Value-added distributor Pax8 Inc. has added Symantec Corp.‘s Cloud Workload Protection (CWP) solution to its curated lineup of software-as-a-service solutions for MSPs.
Introduced a year ago, Symantec Cloud Workload Protection automatically discovers workloads housed in the three most utilized public cloud environments—Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform—and recommends appropriate policies and safeguards for securing them, including application isolation, real-time file integrity monitoring, real-time anti-malware scanning, and more.
The system is designed to help companies embrace cloud computing without exposing critical systems and infrastructure to threats that security solutions designed for use on-premises are sometimes incapable of blocking.
“As cloud adoption rises, part of the Pax8 value-add is to help MSPs craft a grounding strategy to close the security gap,” said Ryan Walsh, chief channel officer at Greenwood, Colo.-based Pax8, in prepared remarks.
According to research from Enterprise Strategy Group cited by Pax8, 74 percent of surveyed companies seeking to protect hosted workloads have to abandon onsite security policies and technologies that proved ineffective when used offsite.
“This can leave companies vulnerable to cyberattacks. Symantec CWP provides the protection MSPs need to secure their customers’ hybrid environments,” Walsh said in Pax8’s press release.
Data published last month by Synergy Research Group showed a 24 percent year-over-year global spending increase in key cloud service and infrastructure categories between September 2016 and September 2017, to $180 billion. Forrester, meanwhile, expects global spending on cloud security specifically to rise at a 28 percent annualized rate through 2021 to $3.5 billion.
“As businesses continue to migrate workloads to public cloud services, it’s important they evaluate existing security policies and ensure protection against evolving cyber threats,” said Javed Hasan, senior vice president of endpoint and datacenter products at Mountain View, Calif.-based Symantec, in a press statement. “We are excited to work with Pax8 to offer Symantec Cloud Workload Protection to MSPs and help deliver automated discovery, monitoring, and proactive protection for securing critical cloud workloads and meeting the challenges of the cloud generation.”
Symantec Cloud Workload Protection is the latest addition to a portfolio of Symantec products available via Pax8 that spans the vendor’s web, email, and endpoint security solutions. The distributor offers security systems from Sophos Ltd. and BAE Systems, among others, as well.
Cloud security has been a point of emphasis for Symantec since its June 2016 announcement of plans to acquire Blue Coat Inc., a cloud security specialist headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif. When that transaction closed two months later, Blue Coat CEO Greg Clark assumed that same post in Symantec’s boardroom.
