Cloud based Anti Virus

[robjduk]

Afternoon all,

Looking at changing my Anti Virus to potentially Sophos and have been impressed with their cloud system and wonder if anyone else is on it who can share experiences. On the subject, does anyone else have a cloud based AV and what's your thoughts?

 

I'm very much a fan of pushing everything I can out to the cloud rather than internal servers so this solution suits my plans perfectly.

 

All opinions welcome.

Thanks

[gshaw]

Don't know about the cloud-based version but Sophos and impressed are two words that have never gone together in my experience

[robjduk]

Yes I see a lot of mixed comments on here so its far from confirmed. I used to use it years ago and loved the interface but it did cause a day of problems for us. Currently have Kaspersky but would love a fresh start as I inherited my current setup as well as Kaspersky taking the smeg on their pricing when compared to everyone else.

 

Thanks

[MordyT]

We use a cloud av for the majority of our clients. If the downfalls work for you (for example PC needs an internet connection), go for it. Less hardware / software to manage / maintain is a huge advantage.

[ReBoot]

I'm taking a look at Cloud AV for my school. Sophos is unusual in that its user based rather than device based. You build policies that apply to users not computers and this means the cloud platform needs information on your users and groups.

 

This is fundamentally different to say Panda Cloud and GFI Cloud which are device based and you build policies which apply to end points. As end point discovery is automatic during the agent install this is much quicker to setup.

 

Panda Cloud is very good value the only thing it won't do is a scan on insertion for USB devices. GFI is more expensive and does include this functionality.

 

I have also tried a trial of VIPRE business but as I don't have a Windows server available for the console and VSS service I decided not to go down this route. Also ended up with a support ticket for problems with the agent install which didn't inspire me with confidence.

[danelliott87]

We use panda cloud here. Works well. Cheap licences too! Is the only cloud based product to offer device control if you are interested in that.

[ReBoot]

I must admit I have been impressed with the value and function of Panda Cloud and its definitely on my short list. I'm not sure a cuddly bear is best logo for Anti Virus software but I guess I'll get used to it !

[FN-GM]

I assume you have checked you have enough internet bandwidth to go with a cloud solution? I have seen a schools internet connection crippled with all the machine communicating with the cloud and downloading definitions.

 

 

Don't know about the cloud-based version but Sophos and impressed are two words that have never gone together in my experience

 

Same here!

[ReBoot]

I don't think it can be any worse than our current configuration. We use AVG without the management console so I think every workstation is downloading updates independently. As I understand it Panda Cloud uses peer to peer networking between end points to distribute updates. I wouldn't have thought the control traffic would be that bandwidth hungry. We have FTTC running at close to 80/20 and 60 workstations.

[danelliott87]

You can use peer to peer for updating or let the client update themselves. I must admit that i haven't yet got around to setting up peer to peer and haven't really noticed much slowdown bandwidth wise.