Deep cloud backup capabilities with huge array of security and device management features
Acronis Cyber Protect begins at $59.00 per year and improves on the already formidable business-grade cloud backup and storage features in its more basic Acronis Cyber Backup product by doubling down on additional security and device management features. This makes Acronis Cyber Protect an entirely new offering that seems well designed to handle the current remote work reality. Its three-pronged attack on this scenario focuses on cybersecurity, backup and recovery, and integrated protection management. Overall, while it’s not quite the easiest tool to use of those we tested this time around, it’s definitely one of the best designed and well featured solutions we saw. That earns it a well-deserved Editors’ Choice award. We like Acronis’ design for this product because it covers more than simple secure and encrypted backups. Acronis Cyber Protect can also counter malware and even act as a ransomware protection tool because it proactively scans files backed up into the cloud (though you’ll find similar capabilities in its Cyber Backup sibling). However, Cyber Protect adds much more sophisticated cybersecurity technology to protect from newer malware threats even if these are brand new and as yet uncatalogued by most antivirus libraries. This broad security arsenal should be attractive to a wide swath of customers. Cyber Protect is priced slightly high, though still in-range, for small to midsize businesses (SMBs), but it will also appeal to enterprise customers looking to lock down their employees data on remote PCs and mobile devices. Some of the features in Acronis Cyber Protect, like forensic backup, as well as the ability to do a memory dump on a current system, may seem like overkill for smaller businesses. But having them available could certainly be handy in the long run no matter what size business is being protected. Whether this additional protection is worth the higher price is something you’ll need to decide for yourself, but the company has gone to a lot of effort to make its security capabilities as comprehensive as possible. Backup and storage is a fully covered and mature solution, as expected from such long-time player in that market and these capabilities closely mirror what you’ll find in Acronis Cyber Backup. What sets it apart from nearly all its competitors is just how tall its security stack has become. Subscribers get active cybersecurity protection that works in real-time with artificial intelligence (AI)-powered antivirus, anti-malware, anti-ransomware, and anti-cryptojacking technologies, making this a fully competitive, business-grade endpoint protection platform in addition to its backup capabilities. In terms of desktop and mobile device management, CIO’s can enact policies as well as enable compliance while increasing productivity with features like URL filtering and a range of categorization options. Each endpoint can be subjected to a vulnerability assessment to sniff out any weak points. Global threat monitoring and smart alert functions can be applied to the Acronis Cloud as well as to network attached storage (NAS), system attached storages (SAN), backup tapes, disks, or any public or private cloud storage target, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), the Google Cloud Platform, or Microsoft Azure. In a very pandemic-aware touch, Acronis has addressed some of the new security headaches faced by all the now home-bound teleworkers who rely on various online collaboration solutions to get through an average work day. For example, those using video conferencing champ, Zoom, for their team meetings are likely dealing with protecting those sessions from cyberattacks or hijacking through Zoom-bombing as well as other insidious attack vectors, like code injections or compromised links. Acronis Cyber Protect helps secure these tools with proactive vulnerability assessments, patch management, code injection prevention, and dedicated anti-malware measures. But getting back to its core mission of data protection, Acronis Cyber Protect offers a wide array of options for idle and disk-image backup. This includes backing up the entire system as a single «image» file, which can ensure bare-metal restore capability so it’s easier to move your existing environment to a whole new PC. Acronis Universal Restore ensures not just quick and easy backup restore operations but also handles system migrations with a few clicks. Depending on your company’s needs, Acronis Cyber Protect can effectively replace basic MDM solutions with its ability to provide Remote Desktop access for support. That includes remote monitoring of drive health, missing updates, as well as active alerts for endpoints and the ability remote wipe devices on lost or decommissioned PCs. Pricing and Tiers Acronis Cyber Protect starts at $59.00 for the Acronis Cyber Protect Essentials plan. Again, this might seem high compared to some competitors, like MSP360, but you’re getting quite a bit for your money, especially since you’re potentially killing three birds with one stone: backup, endpoint protection, and MDM.
