The Cost of Free A Cautionary Tale

Transcription

1 White Paper Why McAfee Security Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is the smart selection

2 Table of Contents Cost-Saving Security Options 4 Total Cost of Ownership 4 McAfee Security Software-as-a-Service 6 The Effective Economic Choice 8 2

3 Entrepreneurs and company executives are interested in cutting costs, regardless of the nature and size of their businesses. No part of the business is immune. In the search for savings, even IT security budgets are under a fiscal microscope. Companies know that there is a real need for security but may be skittish about cost issues. Certainly, the concept of free software is common, and it comes in many forms. Freeware, shareware, or free open source software are nothing new in the technology landscape. Some companies use a loss leader approach by offering free or low-cost versions of their software in hopes of turning someone into a paying customer at some point. Security software also can come in free form. But the devil is indeed in the details. On closer examination, it is clear that the actual costs of free security software can be substantial, especially when one considers the accompanying risks. A safer and much more cost-effective security option involves the use of McAfee Security-as-a-Service solutions in the form of McAfee SaaS Endpoint Security Suites. This cloud-based form factor delivers the safeguards you need at a very affordable price. What does this mean for you? You can protect sensitive customer information and save money while you focus on the real priorities of your growing business, knowing that industry s experts have your back. Call it freeware, shareware, free open source, or loss leader giveaways, free software, especially within a security context, can prove to be surprisingly costly when you consider the internal and external costs of its maintenance, modifications, coordination, and monitoring. When considering the financial impact of the risks you run by exposing your business to a potential security breach, the cost of free becomes much more than an abstraction it becomes real. The nature of threats changes hourly as cybercrime expands around the world. Every minute counts, and having security software that makes use of current threat intelligence is the gold standard for protection. When that same security software solution fits your budget, the decision becomes an easy one. The least expensive and safest alternative for coordinated security that constantly protects your systems in this minute-by-minute threat environment is McAfee Security-as-a-Service. Chances are you are rethinking your assumptions about what security solutions to buy and how to implement, maintain, and manage them. Your existing security requirements are to sustain and to enhance protection against malware, spyware, spam, and myriad other intrusions and vulnerabilities. Your new business requirements are for more efficiency and more seamless protection, with less time, effort, and investment on your part. 3

4 Cost-Saving Security Options In your dealership, hotel, restaurant, construction, consulting, or other local business, you probably have some form of software protection on site but are still looking for budget relief. In system security, here are four cost-saving choices open to you: 1. You can go without protection, but that s probably not an option you want to consider. While hard to fathom, it s still sometimes considered as a viable cost-cutting option. 2. You can stop paying for your licenses while continuing to use the software. Not only does this violate your license agreement, but your protection gets exponentially worse with time as maintenance ceases. 3. You can choose to install some kind of free security software which is usually specific as to threat, uncoordinated with related packages, and requires specialized infrastructure, deployment, support, and maintenance. 4. You can choose hosted software, which is part of a robust family of products that are coordinated and maintained by your security software provider, thus eliminating the stacking of individual costs for infrastructure, deployment, and maintenance. Choices 1 and 2 are non-starters for obvious legal and practical reasons, so let s take them off the table and have a look at options 3 and 4 with their associated costs and risks. Total Cost of Ownership Versions of software that offer free licensing are clearly going to be lower cost at least at the front end. However, because multiple licenses must be purchased to cobble together overall protection, license management can become a major liability. Most companies struggle to maintain their licenses properly, and the software and human resources required for that maintenance can be a significant added cost. McAfee Security Software-as-a-Service does not require you to monitor and maintain your licenses to the different coordinated security tools. You simply use them for a fee. Installation costs of open source require first the acquisition of physical infrastructure to support the application and then the installation itself. To do this you must schedule your installation; incur the costs of either specialized consultants or allocate your own resources to this task; coordinate infrastructure upgrades and the installation; and risk delays and interruptions in your protection and your operation. Each time the software is modified, the installation must be repeated. The hosted McAfee Security Software-as-a-Service does not require installation at all. You simply use it. Ongoing administration and monitoring of free security applications often involves several security experts to configure policies, conduct end-user training, understand security events, and gather and interpret reports, each different from the other. Alerts need to be identified individually, using multiple tools, and this takes time and resources which are scarce in many businesses. Using standard web-based management that comes with McAfee Security Software-as-a-Service, you can administer and monitor your systems for all security functions within a single, simple management, alerting, and reporting interface. In the case of some open source-based free security software, since there are no license fees to pay the programmers for the original code, charging for support becomes a logical means of recouping payment for developing the software. Support for these types of products is often provided by companies specializing in particular applications, so you may have to contract with multiple companies to provide support, thereby opening yourself up to layers of costs with multiple support agreements and servicelevel agreements (SLAs). With McAfee Security Software-as-a-Service, support is bundled into the usage agreement, which includes one call, support, and transparent fixes. 4

