IT Consultant Group

My first impression of SEP 12.X,

The first word that comes to my mind when we say SEP 12.x, is GREAT.To be honest it looks good. Whatever I expected it to have it has all that and also quite a few new additions in features and functionality that makes standout. The most important thing is that it is no more a scaled down version of SEP 11.0, the way SEP 12.0 was. It maintains almost all functionality of version SEP 11.0 .SEP 12.x incorporates many of the features from the enterprise edition. It is designed for small-to-medium businesses with up to 250 clients. It has quite a few   improvements that make Symantec Endpoint Protection easier and more efficient to use.

After testing it for 2 days and reading the manuals, this is what my first impression.

• The GUI looks similar to SEP11 and SEP 12.0.

• It is no more  "AntiVirus and AntiSpyware Protection" in Symantec Endpoint Protection 12.1. It is now called “Virus and Spyware Protection". Removing   the "Anti" has certainly improved the performance of the software.

• Changes have been made to the way Auto-Protect works. It now provides additional protection with Download Insight, which examines the files that users try to download through Web browsers, text messaging clients, and other portals.

• SONARhas replaced the TruScan . This technology is thre to identify malicious behavior of unknown threats using heuristics and reputation data. While TruScan runs on a schedule, SONAR runs at all times.

• Insight Lookup detects the files that might not typically be detected as risks and sends the files to Symantec for evaluation. If Symantec determines that the files are risks, the client computer then handles the files as risks. Insight Lookup makes malware detection faster and more accurate.  Insight lets scans skip trusted files, which improves scan performance.

•   Download Insightinspects files that users try to download through Web browsers, text messaging clients, and other portals. Download Insight uses reputation information from Symantec Insight to make decisions about files.

• The Firewall policy now includes firewall rules to block IPv6-based traffic.

• The Intrusion Prevention policy includes browser intrusion prevention, which uses IPS signatures to detect the attacks that are directed at browser vulnerabilities.

• Centralized licensing lets you purchase, activate, and manage product licenses from the management console.

• The Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager logon screen enables you to have your forgotten password emailed to you.  Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager includes an option to let any of the administrators in a site reset their forgotten password.

• Now we can  configure Linux clients to send log events to Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager.

• LiveUpdate can run when the client computer is idle, has outdated content, or has been disconnected, which uses less memory.

• Now we can configure the polices for Mac clients based on a location as well as a group.

•  Now we  can configure when and how Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager restarts the

              client computer, so that the restart does not interfere with the user's activity.

• The Monitors page includes a set of preconfigured email notifications that inform you of the most frequently used events. The events include when new client software is available, when a policy changes, license renewal messages, and when the management server locates unprotected computers. The notifications are enabled by default and support the BlackBerry, iPhone, and Android.

• The management server performs automatic database cleanup tasks to improve the server-client responsiveness and scalability.

• Virus and spyware scans use Insight to let scans skip safe files and focus on files at risk.

• Scans that use Insight are faster and more accurate, and reduce scan overhead by up to

     70%.

• The management server Web service uses Apache instead of IIS. You do not need to install IIS first, as in previous versions.

• Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager now supports Internet Explorer 7.0, 8.0, 9.0

• Apart from all these it has support for quite a few new operating system, the list can be obtained from Admin Guide or the Release Notes.

• The installation process has improved. Now the process is faster and easier than before. New installation features have also been added.

 Now again coming back to from where I started it, SEP 12.X looks good and also has good performance. It has a few unknown issues and I am sure that the development team should be fix that out before it is released.