Trend Micro Southern Africa, is pleased to announce the local launch of its Trend Micro Cloud App Security point of presence designed to provide customers added security and protection of their Microsoft Office 365 environments.

With Trend Micro Cloud App Security, local customers can now fully embrace Office 365 with the knowledge that their investment, email and data are secure. Not only does the service protect Office 365 environments, including advanced email protection, but it also enforces compliance on third-party cloud file sharing services that include: Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft SharePoint Online, and OneDrive for Business.

Notably, the success of Cloud App Security in underpinned by its direct integration with Office 365 and other services via APIs. The local release of the service is coupled with the announcement of a Cloud App Security point of presence in the region providing direct and local integration to customer’s cloud services. This will in turn will provide customers with data residency and reduced latency as the service will be hosted in South Africa.

“It is of critical importance that customers understand that cloud security is a shared responsibility between their cloud service providers and themselves. They can’t simply put their data in the cloud and walk away from the security responsibility, they have to take measures to also secure their investments, which is where Cloud App Security comes into play,” states Indi Siriniwasa, Vice President at Trend Micro Sub-Saharan Africa. “Our announcement that we will be hosting a local point of presence for the service is testimony to our commitment to local customers and answers a growing need by clients to better secure their cloud investments.”

The Sub-Saharan Africa Cloud App Security service will be available through Trend Micro’s partner network in the region, as well as on the Microsoft Azure Marketplace. Furthermore, the service will initially service customers in South Africa and SADC, while WECA customers will have the option of continuing to use the service through the data centres hosted in both Amsterdam and Ireland – dependant on where they experience the best latency.

The Trend Micro Cloud App Security service will help customers address the following concerns:

• Provides added security to the Microsoft stack and complements and adds to both Azure and Office 365 security controls
• Is able to assist a customer with identifying Business Email Compromise (whaling) attacks using artificial intelligence built into the Trend Micro threat intelligence network
• Protects a customer’s internal email and allows on-demand scanning of the mail storage
• Provides visibility into sensitive data use with cloud file-sharing services, ensuring a customer can better monitor and manage risk and compliance. Furthermore, with the presence of an integrated DLP solution customers can better comply with GDPR and POPI
• Ensures all user functionality is preserved on any device, with simple API integration, and that ultimately granular security policies follow the user and their devices
• Helps customers detect and stop known and unknown threats, protect applications, stop suspicious and unauthorised changes and harden the Azure environment.

“Back in 2017, we conducted a Cloud App Security report where we tracked the security risks in the cloud. This was a major concern for customers, but working with Microsoft we have been able to extend our offerings and develop a security service that deploys a multi-layered approach to securing the cloud. In short, it gives our customers the assurance that their cloud investments are better secured and protected, from both known and unknown threats, hardening security around your Microsoft environment – and now our local customers can leverage these benefits more effectively,” ends Siriniwasa.

Supporting Product Information:

Cloud App Security is part of the Trend Micro Smart Protection Complete Suite, powered by XGen security. It combines the broadest range of endpoint and mobile threat protection capabilities with multiple layers of email, collaboration, and gateway security. It also enables you to manage users across multiple threat vectors from a single management console that gives you complete user-based visibility into the security of your environment.

Cloud App Security is also part of Trend Micro Smart Protection for Office 365, which provides complete threat protection for Office 365 against phishing, Business Email Compromise (BEC), ransomware, internal email risks, and file sharing risks. Powered by XGen security, it combines a SaaS email gateway with Cloud App Security and uses the optimum blend of cross-generational threat defence techniques.