Tag: McAfee

Merged McAfee Enterprise and FireEye build Trellix

Posted on January 20, 2022 by - News

Symphony Technology Group has unveiled Trellix, an extended detection and response (XDR) provider with a focus on accelerating technology innovation through data science and automation.

The outfit was created by last year’s crossing of McAfee Enterprise and FireEye. The new cyber security firm’s platform combines automation, machine learning, extensible architecture, and threat intelligence.

STG said that with Trellix’s security platform customers can expect bold innovation across the XDR market.

STG managing partner William Chisholm said Trellix will build resilient and confident organisations using something which it calls ‘living security’, which learns and adapts to protect operations from advanced threats across multiple attack vectors.

McAfee close to sale

Posted on November 9, 2021 by - News

McAfee HQ in Satan ClaraSecurity outfit McAfee, whose founder offed himself in a police cell this year,  is in talks to sell up to a consortium of private equity firms in a deal valued at more than $10 billion, according to various reports.

The consortium of private equity investors is led by Advent International and also includes Permira, CPP Investment Board, Crosspoint Capital, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and GIC.

It would represent one of the biggest cybersecurity acquisitions of all time and would bring McAfee’s brief spell as a public company to an end after it had an IPO last October.

McAfee couples with Fujitsu

Posted on May 5, 2021 by - News

McAfee HQ in Satan ClaraMcAfee inked a multi-year extended partnership agreement, with Fujitsu Client Computing (FCCL) to deliver consumer security stuff to FCCL device users.

McAfee and FCCL’s longstanding partnership makes the integration of the products seamless to end-users allowing them to use McAfee security solutions to protect their digital lives quickly.

In the fourth quarter of 2020, McAfee Labs observed an average of 648 threats per minute, increasing 60 threats per minute (10 percent). The latest McAfee Threats Report: April 2021, which examined cybercriminal activity related to the malware and the evolution of cyber threats in the third and fourth quarters of 2020, found the two quarters saw COVID-19-related cyber-attack detections increase by 240 per cent in the third quarter and 114 percent in the fourth.

McAfee flogs its enterprise business to Symphony

Posted on March 9, 2021 by - News

McAfee is flogging its enterprise business to a consortium led by Symphony Technology Group (STG) for $4 billion.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2021, subject to customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions.

Once complete, the enterprise business will be rebranded, while McAfee will move forward focusing solely on delivering personal security for consumers under the existing brand name, the firm said.

McAfee CEO Peter Leav said that STG was the right partner to continue strengthening our Enterprise business, and this outcome is a testament to the business’ industry-leading solutions and most notably to the outstanding contributions of our employees.

Cyber security providers benefit from EU and local regulations

Posted on November 2, 2020 by - News

Enterprises in the UK are looking to cyber security providers to help them comply with European Union and local regulations, and protect data as employees work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report published today by Information Services Group (ISG).

The 2020 ISG Provider Lens Cyber Security – Solutions & Services Report, for the UK finds enterprises in the country counting on cyber security providers to help them comply with UK privacy and cyber security rules passed as the country separates from the European Union. At the same time, U.K. companies must continue to comply with E.U. data privacy regulations because of the country’s economic connections to continental Europe.

Jan Erik Aase, director and global leader, ISG Provider Lens Research said that UK enterprises are prioritising cyber security as most business processes have gone digital.

McAfee improves Secure Access Service Edge

Posted on August 25, 2020 by - News

Security outfit McAfee announced significant enhancements to its Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solution by launching integrations with third-party Software-Defined Wide Area Networking (SD-WAN) solutions, and extending its UCE platform tolet  global strategic partners deliver managed SASE offerings.

McAfee has been working with global service providers Atos and BT to offer a range of managed Web, CASB, and SASE offerings to help organisations who are struggling with the challenges of digital transformation.

McAfee gets Curry as new global channel chief

Posted on April 30, 2020 by - News

McAfee has announced the appointment of former Apple sales executive Kathleen Curry as its new global channel chief, as the cybersecurity vendor looks to better accommodate remote workers through the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

Curry officially takes the role of senior vice president of global enterprise channels, OEM and strategic alliances, and is tasked with and pulling together McAfee’s channel, operations, alliances and OEM teams, as well as expanding its partner program to tackle the increase in remote workers.