5 Software Cost Category Forms of Free McAfee SaaS Licensing Free (open source) License fee License maintenance Internal headcount required (open source) None Installation Infrastructure and expertise required None Administration and monitoring Expert headcount required Simple Support You pay by the product Included Software maintenance You pay by the product None Threat response time Slow Rapid Exposure to vulnerability Vulnerable Protected Another potent example of the true cost of free relates to ongoing maintenance. In the cases when it is available, it is likely to be performed by programmer volunteers. As a result, changes may or may not be subjected to uniform testing and may happen more frequently than your capacity to absorb them. Either way, it creates security exposure. Further, if you do discover a problem, there is no single source to contact for an emergency repair. In contrast, the hosted McAfee Security Software-as-a-Service solution is maintained by McAfee experts, allowing you to focus on your business. You absorb no additional costs as a result of maintenance, and you begin using reliable, tested software as soon as it s downloaded. When it comes to security software, the cost of free is also hidden in the reality that free packages and products of various kinds simply do not age gracefully. For instance, a free spyware package that may have been effective when it was introduced simply cannot keep up with advances by those who wish to disrupt, steal, and destroy. Since these packages do not receive ongoing investment and expert input, they simply cannot adapt to a changing threat landscape. And in some cases of free options, cybercriminals around the world can view the source code and search for vulnerabilities. Hackers will use everything at their disposal to figure out how to get the valuable information out of your system. With McAfee Security Software-as-a-Service and McAfee Global Threat Intelligence (McAfee GTI), the source is defended by McAfee at multiple levels. Spans the Internet, including millions of sensors Uses a combination of protection techniques where reputation is a must Across all key threat vectors: file, web, , network Real-time, in the cloud threat collection and intelligence distribution model GTI Global research team dedicated solely to McAfee GTI Delivered via a complete suite of security products Figure 1. How McAfee GTI works. 5

6 As cybercriminals discover and exploit new system vulnerabilities, another host of security experts around the world identify, code, and develop countermeasures to combat them in a serious, worldwide game of spy-versus-spy. Many forms of free security software simply do not adapt to new threats, and the ones that do are very slow in making that adaptation. McAfee Global Threat Intelligence leverages the entire range of McAfee threat detection and web research, including its customer base, web security research, regulatory compliance, malware research, vulnerability research, security research, and network security research to bundle into its SaaS offerings. Within minutes of identifying a threat and developing a countermeasure, SaaS customers are automatically protected. There s no such thing as a free lunch or free system security either. Your growing business needs protection now. And it needs protection that is simple, rapid, responsive, always on, always effective and affordable. What it doesn t need is a sandbox where your employees or consultants fool around with free security software. McAfee Security Software-as-a-Service Using free security software is a more expensive and riskier choice. While its features remain stagnant, the threat landscape changes rapidly. If it does offer free licenses, then support and upgrades are spotty at best. A calculation of the true cost of free must recognize that the complexities of installation, administration, monitoring, and maintenance become more time-consuming and troublesome, and include the risks of slow threat response and vulnerabilities in the software itself. It s like trying to build a reliable car from spare parts, rather than leasing a Porsche at Ford rates. For well over a decade, McAfee has invested exclusively in security products and services. And for that decade, it has continued to turn SaaS into a well-oiled machine. In fact, McAfee was the first to provide integrated multifunction SaaS, in part because it was the first to understand the efficiency, value, and security payoff of visibility across protections. With its SaaS Endpoint Security Suites, McAfee offers three security solutions to provide integrated protection that extends seamlessly to match each new threat. McAfee Products McAfee SecurityCenter, for centralized visibility through an online management console Desktop and file server antivirus and antispyware to scan and block out malware McAfee SaaS Endpoint Protection Suite McAfee SaaS Endpoint and Protection Suite McAfee SaaS Total Protection Suite Desktop firewall blocks hackers and intrusions Web security scans web traffic for malware, enabling safe surfing Web filtering blocks unwanted websites server protection scans for viruses and spam in-house scanning stops malicious spam and phishing in the cloud, and continuity provides protection during any planned or unplanned server outages Pre-built compliance libraries and encryption to identify and secure s containing sensitive data Web protection filters all web traffic prior to the malware entering the network and enforces corporate web usage policies 6

