Microsoft Defender to Replace Cylance for Anti-Virus at SMU

Microsoft Defender logoAll SMU Windows computers will transition from using CylancePROTECT to Microsoft Defender for Endpoint as an anti-malware application during the summer of 2023. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is an industry-leading, cloud-powered endpoint security solution that helps to secure against ransomware, file-less malware, and other sophisticated attacks on Windows and macOS devices. Due to technical issues, the deployment for macOS will be scheduled during the upcoming academic year. Continue reading Microsoft Defender to Replace Cylance for Anti-Virus at SMU

CylancePROTECT now safeguards your home computers

CylancePROTECT Home EditionSMU is pleased to introduce a new employee benefit to help you safeguard your family’s personal devices from malware, ransomware, and other cyber-attacks. We have partnered with Cylance® to protect our corporate devices, and as part of our steadfast commitment to information security, we are now happy to offer employees exclusive access to the same caliber of anti-malware/antivirus protection for up to 10 of your family’s devices (Windows and macOS supported) through Cylance’s Employee Purchase Program. For less than the cost of a Grande Iced Coffee, you can protect your home computer for a month from malware and viruses.  Continue reading CylancePROTECT now safeguards your home computers

Protecting Campus from Malware with Machine Learning

CylanceCylancePROTECT was introduced to the SMU campus in 2016 as a way to further secure SMU systems against viruses and malware. As the University became regularly inundated with malicious files, employees could not be expected to keep up with the volume and complexity of these new threats. As the threats evolved, so did our method of protection – machine learning. Continue reading Protecting Campus from Malware with Machine Learning

CylancePROTECT Protects SMU Campus

CylanceCylancePROTECT is an advanced threat protection program that utilizes machine learning and artificial intelligence to categorize files and running processes. Files deemed ‘unsafe’ or ‘abnormal’ are quarantined, while memory exploit attempts are blocked. Unlike traditional antivirus solutions, Cylance does not rely on daily virus definition updates or weekly system scans. This means it will use less CPU, save memory, and be easier on your hard drive, which should provide a better user experience for you. Continue reading CylancePROTECT Protects SMU Campus

New AntiVirus Software Coming Soon

CylanceOIT is currently testing a new antivirus application called CylancePROTECT.  Cylance is a robust and powerful application that blocks virus and malware threats before they take hold.  Rather than relying on particular virus definitions, Cylance targets behavioral patterns of threatening applications.  Certain applications that are benign yet exhibit some of these behavioral patterns can be whitelisted for the organization at the administrator level.  The product is much more effective but does shift some of the oversight responsibility to the IT security administrators.
CylancePROTECT
We have deployed Cylance only to OIT computers to review the behavior and effectiveness of the application.  We are releasing Cylance to all Macs over the next few weeks in preparation for the end of our McAfee subscription.  Mac users will begin to see the Cylance application on their IT managed computer.  It will run initially in monitoring mode only.  After the two-week review, we will convert it to blocking mode and then remove McAfee from those systems.

More detail regarding the deployment of CylancePROTECT to Windows and Linux computers will be sent later this summer.