She will oversee the development of a strategic vision and approach for go-to-market initiatives for the firm’s multi-tier global channel organisation, it said.

McAfee to snap up Light Point Security

Posted on February 26, 2020 by - News

McAfee has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Light Point Security.

McAfee plans to integrate Light Point Security’s browser isolation technology into McAfee Secure Web Gateway, complementing its existing comprehensive inbound and outbound protection for all web and cloud traffic.

Upon the close of the acquisition, the Light Point Security team will join McAfee.

McAfee warns of struggle with cloud security

Posted on November 28, 2019 by - News

Beancounters at a cybersecurity firm McAfee HQ in Satan Clarafound that 40 percent of large UK businesses expect to be cloud-only by 2021, with 70 per cent expecting to be cloud-only at some pointin the future.

However, establishing who is responsible for cloud security in an organisation is struggling to keep pace.

Vendors team up on security interoperability

Posted on October 9, 2019 by - News

IBM Security and McAfee have been joined by 14 other firms to form the OASIS consortium to tackle interoperability .

Under the OASIS banner the firms will work on the Open Cybersecurity Alliance (OCA) to try to increase the interoperability between products to reduce those problems and share information around threats and the best responses.

Carol Geyer, chief development officer of OASIS said: “Today, organisations struggle without a standard language when sharing data between products and tools, We have seen efforts emerge to foster data exchange, but what has been missing is the ability for each tool to transmit and receive these messages in a standardised format, resulting in more expensive and time-consuming integration costs. The aim of the OCA is to accelerate the open sharing concept making it easier for enterprises to manage and operate.”

Cryptomining malware is booming

Posted on September 28, 2018 by - News

banner_220x220McAfee has warned that cryptomining malware has seen a “stunning” growth this year.

The security vendor claimed that the number of crypto mining malware samples grew 629 percent to 2.9 million in Q1 this year, before growing a further 86 percent in Q2.

Raj Samani, chief scientist at McAfee, said: “Cybercrime is a business; and market forces, such as the rise in cryptocurrency values, will continue to shape where adversaries focus their efforts. Exploiting crypto mining malware is simpler, more straightforward, and less risky than traditional cybercrime activities – causing these schemes to skyrocket in popularity over the last few months. Crypto mining malware has quickly emerged as a major player on the threat landscape.”

He said businesses must find the right combination of people, process and technology to effectively protect their assets, detect crypto mining threats and when targeted, rapidly correct systems – across both cloud and on-premise.

McAfee said that this form of malware predominately targets PCs, but new strains have started to target Android smartphones and other internet-connected devices.

The vendor also claims that the success of the WannaCry and NotPetya attacks has seen an increase in malware targeting software exploits, with new samples of these increasing 151 percent in Q2.

AWS, VMware, Microsoft and Symantec are pants vendors

Posted on February 27, 2018 by - News

hqdefaultAWS, APC, Citrix, Huawei, McAfee, Microsoft, Symantec, Veritas and VMware are lowest-scoring vendors in a channel management survey according to research outfit Canalys.

The Canalys Leadership Matrix was based on more than 2,700 responses from EMEA channel partners who were asked to rate their vendor partners across ten areas of channel management.

Canalys divided the results into four: “Champions”, “Growers”, “Contenders” and “Stragglers”, the survey also judges vendors on how their standing in the Leadership Matrix has changed.

Nine companies were placed in Canalys’ “Stragglers” quadrant, reserved for vendors that “have shown significant weakness in areas of channel management” or “have seen a deterioration in partner relationships, either by choice or mistake”.

AWS, APC, Citrix, Huawei, McAfee, Microsoft, Symantec, Veritas and VMware were all named as channel Stragglers in the survey.

Vole and VMware, two firms which have “highly successful businesses built on sales via partners,” were named and shamed in the report with Canalys saying that there was “a growing wave of channel dissatisfaction with both brands”.

Dell EMC’s appointment as an “official distributor” of VMware licences last year dealt a blow to its resellers and distributors and likely prompted a fall from grace among partners.

Canalys claimed that Microsoft, meanwhile, has been “accused of squeezing channel margins” through its Cloud Solution Provider partner programme.

