Dell Data Protection vs. McAfee Complete Data Protection

McAfee Complete Data Protection and Dell Data Protection both encrypt data to protect against loss, but the scope and complexity of the two products differ widely.

With the greater interconnectedness of devices and systems and the evolution of cybercrime, business data is always at risk of being stolen, lost or exposed. These breaches cost enterprises beyond financial terms: Data protection software is crucial as it ensures sensitive data is protected from exposure. Two data protection solutions, Dell Data Protection and McAfee Complete Data Protection, can provide protection against hackers and other bad actors.

Dell Data Protection

Dell Data Protection is a data protection solution with multiple products targeting data and folder encryption, BitLocker management as well as self-encrypting device management. It is a solution that administers authentication, access control policies as well as encryption of crucial information to detect security flaws and protect data. Dell Data Protection also offers centralized management of data on devices within and beyond your walls.

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Comprehensive IT-friendly protection

Dell Data Protection empowers IT teams to straightforwardly enforce encryption policies through Software-based Data-Centric Encryption. The policies are enforceable for data residing on external media or the system drive. The solution is fashioned for mixed vendor environments and is not a hindrance to existing authentication and patch management IT processes.

Full Volume Encryption solution

Dell Data Protection achieves high levels of security and protection to enhance the efficiency and productivity of your employees. The Full Volume Encryption solution provides end-users with military-grade protection. It also has functionality comparable to a self-encrypting drive that has no drive size limitations. The high security and protection standards are validated by high-level certification by the U.S Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS 140-2).

External media protection

With Dell Data Protection, you can enforce external media policies not only within, but also beyond your walls. The External Media Edition solution, which is available as either a standalone product or part of Dell Data protection, covers serious security gaps and protects external media. End-users can enjoy personal data on external media as flexible policies and centralized management ensure critical organizational data is secure.

Enterprise-level encryption management

You can conveniently manage your existing encryption with Dell Data Protection. For example, you can use Dell Data Protection’s BitLocker Manager feature with Microsoft BitLocker Drive Encryption to enjoy enterprise-level reporting, auditing, and management functionality.

Pricing

As the vendor has not publicly provided product pricing information, you will have to get in contact with Dell for a quote.

McAfee Complete Data Protection

The loss, theft, or exposure of critical data promises serious consequences for organizations as they face damage to brand image, financial losses, loss of customer trust, public disclosure, and regulatory penalties. The ubiquity of mobile devices with internet connectivity and sizable storage capacities makes it more difficult to secure data as the channels for data theft and data loss increase.

McAfee Complete Data Protection provides comprehensive data protection for proprietary, critical, and personally identifiable information. It provides a data protection solution that confronts the aforementioned issues and beyond. The solution has two suites, McAfee Complete Data Protection and McAfee Complete Data Protection-Advanced. The features below represent both suites.

Enterprise-grade drive encryption

McAfee Complete Data Protection, through its advanced suite, prevents unauthorized access to sensitive data on endpoints like workstations, desktops, USB devices, and virtual desktop infrastructures using strong access control coupled with drive encryption. Encryption of entire devices without requiring human action or training happens automatically. Additionally, the software uses robust multi factor authentication to identify and verify users.

Removable media, file and folder, and cloud storage encryption.

McAfee Complete Data Protection helps you ensure that files and folders you protect are always encrypted, and encrypted folders can even be stored in the cloud. You are guaranteed automatic encryption for any mobile storage device, whether it is a company resource or not. You can also access encrypted data anywhere without support from additional software.

Data loss prevention (DLP)

McAfee’s DLP solution provides visibility and control of data as a precursor to preventing endpoint data loss. With the advanced suite of McAfee Complete Data Protection, you can implement enterprise-wide security policies to fine-tune and restrict how employees transfer sensitive data through common channels like email. The DLP features empower you to halt confidential data loss caused by worms, file-sharing applications that seize user credentials, and Trojans. It also protects all data formats regardless of modification, compression, and encryption.

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Device control

As one of the advanced features of McAfee Complete Data Protection, you can oversee and regulate how your staff transfers data to removable media. This is regardless of whether they are or are not connected to the corporate network.

Pricing

McAfee’s pricing information for this product is not publicly shared.

Dell Data Protection vs. McAfee Complete Data Protection

As the two data protection solutions share many similar features, there are just a handful of differences between them.

Choosing Data Protection Software

Choosing between the two solutions depends on factors such as the price, the features and your specific use case. Firstly, you need to make sure the software in consideration supports your system and device platforms. It is also key to ensure the data protection software has features that satisfy your data security needs. For example, do you need encryption that is focused on data at rest? Or would you need to include data in transit and data in use?

You would need to consider the pricing of the software that satisfies your use case with respect to your budget. Finally, you may use free trials where possible to get a hands-on feel and a true distinction between the two solutions.