What Is A Managed Antivirus Service?
A managed antivirus service outsources your antivirus management to an expert company, usually as part of a cybersecurity solution. The managed services provider (MSP) has the tools, expertise, and experience to remotely manage your antivirus, regardless of the size or complexity of your business.
As more and more employees work remotely or from their own devices, it’s almost impossible to manage each device individually. Relying on each person to manage their antivirus updates, or trusting them to keep their antivirus software running at all times, is inefficient and ineffective.
The solution is to use a centrally managed service that protects all devices on the business network from a single point. These endpoints are usually cloud-hosted, allowing the MSP to improve security across the entire network from a remote location.
This centrally managed system consists of local software clients on every device in the business that connects directly to the endpoint management system. These clients continuously report to the central remote monitoring system, providing a complete overview of the current security status. The MSP will install their local client and uninstall any existing antivirus systems, as these will often compete with each other.
As malware exploits become more sophisticated, it’s vital to have a reliable antivirus in place. The antivirus will check for potential infections, stopping them before they can execute their code. While even the best antivirus solution won’t stop all attacks, it’s your first piece of network protection that can keep your network secure.
The Benefits Of Managed Antivirus Solutions
Active monitoring
The primary function of an antivirus is to detect malicious software before it enters the network. Antivirus programs have alerts for possible infections, failed scans, and even attempts to bypass or disable the antivirus software.
The sooner someone reacts to these alerts, the better. In many cases, the managed antivirus solution will have security engineers on-hand 24/7 to monitor these alerts. They can confirm legitimate threats or false positives within several minutes and take the necessary action to remove the virus from the affected computer.
Good MSPs will also regularly review antivirus logs for any suspicious behavior that the antivirus may have missed. Logs can show unusual activity patterns, unexpected changes, or other threats that may otherwise go undetected.
Guaranteed updates to your antivirus software
Even the best antivirus solution will have vulnerabilities. Attackers will often develop new viruses, resulting in sophisticated malware and virus attacks that older antivirus solutions can’t detect.
Antivirus companies will often run heuristic checks in a sandbox environment to identify new viruses and malware threats. Once they figure out how to neutralize these new threats, they’ll release updates to their customers with these new virus definitions.
While the update process is usually automatic, many organizations and businesses will fail to conduct regular software updates, severely compromising their protection against new attacks. Having up-to-date software is essential to data security, but relying on employees to manage these updates is often a recipe for disaster.
A managed antivirus solution ensures that you have the latest security to prevent malware and virus attacks. These updates happen routinely at times that won’t affect company productivity.
Cost-effective managed antivirus service
Commercial antivirus software isn’t cheap. Licensing costs can quickly add up and form a large business expense. Managed antivirus solutions providers have the advantage of bulk pricing and can offer the same protection for a fraction of the cost.
Managed services also free up your IT department to focus on other, more important tasks. Since the service handles the updates, scans, and instructions from a separate cloud, your IT team can work on other ways to protect your data or manage routine network tasks instead.
Compensates for lack of security knowledge
Many employees tend to turn off their antivirus due to the misconception that it slows their computer down. They often forget to turn it back on, leading to massive vulnerabilities and security breaches.
You can’t expect every employee to have comprehensive knowledge about viruses and how to deal with them. If they see alerts during routine scans, they won’t know whether it’s a false positive or take action.
Since a common antivirus feature is to quarantine the virus, most employees will let the software handle the threat and consider the problem solved. However, many malware programs can bypass this protection, potentially resulting in a data breach.
A managed antivirus solution prevents users from tampering with their computers. It will schedule deep scans during off-peak hours while still conducting active monitoring throughout the workday. Security engineers continuously monitor the business and have the expertise to deal with potential breaches and threats.
Comprehensive reporting
Working with a managed antivirus solution means that businesses have a comprehensive overview of their security situation. These reports will contain information about any updates, prevented intrusions, and a plan of action.
Contact Us Today
Having a managed antivirus service can offer business owners great peace of mind. It protects your data from potential malware and virus threats while ensuring your software remains up-to-date.
At Network Elites, we provide off-site solutions that protect your data from a centrally managed server. You can rest assured that even if your own servers suffer a breach, we’ll have the capability to confront the threat. We even offer a disk encryption manager that will keep your data safe in the event of a ransomware attack.
If you’re concerned about your current antivirus solution, get in touch. You’ll appreciate our expertise and the peace of mind it brings.