7 McAfee SaaS Endpoint Security Suites have always been a multifunction service, including antivirus, antispam, and antispyware. Over the years, security coverage has expanded to include web security, firewall, and additional layers of protection. Now you can block and defeat viruses, spyware, adware, spam, phishing, hacker attacks, Web 2.0 exploits, and other threats before they can compromise your systems or steal your sensitive data. You can warn users about risky surfing and let them search and surf safely. With SaaS, as threats blend and change in real time, you are enveloped in the protection you need in real time, maintaining cutting-edge security across the board. Having access to McAfee SaaS Security Suites is like enjoying a security windfall: the solutions expand protection but reduce the impact on budgets, administrators, and end users. You get real-time protection with instant, always-on access while avoiding all the expenses of internally hosted systems, all for one simple subscription-based price. The McAfee SaaS solutions require no capital equipment outlay and are available at an affordable and predictable cost. The solutions provide complete, integrated, always-on-guard protection with easy maintenance and without involving anyone at your business site. In fact, a recent Tolly Report found that McAfee SaaS Endpoint Protection has a total cost of ownership less than half the price of its competition. Clearly, McAfee SaaS Endpoint Security Suites deliver a powerful value argument purely from a price perspective, but it doesn t stop there: When it comes to service, McAfee pioneered the approach of offering an integrated security solution managed by a single console. No more dealing with the headaches of maintaining multiple services from multiple vendors. Beyond that, the coverage gaps that can provide an opening for malware, viruses, and other threats are effectively eliminated. SaaS Endpoint Security Suites provide necessary protection as a subscription service, freeing your time so that you can run your business. McAfee SecurityCenter, an easy-to-use web-based management console provides easy access to vital security information. From any location, you can access reports and policies that are stored at the McAfee Network Operations Center, providing much needed flexibility. Around-the-clock protection on a 24/7 basis McAfee protects your business with real-time, multivector protection. The ace card in this effort is McAfee Global Threat Intelligence, which correlates millions of data points across all major vectors. This makes it possible for McAfee experts to size up and predict breaking threats and block them. The benefit to your growing business is that you are protected in advance of any attack and the threat updates are automatically distributed to the users at your site. Once again, because of the design of the SaaS solution, you can take care of business while focusing on your business. With McAfee SaaS Endpoint Protection, we lift the security burden from your shoulders and your premises and place it within its network operations center, automating as many tasks as possible. Your end of the job consists of setting up a few policies and then beginning to enjoy robust protection with a single click on a single URL by each user. From there, McAfee SaaS Endpoint technology handles the action, making it possible for each user s single endpoint to automatically call and pull down updates at frequent intervals to protect users with the latest signatures, policies, and feature updates. Users experience no disruptive changes as protections keep pace with threats in the most seamless way possible. Using McAfee SaaS Endpoint Protection for your local business makes your protection simple, safe, secure, and affordable. You don t have to hire experts. You don t have to buy equipment. You don t have to worry about effectiveness and economics. You can devote more time to what you do best. It s fire and forget rather than micromanagement of complex issues unrelated to what you really do. 7

8 The Effective Economic Choice If you want to trim your IT budget but maintain appropriate security, McAfee SaaS Endpoint Security Suites are the easy solution and the right choice. The solutions integrate all the security functions you need to protect your users and your business, and cut the cost of sustaining protection through streamlined, flexible management. Only McAfee provides the benefits of a single vendor, consolidated licensing, and one-stop support. While Security Software-as-a-Service is an approach every company should consider, we know companies need options whether to enable different business opportunities, different business units, or different user communities. The extensive McAfee portfolio lets you choose the security approach that matches your needs without sacrificing security or savings. Select from a variety of implementation models: software only, turnkey appliances, or managed services. Then as your security needs change, you can adjust your protection and leverage your buying power and a trusted relationship. Get the security and protection you need at a price you can afford, without surprises. Learn more at About McAfee McAfee, a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), is the world s largest dedicated security technology company. McAfee delivers proactive and proven solutions and services that help secure systems, networks, and mobile devices around the world, allowing users to safely connect to the Internet, browse, and shop the web more securely. Backed by its unrivaled global threat intelligence, McAfee creates innovative products that empower home users, businesses, the public sector, and service providers by enabling them to prove compliance with regulations, protect data, prevent disruptions, identify vulnerabilities, and continuously monitor and improve their security. McAfee is relentlessly focused on constantly finding new ways to keep our customers safe Mission College Boulevard Santa Clara, CA McAfee, the McAfee logo, McAfee Total Protection, and McAfee Global Threat Intelligence are registered trademarks or trademarks of McAfee, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. Other marks and brands may be claimed as the property of others. The product plans, specifications and descriptions herein are provided for information only and subject to change without notice, and are provided without warranty of any kind, express or implied. Copyright 2012 McAfee, Inc wp_cost-of-free_0512_fnl_ASD