What is most valuable?
I've been working with Forcepoint, Symantec, and also McAfee. From my experience with the three of them, Symantec has one of the best LP solutions on offer. Forcepoint is on par with Symantec on some points, however, with respect to the granularity of how Symantec has laid it out for the customers, is much easier when compared to Forcepoint. The client also has more opportunities for customization.
With respect to the amount of intelligence that they have with respect to how they formed the DLP solution, for example, exact data matching. If you compare Forcepoint with Symantec, Symantec is more sophisticated than Forcepoint.
I would prefer Symantec over Forcepoint.
With respect to how Symantec Data Loss Prevention works now, it's got an edge over all the rest of the Data Loss Prevention with the exact data matching and also the partial matching. We've done a test with that with other solutions, for example, with McAfee and Forcepoint. Symantec is really more sophisticated when it comes to partial matching as compared to other solutions. There's data around this as well. There's a document about a specific confidential file. We will configure everything so that 50% of the data from a document should be scanned. The rest will be detected as black or whatever the option should be or the response should be.
With Symantec, they are capable of doing that. Only a part of the document is scanned and they are capable of detecting the amount of information that is supposedly secure and that should not be sent outside to any unauthorized users. Technically, Forcepoint can also do that, but there are certain limitations. Forcepoint can only do so much. With Symantec, it's very straightforward. You can just specify the version page and then upload the identifier, upload a sample, for example, a series of programming codes. You upload that, you give a sample, and then, just like that, you can already specify a specific response for that and it will be detected. That's also one of the samples that we were able to do with one of our clients.
Aside from exact data matching and aside from partial matching, there is better machine learning.
Symantec can offer a more sophisticated OCR. The optical character recognition, which we often showcase specifically for hospitals with x-rays, CT scans, and ultrasounds, is quite useful.
What needs improvement?
The one downside for Symantec is that, due to its transition from Symantec to Broadcom, there's been a lot of changes. I am based in the Philippines and we don't have a contact person locally for any Symantec.
We no longer have any contact for any Symantec opportunities. It's getting hard for us to request a demo license, or trial license, for a proof of value or proof of POC. Basically, speaking with respect to the technology, technically speaking, Symantec is really good, however, on the commercial side, we're really having a problem with that.
We always have a problem with respect to the commercial side and how we are offering it to the client. It gets really costly with the database as it's strictly required that clients must have an Oracle database and it's quite expensive if you would compare that to Microsoft SQL. From the technical side, what they need to improve is the database. I'm talking about the on-premise, as, with the on-premise, the database that they require is strictly Oracle and not many end-users are using Oracle for their databases. Some are using MySQL. So it gets really costly when we're offering Symantec and then we have to renew. Oracle is expensive.
What they need to improve is the management console. It's pretty straightforward, however, they need to upgrade it to make it more attractive. While it's easy to understand, from an end-user perspective, they need to upgrade it so that it will be more pleasing on the client's side. It would make them more inclined to look up, for example, for maintenance or visibility and monitoring.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been working with the solution for two or three years. I've only been working within the industry for two or three years, or something like that.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's stable. Out of all the data loss preventions that I've experienced, Symantec, with respect to its technology, is quite good. Aside from the database, I don't have much of a complaint with Symantec, technically speaking.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We work mostly with enterprises, however, we also work with some SMBs.
In terms of scalability, it is scalable. Symantec Data Loss Prevention is not only for endpoints. It is also for networks, the cloud, and also for email. It pretty much covers your entire infrastructure.
How are customer service and technical support?
With respect to the partner support, previously, when we started working with Symantec, support was pretty straightforward and really helpful. I've only been handled a support case a couple of times. It's not much, however, they've been really accommodating. That said, when the transition happened, from Symantec to Broadcom, when Broadcom acquired Symantec, that's when things got really hard for us. Not only from the technical side, not only from the support side but even from the commercial and pre-sales side. It's gotten really difficult requesting licenses, requesting trials, requesting support cases, et cetera.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I've been working with Forcepoint, Symantec,
the last project that we worked on, we worked on the latest version of Symantec. I just can't remember what version was it.
and also McAfee. That's the closest solutions that I've been working with most recently.
I only started learning Forcepoint come 2020, and I have done a POC. However, I find Symantec to be better overall if you compared the two.
How was the initial setup?
The setup is straightforward, as long as you know what you're doing. Back in the day, when I was just starting to learn data loss prevention, it got really confusing. For those who are just starting to learn how it works, it's important to note how the flow works - from identifying what data to protect, to the responses that should be applied to the policies that were configured. It's also important to note the architectural side. You need to pay attention to how the endpoint was set up, as well as the database and the detectors.
My last deployment for Symantec took a month, however, it came with the testing already. We did it phase by phase. What really took a long time for us to set it up, was encryption, which we deployed together with the data loss prevention. We had Symantec Data Loss Prevention and at the same time, Symantec Endpoint Encryption. We would deploy them together. That client also had the programming codes. We had to deal with a lot of programming codes and it took us a lot of time to review. We had a sit-down meeting with the customer in order for them to disclose the necessary information we would need for the pilot deployment. Then we had to do testing after that. That's why, in that case, it took a month.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
They have a subscription based on one-year, three-year, and five-year terms.
The pricing is adequate and good enough for the market.
What other advice do I have?
I'm a reseller. We used to have a partnership with Broadcom, or rather, with Symantec. We're still working on Broadcom. I believe we still have that partnership in place.
In the last project that we worked on, we worked on the latest version of Symantec. I just can't remember what version it was.
I'd rate the solution at a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
Expect more reviews to analyse various products