Business networks are becoming more complex as more devices are introduced and more applications are implemented. Therefore, administrators are having a harder time managing all the aspects of a network. One idea that will help administrators better manage the security on their network is the use of managed antivirus. This article will cover the topic of managed antivirus to see if this is a good solution for you and your business.
What is Managed Antivirus?
You are probably familiar with the antivirus software that may or may not be installed on your individual computer. It sits there, runs in the background and protects you from nasty programs. And, you probably know that you have to update it frequently, and pay a fee every year to keep it updated. This is considered an unmanaged antivirus program. This is because everything is handled by the end user. They even have the ability to turn off updates and remove the program all together.
A managed antivirus solution provides a central way to manage all these pieces of software. They can handle installing the software, managing updates, blocking uninstallation of the program or turning off the realtime scanner. All of this is typically handled from a central console.
The Benefits of Managed Antivirus
For a fair sized company, you can probably already see many of the benefits of managed antivirus. But, let’s go over a few anyways.
- Management is easier. Imaging having to install software on dozens or hundreds of computers manually. It could take hours or days. Then imagine having to do that every year. Managed Antivirus allows you to deploy the protection to all computers on a network from one central console.
- All computers are protected the same. You do not have to worry about people disabling the scanner, ignoring updates or removing the software. You also do not have to worry about working hard to protect your network only to have it compromised because one user isn’t protected.
- Cost per station is lower. Most of the time these services are paid for on a per user basis which is less expensive than buying unmanaged solutions off the shelf. The more users you have the less it will be per user.
- There is no opportunity for a breach. Users will not be able to turn off the software or disable it. They will not have the permissions to do this because it is all managed by the IT staff.
- Cleaning can be done from a central location. A central console will alert staff to infections and they can react quicker to begin the clean process. The cleaning and scanning can be initiated from the console in many cases.
As you can see, there are many advantages to using managed antivirus. For organizations with more than a few computers it can be a solution that will help better protect the network and make it easier to control.