With the rise of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies, connect-from-home policies, and other employment practices that permit personal devices to access company networks, cybersecurity has become an increasingly critical concern for any business.
Your business’ need for antivirus software or endpoint security solutions depends on the size of your network, remote worker policy, and overall need for visibility and control over devices.
1. Malware detection and removal
Malware is the most widespread threat that can lead to security breaches and loss or theft of data, disruption of business processes, as well as a negative reputation for your company. Malware threats such as viruses, Trojans, worms, keyloggers, spyware, and ransomware all pose serious security risks.
Most endpoints are connected to a network, making them vulnerable targets for cybercriminals who may exploit vulnerabilities, and engage in phishing schemes and other tactics to gain access to your private data.
Traditional antivirus software typically relies on signature-based detection to identify malicious files on a system. Unfortunately, this approach may be ineffective against more complex threats like file-less malware.
The solution to this issue lies in an endpoint protection platform that utilizes multiple features working together in concert to shield against cybersecurity threats across multiple devices on your network. Some EPP solutions also come equipped with advanced malware detection and removal capabilities, such as sandboxing and machine learning technology.
Sandboxing is a method for running suspicious programs in an isolated digital environment that replicates a typical operating system (OS). This creates an exact replica of your systems so the program can be tested without disrupting actual operations.
Sandboxing is an especially useful technique for testing new software, as it provides a controlled environment to observe the behavior of any potential threats before they launch an actual attack on your databases or servers. Once the sandbox has established control over the threat, blocking can take place quickly and effectively.
Similarly, the next generation of firewalls can examine messages to detect malware and prevent it from entering your network. They employ various techniques for protecting against fileless threats, such as sequential forward selection, principal component analysis, and decision trees.
As an additional layer of protection, many modern EPPs also include a security playbook to assist your IT team with incident response actions such as deleting infected files, wiping and reimaging infected devices, and running anti-virus scans.
For large businesses with numerous networked devices, a cloud-based EPP is the most reliable solution to protect your network from malware, viruses, and other threats. Furthermore, this type of EPP is simple to manage and scale as needed.
2. Data loss prevention
Data loss prevention is an essential security measure that shields your company’s sensitive information. It can help thwart data theft, cyberattacks, and other disasters that could cripple your business.
Data is the lifeblood of your business and should be safeguarded from any potential damages. This applies both to data stored locally on a computer or other device, as well as data sent across the internet to other people and devices.
When selecting between antivirus and endpoint protection, your company’s specific needs will determine which solution is most beneficial for you. Are you using a large number of devices? Does your network span across various locations and worksites? Or are you managing an extensive number of remote employees? These factors all come into play when making this decision.
Antivirus software shields a single device from malware threats, while endpoint security provides centralized management for protecting an entire network of devices. This enables IT administrators to implement and manage the same security policy across numerous different devices from a centralized portal.
Endpoint security solutions typically incorporate next-generation protection features like advanced persistent threat detection (APT), investigation and response, device management, and data leak prevention. This provides more comprehensive coverage across multiple devices while helping businesses cope with a wide variety of new threats.
Modern antivirus and anti-malware programs use a combination of signature-based and behavioral analysis to detect potential threats. This technology is highly accurate, with very little chance of false positives.
However, there are still many threats out there that cannot be detected using existing techniques and can be difficult to track down. Endpoint solutions provide a solution – they use machine learning and crowdsourced intelligence to detect the most recent threats that cannot be spotted with existing signatures.
EPP solutions often feature centralized real-time alerting and logging capabilities, which are invaluable for quickly detecting attacks against individual machines that require an immediate response – something you won’t get with antivirus alone.
3. Endpoint detection and response (EDR)
Endpoint detection and response (EDR) is a security technology that continuously scans endpoints such as laptops, servers, cloud systems, and mobile devices for cyber threats. EDR collects data about endpoint behavior, analyzes it, and provides security teams with actionable insights about potential dangers.
EDR software is generally more sophisticated than antivirus, as it uses behavior analysis to detect and block threats. This enables it to respond more rapidly to new or evolving attacks. Furthermore, EDR offers stronger protection for sensitive data and plays an integral role in any comprehensive security strategy.
Some EDR solutions even feature forensic tools that IT security teams can use to investigate past breaches and search for malicious files on the network. This enables them to comprehend how an exploit worked and prevent it from recurring in the future.
Another key benefit of an EDR solution is its ability to detect and address threats before they cause any harm to your business. It provides alerts when an attack is underway, as well as automatically isolates the threat on affected endpoints to prevent further exploitation.
The best EDR solutions provide a timeline of how malicious files traverse from their origin to an endpoint. This helps determine why it made it past your perimeter security measures and whether or not action should be taken against the device.
EDR solutions often provide telemetry that enables security teams to respond in real time to threats. This enables them to isolate affected endpoints, quarantine them and run automated incident response playbooks – saving time and resources otherwise spent dealing with a major security event.
Final Thoughts
The most important thing to remember is that it is no longer enough to have antivirus software installed on your computer to keep away all the cyber criminals who might attack you. The modern business has to take this seriously. It is impossible to recover from huge data breaches and you simply cannot neglect the importance of cyber security. Using EDR is something you absolutely have to consider in the modern business environment.
