Announcing the End of Sale/End of Life for Webroot® Business Mobile Protection


Userlevel 4
Badge +11

Important Webroot Product Announcement


Webroot is announcing the end of sale and end of life for Webroot Business Mobile Protection, and due to the mobile protection end of life, we will no longer offer Webroot Business User Protection, with the mobile service closedown planned for April 15, 2020 (the “end of life date”).

This change will not impact any consumer products or the BrightCloud® Mobile Security SDK used by Webroot technology partners.

How will this impact you?
The end of sale and end of life notice for Business Mobile Protection will have the following implications:

Announcement:
  • This announcement serves as a 30-day notification of the end of sale and end of life for the Business Mobile Protection product.
End of Sale:
  • As of May 15, 2019, no further sales or renewals will be accepted for Business Mobile Protection.
End of Life:
  • As of April 15, 2020, Webroot will discontinue the Business Mobile Protection product, and no further support will be provided.
Additional Details:
  • If your Business Mobile Protection subscription term expires after May 15, 2019, you will be unable to renew your contract and should take steps and measures to deploy an alternative mobile protection product or service.
  • If your Business Mobile Protection subscription term expires after April 15, 2020, you will be contacted by Webroot to discuss appropriate options.
  • You will continue to receive fully supported use and operation of Business Mobile Protection until the end of your subscription term, or the end of life date, whichever is sooner.
To ensure we offer the most effective products, we continually review our product portfolio and align our products to the needs of the markets in which we operate. At times, we are required to discontinue certain products and introduce others with greater market relevance.

We continue to see fragmentation in the mobile management market among key technologies such as device management, malware protection, application management, containment, and others. These technologies are better aligned to a corporate enterprise market, and we have determined Webroot Business Mobile Protection no longer serves market needs.

We understand that you may be inconvenienced by this decision. Webroot believes that securing internet access and stopping malware is mandatory for mobile devices within the framework of a compelling and dynamic service offering. We intend to revisit the demands and requirements of this market in the future.

Thank you for your support and for being a Webroot customer. We truly hope we can continue to serve your IT security needs going forward.

If you have any further questions, please contact our Customer Support team.

Thank you

11 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +63
This is not good as more and more people are using Mobile Devices!

https://www.webroot.com/blog/2014/07/11/new-reveals-disparities-corporate-mobile-security-policies-byod-practice/

https://www.webroot.com/blog/2015/10/28/mobile-malware-a-problem-or-not/

https://www.webroot.com/blog/category/home-mobile/
Userlevel 7
Badge +62
Sad day in the Webroot/Carbonite Businesses.
Userlevel 7
Badge +63

Mobile malware attacks double in 2018


Mobile malware becomes more effective as cybercriminals improve their distribution strategies


Last year there were 116.5m attacks compared to 66.4m in 2017 with a significant increase in the number of unique users affected.

https://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-malware-attacks-double-in-2018
The first of many dominoes to fall, I suspect. 😞
Userlevel 7
The first of many dominoes to fall, I suspect. :(
Carbonite's dismantlement of Webroot has started. Sad day. ☹️
Userlevel 7
Badge +63

The first of many dominoes to fall, I suspect. :(Carbonite's dismantlement of Webroot has started. Sad day. ☹️

True as there is no Product Management/Development Support for the Android version or the Mac version....so I guess the Consumer version for Android is next even though it's says it's not affected at this time. Going backwards is never a good thing! ☠️
Carbonite's dismantlement of Webroot has started. Sad day. ☹️
Just to be the devil's advocate 😉 (though I don't yet know where I stand in my understanding of this move by Webroot):

To my mind, Webroot's weakness has always been in its spreading its resources too thinly, as in:
  • in-house proprietary Password Manager
  • in-house Backup & Sync
  • Personalized Security Report
  • System Analyzer
  • Mobile Malware Protection
  • etc.
Many of these have had, and have, mediocrities or weaknesses and/or plain bugs (i.e. they don't work and/or crash in certain circumstances).

More recently, the chickens (regarding the above problems) have come home to roost in the instances of the total breakdown of the proprietary Password Manager (heck, even the [excellent] solution to replace their proprietary PWM solution with LastPass Premium has been beset with appalling migration problems) and the serious teething problems with the latest Webroot Mobile Update.

So, according to the above argument (but as I say, I do not yet have a view on whether this is what is happening, whether it is something more sinister as suggested by some in this thread, or whether it is maybe yet another reason that we do not know), Webroot-Carbonite have decided to streamline Webroot's products and cut out the bells and whistles or, let's say, the excess fat if you like. With this decision, they are making the first step in a two-stage process of leaving mobile malware protection to other players (after all, if I understand, some/many (?) of Webroot's unique protection strategies just do not work with mobile devices).

Of course, this is Just one possible explanation for this move. And of course, I may be barking completely up the wrong tree in suggesting this possibility 🤐.
Well, it is certainly not often that I find myself agreeing with comments made by the members of another IT website (that I choose not to name) about Webroot, but I hazard to predict that the following comment made just yesterday by a moderator of that website in a recent and still active thread regarding this announcement, could well prove to be equally apposite regarding some of the comments made above:
"All these comments are overly dramatic, or false.
After every acquisition there are bound to be end of service for some products. It just happens."
Userlevel 2
Badge +4
This is not good as more and more people are using Mobile Devices!

https://www.webroot.com/blog/2014/07/11/new-reveals-disparities-corporate-mobile-security-policies-byod-practice/

https://www.webroot.com/blog/2015/10/28/mobile-malware-a-problem-or-not/

https://www.webroot.com/blog/category/home-mobile/

Who will this affect ?
I am a Home user, will this affect me.
I don't remember signing up for the Business entity
Userlevel 4
Badge +11
I would like to address some of concerns brought up in the comments.

First, thanks for the robust discussion. Our active customer base is one of the things that I think makes Webroot such a unique place.

As a product manager, it is part of my job to constantly assess our products. We’ve been discussing EOL on this particular product for some time now, as we’ve heard from both customers and partners that this product was no longer meeting their requirements. I like to think this gives more resources to focus on innovating our core portfolio of products.

We know mobile threats will continue to exist which is why we’re committed to supporting our consumer mobile services. We even recently launched a new product, Webroot Secure WiFi, our virtual private network solution that incorporates our threat intelligence services for protection from today’s threats.

I’m here to help answer any other questions you have, and sincerely appreciate your feedback. Your input make all of our products better.

Chris
This post deleted as @cbullas' post above has addressed @roadhog1's concerns!

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