Panda Security, The Cloud Security Company, has released Panda Cloud Office Protection (PCOP) version 6.70, featuring significant technological and functional improvements, to help SMBs combat the growing number of cyber-attacks they are experiencing.

According to PandaLabs, Panda Security’s research laboratory, a preferred method for cybercriminals is to infect systems with new-generation malware capable of exploiting software vulnerabilities.

Furthermore, those users of Panda Cloud Office Protection wishing to test Panda Cloud Systems Management (PCSM) can automatically download PCSM on computers with PCOP 6.70 installed and see its potential with a couple of clicks. This new feature of PCOP 6.70 offers organisations the opportunity of combining their security and management needs into a single platform.

“The number of cyber-attacks on businesses is increasing as cyber-criminals look for easy targets and SMBs do not always implement appropriate security measures,” says Jeremy Matthews, country manager for Panda Security. “This is often due to the fact that they find it too difficult to manage their network security or don’t have a dedicated budget for it.”

One of its main new features of PCOP 6.70 is the inclusion of new anti-malware technology to detect exploits and new-generation malware ahead of other security vendors.

This anti-exploit technology detects and neutralises malware such as Blackhole or Redkit that exploits zero-day vulnerabilities (in Java, Adobe or MS Office) to infect computers. Similarly, it monitors suspicious processes in real time and detects hundreds of new or as-yet unidentified malware strains every day, including unknown variants of existing viruses.

“These new features aim to provide SMBs with even better protection, as our Collective Intelligence system enables us to detect more vulnerabilities than our competitors and protect our customers in real time, especially against the new malware variants appearing every day,” stresses Matthews.

Additionally, with Panda Cloud Office Protection 6.70 administrators will be able to set time limits in the URL filtering feature, thereby restricting access to certain Web pages as and when required.