If a company wants to be proactive and invest $3 or $4 per month per seat, it can ensure that it has protection for desktops, servers, and e-mail against major concerns like worms, viruses, identity thieves, spam, and phishing attacks,” says Lillian Wai, senior product marketing manager for McAfee. “It’s an ideal solution for organizations that want protection that is always on and always up to date – without the management headaches. McAfee Total Protection for Small Business is a single solution that automatically protects your business against multiple security risks.”

Total Protection is Better Protection

McAfee offers a comprehensive and proven set of security capabilities in a single integrated solution. McAfee Total Protection for Small Business includes desktop anti-virus and anti-spyware, desktop firewall, and security management. McAfee Total Protection for Small Business--Advanced includes all of the basic features, and adds e-mail security as well (to guard against spam and phishing).

McAfee’s Total Protection for Small Business solutions incorporate the same proven functionality and performance as McAfee Managed VirusScan® plus AntiSpyware, a proactive solution that detects viruses, spyware, worms, and other intruders before they can wreak havoc with your desktop or laptop. Learn more about each package for small businesses.

The Total Protection for Small Business integrated solutions also provide visibility into your systems, sending reports on all infected systems and providing a record of all security updates, which are performed automatically. You can log onto the McAfee SecurityCenter, a secure Web management console hosted by McAfee, Wai explains, to see your security reports.

“You go through the Internet, securely authenticate as if you were accessing Web e-mail, and you can immediately find out if everyone in your company has the most current updates, has installed protection, and even customize security policies, all without having to call every single one of your users,” she says. “Even if desktops are not connected to an organization’s network, as long as the product is installed onto each employee’s desktop, whenever the user is on the Internet, they are protected against viruses, spyware, and other attacks.”

Integrated Security Saves Time and Money

An all-in-one security solution saves businesses big money and time with a single security agent, a single management view, a single technical support contact, and simplified updates.

“A single, integrated, comprehensive solution lowers total cost of ownership and gives you the biggest bang for the buck by providing five security products in one: virus, spyware, spam, firewall protection, and centralized management,” Wai points out. “Total Protection for Small Business gives you multiple levels of protection, but you can easily manage your systems from a single SecurityCenter console.”

Additionally, McAfee Total Protection for Small Business is backed by McAfee AVERT® Labs, one of the world’s best malicious code, anti-virus, and vulnerability research facilities, AVERT Labs, which has 100 researchers in 16 countries across the world, is focused on protecting businesses from current and emerging threats.

McAfee Total Protection for Small Business is just the first step in integrated security, as McAfee will continue to add functionality. Any of the current 3.5 million subscribers to McAfee’s Managed VirusScan plus AntiSpyware will get a free, automatic upgrade to the basic Total Protection for Small Business.

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