Kaspersky Lab targets SMBs with Kaspersky Security for Microsoft Office 365

Kaspersky Lab is highlighting the next-gen capabilities in this offering, such as machine learning, a neural network-based anti-phishing engine, and sandboxing.

Kaspersky Lab has announced Kaspersky Security for Microsoft Office 365, a new Security-as-a-Service offering that they are directing at SMB customers.

“This is a fantastic product, which incorporates some of the best aspects of Kaspersky Lab,” said Jason Stein, VP of Channel at Kaspersky Lab North America. “We pride ourselves in selling a complete multilayered solution. This will stop customers from having to worry about Exchange and the problems that come with Exchange, because with this we have them covered.”

Kaspersky Lab is emphasizing the machine learning aspects of this solution, as well as the real-time cloud-based threat intelligence it uses, something it has not always done in the past.

“We’ve been doing next-gen protection for nine years, but people didn’t see us as a next-gen vendor because we didn’t specifically talk about our technology as next-gen,” Stein said. “If you don’t label it, you don’t always get the credit.”

The next gen security technologies in Kaspersky Security for Microsoft Office 365 include a neural network-based anti-phishing engine, machine learning-based detection, sandboxing, attachment filtering, and Kaspersky Lab’s global threat intelligence network.

Jason Stein, VP of Channel at Kaspersky Lab North America

“Providing security-as-a-service with machine-based learning and real-time threat intelligence built in will differentiate us,” Stein said. “Ransomware, spam and phishing incidents are on the rise, and this protects against all three. We think that it gives better protection against these things than our competition.”

The solution uses a single console that natively integrates with Exchange Online to manage both endpoint [Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud] and cloud-based mail [Kaspersky Security for Microsoft Office 365] protection.

“Our focus has always been making sure that customers are taken care of from an email standpoint, so we wanted to have this solution tailored towards Exchange,” Stein said, “At the same time, Office 365 has had a lot of momentum, so we wanted to provide specific protection for that.”

Kaspersky Lab is aiming this solution at the SMB market.

“We have a couple of other products that protect the Office suite as a whole, and we think that these are more in line with what the enterprise wants,” Stein said. “While this product certainly would protect enterprises as well, we think that the 80 per cent of businesses that are SMBs will see this specifically as a way to address a pain point for them, and we think that it will be more sought after by that market.”

Stein said that they have already geared up to get training material ready to enable partners to handle this solution.

“We have a team that makes sure we have all the collateral in place,” he said. “My own team has undergone extensive training on this, and we are now rolling it out for partners. Some partners are way more technical than others, but we will make sure we have the right resources available to provide adequate training to all types.”

Kaspersky Security for Microsoft Office 365 can be purchased online today. It can be purchased from Kaspersky Lab partners in a week, starting on February 8.