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Microsoft System Center Endpoint Protection

Score7.5 out of 10

12 Reviews and Ratings

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What is Microsoft System Center Endpoint Protection?

Microsoft System Center Endpoint Protection is a malware, spyware, antivirus and endpoint protection application available formerly with System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM), which later became Microsoft Endpoint Manager. It is a legacy product, with older versions reaching end of support, and is not available as a standalone product.

Categories & Use Cases

Key Features

Learn about the best (and worst!) features Microsoft System Center Endpoint Protection has to offer, as determined by TrustRadius' reviewers.
Based on 12 ratings of Microsoft System Center Endpoint Protection's features
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Top Performing Features

  • Infection Remediation

    Capability to quarantine infected endpoint and terminate malicious processes.

    Category average: 8.8

  • Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)

    Continuous monitoring and response to advanced internet threats by endpoint agents.

    Category average: 9.1

  • Malware Detection

    Detection and blocking of zero-day file and fileless malware.

    Category average: 9

Areas for Improvement

  • Vulnerability Management

    Vulnerability prioritization for fixes.

    Category average: 8.3

  • Anti-Exploit Technology

    In-memory and application layer attack blocking (e.g. ransomeware)

    Category average: 8.6

  • Hybrid Deployment Support

    Administrators should be able to choose endpoint security on-premise, cloud, or hybrid.

    Category average: 8.3

Reviews

What users are saying about Microsoft System Center Endpoint Protection.
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Malware protection that just works.

Incentivized
Verified User
Administrator in Information Technology (201-500 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We utilize System Center Endpoint Protection to safeguard all desktops on the network with a centralized antivirus, ransomware protection, and toolkit protection system developed by Microsoft. It works from the SCCM admin console and deploys automatically to all systems it can see and manage.

Pros

  • Easy administration.
  • Centralized management, patch deployment, and reporting.
  • Easy auto-patch updating from Microsoft.
  • Microsoft antivirus app with no special licensing required.

Cons

  • Some advanced options that 3rd party's have are not available.
  • Some advanced set customization is difficult from the SCCM console.
  • Some of the latest Windows 11 security settings are not yet fully integrated into the SCP pages in the SCCM console.

Return on Investment

  • The Windows 11 version of SCEP is significantly better than the Windows 10 and older iterations, and it has saved us from virus issues in the past.
  • This is faster and less work to deploy to a pc when we build and deploy them.
  • No extra admin and costs for AV licensing in our case, which makes renewal times easier on IT Management.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Symantec Advanced Threat Protection, Cisco Endpoint Security Analytics, Kaspersky Endpoint Security and McAfee DLP Endpoint

Other Software Used

McAfee DLP Endpoint, Cisco Endpoint Security Analytics

A good endpoint protection product that is easy and intuitive to use

Incentivized
Verified User
Supervisor in Information Technology (1001-5000 employees employees)

Pros

  • It is easy to use and configure. This is a benefit, not just for the IT/Admin team, but also for the end-user, as they can easily set how and when to run scans.
  • It is good a identifying threats and removing these threats. When looking for a product such as this, it is important to really look at these two areas to really see how the software will work in a real-world environment. SCEP is one such product that does really well at both of these things.

Cons

  • The product could improve in the area of having better mechanisms in place with how the SCEP client is deployed/installed from the server on the management side. We have run into this firsthand with the client not installing on an endpoint, and then having to take the time to investigate why it was not installing.
  • A second improvement that can be made is to keep trying to improve the products detection rate for finding malware/viruses. The case can be made that there are some products out there that do a better job at this and have a higher detection rate.

Return on Investment

  • The positive impact it has had on ROI is that it has been a solid AV product in our environment, meaning it has worked well when running on client computers. It doesn't use a lot of system resources on the client-side, so that helps end-users productivity of not being slowed down.
  • It has been good for the end-user, since they really don't need to take additional training or consult user manuals, in how to use the product.

Other Software Used

Microsoft Office 365, Skype for Business (formerly Lync), Freshdesk, TeamViewer, Zoom

Your time has come (and possibly gone)

Incentivized
Verified User
Analyst in Information Technology (1001-5000 employees employees)

Pros

  • Microsoft System Center Endpoint Protection offers exceptional threat protections for signature-based "known" threats.
  • The signatures are constantly updated and management of this application is super easy with the use of Microsoft SCCM.
  • The application is very much a "set it and let it" type of deployment. Once you install it, there are very little configuration or changes that need to be made.

Cons

  • Not so much a limitation on the software itself, but the fact that is primarily only "signature" based, it cannot detect threats that have mutated.
  • This software provides virtually no protection against zero-day threats.
  • The System Center Endpoint Protection does not offer protections based on behavioral analysis.

Return on Investment

  • There was little/no cost associated with this software since we are utilizing SCCM and are paying license costs for that anyways.
  • The level or protection is excellent for the cost of the software.
  • There was at least one instance in which Microsoft System Center Endpoint Protection identified a crypto-malware, but not before it had already started to encrypt many of our files. So it did detect the threat, but since it was a little delayed we still were infected.

Other Software Used

FoxitPhantom PDF, KeePass, Wrike