McAfee Free Trial: Virtual Network Security Platform on AWS

McAfee today announced a free 72-hour trial of the McAfee Virtual Network Security Platform (McAfee vNSP) on Amazon Web Services (AWS). The news surfaced at AWS Summit in New York.

With the trial, participants can use McAfee vNSP to simulate real-world attack use cases, configure policy and review reporting dashboards, according to a prepared statement.

McAfee vNSP is built specifically for AWS and provides a hands-on experience running advanced security in a public cloud environment, McAfee stated. It protects at the individual workload level, McAfee noted, and also can be managed from the same console as the on-premises McAfee NSP.

In addition, development teams can integrate security into their application deployment process by using automation frameworks such as Cloud Formation templates, Chef and Puppet to deploy and manage McAfee vNSP on AWS, McAfee said.

McAfee Expands Machine Learning, Automation Capabilities

McAfee last month introduced McAfee Advanced Threat Defense (ATD) v4.0, which provides enhanced threat detection and advanced analysis capabilities within email attachments, according to a prepared statement. The company also added integrated, countermeasure-aware risk analysis capabilities to its McAfee Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) security information and event management (SIEM) software.

In June, McAfee released the Amazon Machine Image (AMI) for the McAfee Public Cloud Server Security Suite (McAfee PCS) to help enterprise and government AWS customers secure their Amazon workloads.

The AMI for McAfee PCS includes the following security capabilities:

The AMI for McAfee PCS is available on an hourly basis on the AWS Marketplace.

McAfee: Some Cuts, Continued Partner Focus

McAfee in July laid off an undisclosed number of employees. A McAfee spokesperson confirmed that the company cut less than 10 percent of its workforce at that time; McAfee today declined comment to MSSP Alert about the layoffs.

In April, McAfee began operating as a standalone cybersecurity company, and its investors include TPG Capital, Intel and Thoma Bravo.

McAfee currently operates as a pure-play cybersecurity company and protects 378 million total endpoints in more than 190 countries.

Going forward, McAfee will continue to make investments to help channel partners "drive the large-scale value proposition" that organizations want, a company spokesperson told MSSP Alert.

"As a platform player, the goal is to be our customer's number one security partner," the spokesperson said. "Our channel priorities have not changed and continue to be focused on strategic engagement, mutual growth and profitability and better customer outcomes."