Automox vs. BeyondTrust Network Security Scanner, powered by Retina (Legacy)

It is perfectly suited for organizations with a small IT staff and large amount of devices. It's also perfect for pushing software to machines that are not on the network or VPN. It's less effective for server patch management. I like to have a little more control of my server patching

Incentivized

Retina Network Security Scanner is well suited for any environment and infrastructure that would like to expose security deficiencies across their network as well as visualize vulnerabilities as they pertain to assets in their environment. I cannot think of any scenario that would not be appropriate for this product. Since the product carries over to pretty much all assets in your environment, I don't know off the top of y head what it wouldn't be appropriate for.

Incentivized

• Excellent support for Windows-based systems. Rarely have any issues updating those systems.
• When issues do arise, the Automox support team has been very responsive and informative of solutions (or where projects are on potential roll out dates).
• The user interface is intuitive and easy to use.

Incentivized

• Besides the fact that Retina NSS performs the fundamental task of scanning all my network devices, one of the main strengths is the speed at which it scans. Time is money and I know people tent to wear that cliché out a bit, but when you are as small as we are of a team, every minute counts.
• We have utilized other network security scanners over the past 21 years and Retina NSS seems to have the smallest footprint with no evidence of scanning degrading performance of the devices scanned.
• They seem to update their database frequently enough that we notice a correlation of threats to discovery.
• There is a small learning curve, but overall, a seasoned IT professional can quickly get up and running in a few hours and get usable results quickly. This falls back on the speed at which Retina NSS scans. My previous network security scanners would sometimes take hours to complete a full vulnerability scan of between 250 - 400 devices, now it only takes a fraction of that time.

Incentivized

• initial deployment of agents to all end points was a challenge, would have been great if there was a way for Automox to discover and install.
• Sometimes upgrading the Automox client which becomes old due to an end point not connecting for a long time becomes challenging as it becomes incompatible and has to be upgraded manually
• It would good to have a functionality where an end point device can be turned into a brick if desired in cases where the device is not returned back after an employee is terminated. This should also have the option of turning it back into an active device if we choose to

Incentivized

• I do not have any obvious cons to report at this time.

Incentivized

The system is really simple. We pushed the installer out through Group policy. Devices connected can get further defined by Tags or Groups.

Incentivized

After using a combination of WSUS and group policy to manage patching on a large number of devices, it was excellent to move to a single-pane experience where patch policies, restart schedules, reports, and device status can be seen easily and quickly. Its pre-patch report on policies is particularly handy so you can check if devices will take the appropriate action before it's run.

Incentivized

In my experience, they were responsive but the fixes were more like bandaids than a fix for the underlying problems which they admitted were on their end.

Incentivized

We stoppped using PDQ because it required our users to connect to the corporate VPN. It might take months for some remote users to receive a patch, and often we would have to schedule time with them one-on-one to ensure that it got done. With Automox, we don't have to do any of that - it just happens silently in the background.

Incentivized

Retina Network Security Scanner is the only product we have used in our enterprise. I have used a product in the past called GFI LanGuard Network Security Scanner and while it did perform the functions of vulnerability testing, etc...it just wasn't nearly as refined as Retina NSS. It was slow and was not as lightweight as Retina as far as end-user detection.

Incentivized

• Automox allows us to fix vulnerabilities in the shortest amount of time ever.
• The automated patching and end point management features have made our jobs much easier.
• We get to focus on more important tasks and not have to manually patch the operating systems.

Incentivized

• The product is extremely easy to deploy, extremely positive.
• If you take full advantage of this product as I did, you will maximize your ROI quickly as we did.
• We were able to visualize our vulnerabilities efficiently and effectively and maintain scheduled scans that allowed us to maintain a continuous improvement atmosphere while securing our investments.
• The ability provide reporting allows our IT department to prioritize issues and remediate as required without chasing down low risk issues over high risk issues that need immediate attention.

Incentivized