It could be assumed that cybercriminals around the globe are having good days at the office right now. This is partly because vast elements of the corporate world are no longer based mainly at their own offices, as large populations of the global village enter into voluntary or government-enforced lockdowns.
“The bid to lessen the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic around the world means that increasing numbers of businesses are embracing remote working models. And this means, in turn, that never before has the security of endpoint policies by CISOs been more important,” says Stefan van de Giessen, GM of Cybersecurity at value-added distributor Networks Unlimited Africa.
“Fortunately, comprehensive cyberdefence solutions are available for organisations to review and strengthen their endpoint security, and in this vein, we have bolstered our existing offering further, entering into a partnership with SentinelOne to distribute its endpoint security products throughout Africa.”
Based in the United States, SentinelOne, which was founded in 2013, helps organisations to prevent, detect, respond to and remediate end-point threats using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.
Van de Giessen explains, “The business of cybercriminals is accessing and stealing data. Endpoints including laptop computers, tablets and phones – which are now all being widely used by employees during this lockdown period – provide entry points to a wider network penetration that could harm the organisation, and which represent monetising opportunities to the cyberthief. Therefore, it’s clear that endpoint protection plays a critical role in the overall protection of the network in safeguarding valuable data and information.”
Roland Stritt, Senior Director of Channel EMEA at SentinelOne, adds, “The partnership with Networks Unlimited Africa has implications for us in the entire region, because it shows that we are targeting IT security expertise and corresponding project experience. Networks Unlimited Africa has a great reputation in the market as the leading cyber security distributor and we are pleased to welcome them as strategic partner in our channel community. Partners and customers will benefit from this collaboration in implementing a secure digital transformation with Singularity, our integrated AI-based security platform for security.”
Van de Giessen clarifies further, “The new partnership is a great boost for Networks Unlimited Africa’s security division. SentinelOne is leading the Gartner Peer Insights Customer Choice for endpoint protection platforms (EPP) and endpoint detection and response (EDR), highlighting its strength and innovative thinking in this arena. The SentinelOne solution can be deployed on-premise or in the cloud, depending on the customer’s preference and requirements.
“Additionally, the solution can be used in both online as well as offline formats, offering greater security and peace of mind. It offers real ease of deployment, which is of particular importance especially during these current lockdown periods.”
Features of SentinelOne’s solution include the following:
- SentinelOne’s single-agent technology uses a static AI engine to provide pre-execution protection.
- On execution, SentinelOne’s behavioural AI engines track all processes regardless of how long they are active. When malicious activities are detected, the agent responds automatically at machine speed.
- Its behavioural AI is vector-agnostic, covering file-based malware, scripts, weaponised documents, lateral movement, fileless malware and even zero-day threats.
- SentinelOne’s automated EDR can mitigate threats automatically, perform network isolation and auto-immunise the endpoints against newly discovered threats.
- SentinelOne, as a final safety measure, can also rollback an endpoint to its pre-infected state.
“The use of AI and machine learning technology – to automate, remediate and analyse – minimises detection and response time. It also assists in reducing the noise on the endpoint to the response system, and alleviates the alert fatigue to your security operators.
“What can’t be dealt with, will be flagged as a priority that needs investigation. It means that your organisation can work with fewer people, integrate more end products, and be more productive,” concludes Van de Giessen.
Staff writer
