Acronis Report Examines Security Policy Configurations Across 1.6 Million Endpoints
Summary
Acronis analyzed configuration records for over 1.6 million endpoints, finding that protection plans vary by provider, region and industry. The report recommends reviewing accumulated plans, documenting settings and tailoring templates to customer needs.
Key points
- About 65% of active endpoints use two or more protection modules; Windows workstations average 5.6 modules.
- Among active anti-malware plans, behavioral protection is enabled in 84.7% and exploit prevention in 70.4%; ransomware response is set in 87.9% of active protection plans.
- Of machines with multiple plans, 82% use plans for different purposes, while 77% keep the same schedule across plans.
- Only about half of more than 9,000 managed service providers apply a broadly uniform plan across most customers; standardization rates vary by provider location.
- Health care and education customers are more likely to receive bundled protection plans than customers in traditional industries such as construction, manufacturing and agriculture.
- The report recommends standardizing plans by machine role, reviewing overlapping plans, setting backup retention deliberately and documenting exceptions to protective defaults.
Article Details
- Publisher
- Acronis Threat Research Unit
- Scope
- Configuration practices for protection plans and modules across a managed endpoint fleet, including MSP, regional, and industry patterns.
- Sample Size
- 1,619,489 active endpoints; more than 9,000 MSPs with at least five active customers.
- Key Statistics
- 65% of active endpoints run two or more protection modules.
- Among anti-malware plans in use, the behavioral engine was enabled in 84.7% and exploit prevention in 70.4%.
- Among active protection plans, ransomware response was set in 87.9% and self-protection was enabled in 84.4%.
- Among more than 600,000 machines with multiple plans, 82% used plans for different purposes; 77% kept the same schedule across plans.
- About half of more than 9,000 qualifying MSPs applied a broadly uniform plan pattern to at least 80% of their customers.
- Recommendations
- Use a small set of reusable protection plans organized by machine role, such as workstations and servers.
- Review machines with three or more plans for overlapping modules and opportunities to consolidate.
- Set backup retention explicitly to match recovery requirements.
- Keep strong protection defaults enabled and document the reason for any exception.
- Review MSP plan templates against customer industry and risk profile.
Vendors
Products
Countries
BrazilKingdom (59%) and Australia (57%). The lowest shares are in Colombia (24%), Mexico (25%), Japan (31%) and Brazil (34%). In these four countries, only about one-third of providers meet the threshold, indicating greaterCanadaWhere a provider is based matters more than how big it is: providers in the United States and Canada standardize the most, while those in Colombia, Mexico and Japan customize for the majority of their customer base.ColombiaWhere a provider is based matters more than how big it is: providers in the United States and Canada standardize the most, while those in Colombia, Mexico and Japan customize for the majority of their customer base.Francewhere backup and security are separated into distinct plans applied side by side. Japan, Israel and France sit at the other end, averaging closer to one and a half plans per machine, with lower multi-plan rates —Germanyshare the same plan-purpose pattern. The United States (65%), Canada (64%), the Netherlands (62%) and Germany (61%) are the only countries where the share exceeds 60%, followed by the United Kingdom (59%) andJapanWhere a provider is based matters more than how big it is: providers in the United States and Canada standardize the most, while those in Colombia, Mexico and Japan customize for the majority of their customer base.MexicoWhere a provider is based matters more than how big it is: providers in the United States and Canada standardize the most, while those in Colombia, Mexico and Japan customize for the majority of their customer base.Netherlandsa provider's c’stomers share the same plan-purpose pattern. The United States (65%), Canada (64%), the Netherlands (62%) and Germany (61%) are the only countries where the share exceeds 60%, followed by the UnitedUnited Kingdom(62%) and Germany (61%) are the only countries where the share exceeds 60%, followed by the United Kingdom (59%) and Australia (57%). The lowest shares are in Colombia (24%), Mexico (25%), Japan (31%) andUnited StatesWhere a provider is based matters more than how big it is: providers in the United States and Canada standardize the most, while those in Colombia, Mexico and Japan customize for the majority of their customer base.
Industries
Agriculturethe most security-forward and varied treatment, while traditional industries such as construction and agriculture mostly sit on a simple, shared template.Constructionreceive by far the most security-forward and varied treatment, while traditional industries such as construction and agriculture mostly sit on a simple, shared template.Educationfrom the customer’s contact record, the plan purpose breakdown varies substantially: Health care and education stand out as the most security-forward and varied industries, while traditional industries mostlyHealthcareThe customer’s own business plays its part too: Health care customers receive by far the most security-forward and varied treatment, while traditional industries such as construction and agriculture mostly sit on aManufacturingTraditional industries — construction, manufacturing and agriculture — sit at the other end: Backup-only plans dominate and mixed plans are less common, suggesting these customers mostly receive a simpler, less bundled