www.cloudantivirus.com
System Requirements
OS: Windows XP/Vista/7; RAM: 512 MB; Drive space: 130 MB; Others: Internet connectivity.
Unlike standalone antiviruses and Internet security suites, Panda Cloud Office Protection is a cloud-based security solution tailored for small and medium size businesses. The benefits it offers to both IT administrators and end users are immense. It cuts down cost to a large extent and facilitates endpoint management. Also, being an online service, it can be managed from anywhere using the Web-based interface.
How it works
The IT admin has to first login to the administration console. Note that the number of licenses purchased is linked to the organization’s PCOP account. The antivirus can be deployed on the endpoints using the installation program that has to be run manually on individual PCs. Alternatively, admins may use the PCOP distribution tool which can be used for centralized installation on PCs connected to the network. The size of the software (Panda Endpoint Protection) is about 210 MB, so installation time will vary depending on the speed of the Internet connection. After installation, an icon appears in the system tray and the PCs on which the protection is installed get listed in the Computers tab of PCOP’s Web interface. From this point on, the protection on the PCs can be remotely managed and the users can use the antivirus on their PCs.
The Installation and Settings tab allows organizing the PCs into groups. This helps to apply different security profiles to different sets of PCs. The profile editor helps creating scan schedules in which the scan type, date, time, file types, action to be taken, etc. can be specified. The type of malicious software to be detected by the program can also be specified. The heuristic scan feature analyses programs to detect potential malware. As for the firewall, the admin can choose to apply Panda’s default rules or the admin can create a customized set of rules. Here, various programs that transmit or receive data on the network can be blocked or authorized. Intrusion such as IDS attacks and worms can also be monitored and blocked. Once everything is configured, all that’s required is monitoring the endpoints. Reports can be generated for various groups in which the admin can choose the time frame. The detailed report displays stats in pie charts for parameters such as protection status and detections.
The functions enabled at the user’s end depend on the parameters set by the admin. For example, the user may not have access to firewall settings. However, the users can perform scans on files, folders, drive partitions and external devices.
Performance
Panda Endpoint Protection that runs on the endpoints is extremely resource friendly. The memory footprint is less than 2 MB in idle mode and 6 MB while scanning. It took 39 minutes to scan the 20 GB system partition (19 GB used). These figures were logged on an entry-level desktop PC powered by Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 CPU and 2 GB of RAM. The OS used was Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit. Products by Panda Security have achieved very good results in the latest detection tests by AV-Test.org and AV-Comparatives.org laboratories. Panda Internet Security 2012 was one of the top products with respect to protection and usability.
Verdict
The biggest benefit offered by PCOP is its low cost and ease of use. The organization need not setup an infrastructure for endpoint protection. It’s entirely hosted on the cloud. However, cloud-based services have their drawbacks. The quality of protection depends on uninterrupted Internet connectivity. Should anything go wrong, it could spell trouble. For SMBs that don’t have resources and a high budget to implement a security solution, Panda Cloud Office Computing is a viable option.
