The problem:  How to help our Security-as-a-Service (aka SaaS) partners generate recurring revenue.

The solution… McAfee SaaS managed services…called Partner Security Services.

Back in 2000, McAfee launched its “myCIO.com” business unit.  myCIO.com was positioned to businesses to outsource their security needs to us as we served as their “Chief Internet Officer”.  My… CIO, get it?  The myCIO.com technology was all SaaS-based, we offered customers protection for their business like anti-virus, vulnerability scanning, email filtering… all with access to a cloud-based management console, called the SecurityCenter.  And as we held demonstrations on the SecurityCenter to our partner community, they exclaimed things like:

“This online console is way cool.” 

“Oh, I get it, McAfee’s hosting all the servers for their customer’s security management.”

“I’d really like a partner-version of this SecurityCenter.”

With this last point of input, our awesome engineers got to planning quickly – creating an interface specifically for partners who wanted to manage their end users’ SecurityCenters.  So in 2004, McAfee launched “Partner Security Services,”   a remote partner management platform that would be the basis of our new SaaS managed services.

Now it’s 2012, and McAfee is expanding its Managed Service Provider program with innovative products.  In addition to our SaaS-based solutions, we have technologies to protect from mobile devices to virtual servers, and we can now offer these solutions as monthly subscriptions to our value-added partners starting today.  Interested?  Well, then join McAfee at our Quarterly Global Channel Partner Town Hall on Thursday, July 26, at 8AM (PST) or contact your local McAfee Channel Account Manager for more MSP information.  The best is truly yet to come.

Our framework provides a robust approach to cloud security – effectively building a secure bridge between an organization and the cloud. To accomplish this, we enable businesses to extend their own corporate security policies into the cloud through three major data streams – email, web, and identity driven traffic. By securing these three streams, along with real-time protection from threats originating in the cloud, businesses can save time, resources, and gain business agility without the fear or data loss or compromise. McAfee is committed to continuously improving the security capabilities offered through the Cloud Security Platform, as demonstrated through the updates delivered in this release, including:

• Enhanced integration. Data Loss Prevention is now integrated into both Email Protection and Web Gateway solutions, providing the ability to stop data leakage through these streams of traffic. Also, Web Protection now features common policy enforcement and reporting whether deployed on-premises or as a service.
• Securing mobile workers. The addition of McAfee Client Proxy to our Web Protection solution enables seamless authentication and routing of web traffic regardless of user location, whether on-premises or mobile via SaaS.
• Advanced policy management. McAfee Web Gateway can now query external sources, i.e. Google’s YouTube API, to apply context-aware policies based on criteria such as content categorization.  Also, administrators can now factor in various identity attributes, such as device type, to set their cloud access control policies.

In every update to our Cloud Security Platform, we push the industry standard for protecting businesses in a cloud environment forward to a new level. As with every piece of our connected security portfolio, we are always innovating in ways which make doing business in the digital world more secure. Expect progress. Expect security, even in the cloud.

 The fact is that cybercriminals are now focusing their attention on small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) because they are typically easier targets than large, multinational corporations.  They know you don’t have time to deal with security, so they are betting you didn’t get that far down on your “to do” list.  Plus they are hoping you weren’t smart enough to call an expert consultant or partner to handle it for you.  SMBs become an easy target with valuable data because many of you deliver services and products to larger companies and governments, so it’s likely you have some of their data as well. 

With the rapid growth of viruses, phishing scams, and high-profile data breaches you must take proactive steps to protect your business in order to stay ahead of the bad guys.  How much security you need depends on the size and nature of your business.  And how you manage it depends on whether you prefer to lease or buy, managing it on-premises with your own IT staff or outsourcing it to a service provider with IT expertise.  

Cloud-based security offerings are perfect for growing businesses.  By effectively “leasing” your security solutions from a service provider, you won’t ever pay for more than what you need, can scale your security needs as your business expands and seasonally contracts, can access world-class security in a cost-effective way, and can focus your internal resources where you want them – on driving new projects that grow your business.

From a hacker perspective, there are only two kinds of businesses – those that have been breached and those that are about to be.  If you’ve been breached or a victim of fraud, chances are you have rethought your assumptions about what security solutions to buy, and how to implement, maintain and manage them.  If you haven’t been a victim yet, now is your chance to be proactive and prevent it. 

Your existing security requirement may be to sustain and/or enhance protection against malware, spyware, spam, and a myriad of other intrusions and vulnerabilities. Your business requirements however are focused on efficiency, performance, and seamless protection, with less time, effort and investment on your part.  You can get the best of both worlds with a cloud-based solution that can grow with your business and provide the security you need without the management headaches that often accompany a major IT project.  And if you want to try out some options, check out the 30-day free trials of McAfee’s Suites (from SaaS to on-premises suites covering email, Web, desktops, devices, and mobility) to protect your most valuable asset – your data.

Adding MX Logic’s solutions to McAfee will provide us with the most comprehensive Security-as-a-Service portfolio in the industry. Here are the numbers to prove it:

Our vision is to lead the Security-as-a-Service market by offering cloud-based industry leading technologies with a robust partner ecosystem. We are committed to being the vendor of choice in Security SaaS and MX Logic is a key component in delivering on our commitment. The breadth of our portfolio will allow our customers to stay ahead of cyber crime while saving them time and money.

Stay tuned for more details on this acquisition after the transaction closes. In the meantime, please check out our website for additional information.

Cheers,

Marc

McAfee has the broadest portfolio of Security SaaS solutions to offer to the market. We cover multiple threat vectors, including endpoint, email, Web and vulnerability scanning, and our solutions are powered by the global threat intelligence gathered by McAfee Avert Labs. We also have been providing Security SaaS to the market for nine years. Our solutions are robust and stable – we manage the software for you so you can focus on using it.

It is really all about choice. McAfee wants to provide our customers a choice on how they use our solutions. Our customers have been asking for solutions they can deploy in the cloud, saving them investment in infrastructure and allowing their teams to focus on what is critical to their business. McAfee has solutions that customers can deploy in-house, in the cloud or as a hybrid or combination of both.

And by integrating with McAfee’s real-time, cloud-based global threat intelligence, our Security SaaS products provide increased visibility into both external and internal threats and vulnerabilities, protecting customers more efficiently and reducing both acquisition and operational costs. With 350 threat researchers and tens of millions of data collection sensors, McAfee’s global footprint is substantial.

McAfee is committed to continuing to build Security SaaS solutions for our customers. We have plans to expand our offerings in Email Security and Vulnerability Management in the cloud. Check back here – we will update you on our plans and let you know when new solutions are launching. For now, check out our newest offering – Total Protection Service 5.0 – or trial one of our other solutions at http://www.mcafee.com/us/saas/index.html

Cheers!