ThreatDown, powered by Malwarebytes vs. Symantec Endpoint Security

I would absolutely recommend Malwarebytes Endpoint Protection to a colleague and I have recommended it to many of my peers in the IT world. Malwarebytes is well suited for any environment that requires protection from mal/ransomware which is most companies these days. In particular for companies that host their own big data that the operation of the company relies on. The only place Malwarebytes Endpoint Protection may not be AS appropriate would be one where there is near zero reliance on computers, networks and data.

Incentivized

We have found that Symantec Endpoint Security is better suited to newer systems running faster processors and more than 8GB RAM otherwise the client agent takes up too many resources and slows the system down. However, if you have a reasonably modern fleet of systems it does everything you would expect from an Endpoint Protection solution and works well as part of a multi-layered cybersecurity policy.

Incentivized

• The biggest plus with this software is that you can manage all the clients from a management console. You can push the install/updates through it. If the client cannot connect to the management console, then it will update directly from their website. This means you are always up to date and protected.
• The software on the client machine has very low overhead so it doesn't affect the performance.
• You can create policies based on the types of users or by the department. You can customize these policies so it will let you micro-manage the clients.

Incentivized

• The virus and spyware protection has worked well for us, catching several things and quarantining the items or cleaning them.
• The virus definitions very rarely fail to update for the users, so I feel confident that my client machines are kept up to date.
• I like the report I get daily telling me about threats found and action taken without having to login to the console to look it up myself.

Incentivized

• poor customer service
• dashboard says product is working EVEN THOUGH IT WAS NOT!
• slow response to concerns that should be easy to remedy
• creates baggage which caused certain computers and the network to run more slowly
• caused 3 computers on our network top have windows errors and network issues

• Removing dead clients from the console. This is nearly impossible to do, and makes keeping the console clean a very difficult task.
• Poorly tested versions are sometimes released that cause serious issues for users. This ranges from browsers malfunctioning to BSOD errors.
• Malware detection is good but not great. We are not confident in SEP by itself to neutralize malware threats. It's detection rate just isn't high enough for next generation and zero day threats.

When I first used the tool in my home systems MANY years ago, I wished for a Business version. I was once at a focus group for a major antivirus company, and one attendee’s feedback to “what could we do better?” was “buy out MalwareBytes and add it to your tool”. I’ve used the Business version since it first became available, and have continued to be a dedicated user through the many iterations and improvements

Incentivized

Continued satisfied support. The saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it..." comes to mind. It works, and we'll continue to use it and support Symantec.

Incentivized

It simply works. It doesn't require the hand-holding and monitoring that some other solutions do. It's simple to deploy and maintain, and adding custom content such as Exceptions require minimal effort. I’ve had to add a few exceptions for internal-use, in-house-developed tools, but it’s quite simple to do so within the online interface

Incentivized

The rating reflects Symantec Endpoint Security's ability to balance enterprise grade security with user-friendly workflows or advanced configurations require extra effort. For most organizations, the streamlined management and robust automation justify the high score. Management GUI is old fashined and need to be improve. Older devices may experience slowdowns during full scans without careful configuration.

Incentivized

We've used it for years and the software is easy to use. The dashboard is easy to read, and you can easily figure out where to go to troubleshoot or deploy software. Symantec is there for emergencies like backup restoration or file retrieval. It's pretty low maintenance. Symantec is there when your IT infrastructure needs it

Incentivized

Whenever I've had a query for the support team, they have got back to me very quickly, and given me very well detailed advice on fixing whatever the issue I had was. They also pointed me to help documents and such where I could find more information if I needed

Incentivized

Support is completely awful! You can never get anyone to help if you can even find a number to call. The support web portal is a joke and their response time if you're even able to submit a ticket is ridiculously slow.

Incentivized

I first implemented this more than 10 years ago, when it required an in-site setup with SQL Server (or SQL Express), and even that was pretty easy. With the move to centralized web management some treats ago, it’s become even easier to deploy

Incentivized

Use a third party deployment tool and not the deployment option within the SEP Manager itself.

Incentivized

I think Malwarebytes Endpoint Protection is hands down better from any point of view other than price. Malwarebytes is a little bit more costly than Webroot. However, Malwarebytes detects more threats, protects against more malicious URL's, allows more in customization of policies, has better administration GUI, and has better means of implementation.

Incentivized

Symantec Endpoint Security seems to be a more mature solution compared with CrowdStrike, particularly when CS was just recently getting their USB blocking functionality rolled out for macOS endpoints this year. Another differentiator with CrowdStrike is that Symantec ES still provides both on-demand scanning & real-time signature-based detection in addition to solely real-time machine learning detection whereas on-demand scanning and signatures are not available on CrowdStrike. This means there is a doubt as to whether we can use CS to comply with some of our PCI DSS obligations which specifically require the use of signature-based antivirus solutions.

Incentivized

• Other than over billing our company by $6,821.76, our clients are very happy with our approach to network security and malware protection
• Our service and lack of data breaches (do in part to Malwarebytes) has allowed us to retain our client base for over two decades.

• Symantec [Endpoint Security] cost 50k less than other options while providing similar benefits over the last year
• Cylance conflicted with Symantec [Endpoint Security] and Cisco Umbrella Client (All 3 at the same time) causing us to rebuild many desktops
• Symantec [Endpoint Security] made it easy to detect where issues were and repair them

Incentivized