The top-scoring vendors in the survey included Fujitsu, Cisco, Lenovo, Palo Alto Networks and Veeam. Canalys said that  Cisco’s quality of technical support for partners remains unparalleled when compared with its competitors, while Lenovo’s “Channel 2.0” initiative, which sought to simplify partner incentives, was well received by the channel.

Apple’s  overall rating was still relatively low compared with its peers, and its resellers still suffer from “low margin potential” and “rigid terms and conditions” from the vendor.

 

McAfee’s top partners could be demoted

Posted on December 1, 2017 by - News

AAEAAQAAAAAAAAKZAAAAJGU1N2MxODU4LTY5NmUtNGQ3Yi1hZmVhLThjODQzODZiMGE0NgRecently liberated from the clutches of Intel, McAfee has announced it expects a bit more from its top-tier partners.

Global channel VP Richard Steranka has warned that McAfee’s top-tier partners will have to meet service-certification requirements by the end of the year or be demoted.

Speaking at McAfee’s MPower Cybersecurity Summit in Amsterdam, Steranka said that McAfee is implementing the new training criteria to reward partners that have invested in the firm.

The big idea is to reward VARs who are building their business around McAfee’s software, rather than solely rewarding transactional partners who hold “more than 300” security vendors in their portfolio.

“At the beginning of 2017, it was a new requirement of being a Platinum partner to have two service delivery specialists in at least three of our product areas: end-point, infrastructure, data, or security operations. There was no incentive [previously], so we created one.”

Partners have until 31 December to obtain the necessary certifications, when their place in McAfee’s partner programme will be evaluated.

The vendor has 250 Platinum partners globally, and Steranka expects this to decrease as some current Platinum partners cannot meet the new criteria.

New certifications have been added to the programme; partners are still given rebates depending on how they perform against set quarterly revenue targets.

Partners hitting 80 to 100 percent of their sales target get a two percent rebate, those achieving 100 percent to 150 percent make four percent, while those exceeding 150 percent of sales can earn an eight percent quarterly rebate.

McAfee acquires Skyhigh Networks

Posted on November 28, 2017 by - News

mcafee-antivirus-plus-screenshot.pngMcAfee is celebrating its liberation from the claws of Chipzilla by writing a cheque for Skyhigh Networks.

Skyhigh Networks is a cloud access security broker (CASB).  For those who don’t know CASB is supposed to be a hot ticket, at least according to Gartner. Oracle, Forcepoint, Cisco and Blue Coat all making CASB acquisitions.

Skyhigh CEO Rajiv Gupta will join McAfee’s leadership team, and its organisational structure will “remain intact”, according to McAfee.

McAfee CEO Chris Young said: “Skyhigh Networks had the foresight five years ago to realise that cybersecurity for cloud environments could not be an impediment to, or afterthought of, cloud adoption.

“It pioneered an entirely new product category called cloud access security broker that analysts describe as one of the fastest-growing areas of information security investments of the last five years – where Skyhigh continues to innovate and lead. Skyhigh’s leadership in cloud security, combined with McAfee’s security portfolio strength, will set the company apart in helping organisations operate freely and securely to reach their full potential.”

McAfee became an independent outfit again eight months ago after Intel span out its security assets to PE house TPG Capital.

Atos launches first prescriptive security operations centre

Posted on July 5, 2017 by - News

Three-Musketeers-The-1973-1605x903Systems integrator and second musketeer Atos has launched what it has dubbed the world’s first prescriptive security operations centre (SOC).

The SOC, which is available as a solution in Atos’ 14 SOCs globally, combines big data analytics and machine learning with McAfee security technology to bring down threat detection times from 190 days on average to less than a minute, according to Atos.

This is one of the first things to emerge from Atos’ McAfee partnership which was announced in November. The big idea is to offer threat detection and remediation in the form of a managed security service.

Pierre Barnabé, chief operating officer of big data and security at Atos, said: “By combining big data, security analytics and supercomputing, Atos offers its customers the opportunity to be one step ahead of cyber attacks.

“The deep data analytics and monitoring in real time allow a unique and continuous prescriptive security. Customers can now predict and neutralise threats before they reach their goal.”

It is built using Atos machine-learning technology and uses McAfee threat defence to learn from previous threats and automate responses in real time. Atos claims that total response and recovery times can be reduced from two months to just “a few minutes”.