What endpoint security metrics should you track?

To effectively safeguard your network, focus on these key endpoint security metrics: Coverage Rate, ensuring all devices are protected; Threat Detection Rate, measuring the efficiency of identifying potential threats; Threat Response Rate, assessing the speed of threat neutralization; Endpoint Availability Rate, indicating operational and secure device time; and Endpoint Security ROI, evaluating the financial effectiveness of security investments. These metrics collectively offer a comprehensive view of your security posture, guiding improvements and ensuring a robust defense against threats.

Take into account where I work. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint provides a comprehensive approach to endpoint security, delivering protection across platforms. It works with other Microsoft security tools to provide advanced threat detection and response capabilities. Microsoft has been named a Leader in the 2020 Enterprise Detection and Response Wave by Forrester. A high coverage rate is important to ensure the majority of devices are protected. Microsoft provides guidelines for expected coverage rates, such as 90%+ for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on endpoints. In summary, Microsoft provides a comprehensive and effective solution for endpoint security.

The Gartner model of Outcome Driven Metrics is pretty interesting too. For example, instead of establishing a metric for "vulnerability patching SLA" ask the question "how long do you want your systems to be hackable?" It's the same measurement but it focuses on the business question instead of the operational measurement. So this isn't a new metric but just a different way of presenting it to the business.

Endpoint Visibility: This involves tracking the number of active endpoints with security agents installed and maintaining an up-to-date inventory of all endpoints, including configurations and software versions.

Coverage rate #Security Posture: A high coverage rate indicates a strong security posture, where endpoints are consistently updated with the latest patches and security configurations. This reduces the attack surface and mitigates the risk of exploitation by known vulnerabilities. #Risk Management: A low coverage rate increases the organization's exposure to security risks. Unpatched endpoints are attractive targets for attackers seeking to exploit known vulnerabilities. Understanding and addressing coverage gaps is essential for effective risk management. #Compliance Requirements: Many compliance standards and regulations mandate regular security updates and patches to be applied to endpoints.

Threat detection rate #Detection Capabilities:A high threat detection rate indicates that your endpoint security tools are effectively identifying and reporting malicious activities,including known and unknown threats. This demonstrates the robustness of your security infrastructure in detecting various types of cyberattacks, such as malware infections, phishing attempts, and suspicious behaviors. #Early Warning System:A proactive and responsive threat detection system serves as an early warning system against potential cyber threats. Detecting threats promptly allows organizations to take immediate action to contain and mitigate the impact of security incidents, reducing the risk of data breaches, financial losses, and reputational damage.

EDR/DLP solution which basically runs on use cases and policies tuned into it to protect internal systems and endpoints. Threat detection rate should be high, so threat detection detects the traffic, logs and find threats/gaps/vulnerabilities. If it detect any suspicious thing the tool throws an alert for this as well send log to the admin for forensic. So ultimately policies and algorithms to detect anomalies should be written well so endpoints can be protected from external threats.

Threat detection rate measures the effectiveness of a security system in identifying and responding to potential threats. It quantifies the percentage of detected threats out of the total number of threats present. A high detection rate indicates robust security measures capable of identifying and mitigating various types of threats, while a low rate may signify vulnerabilities in the system's detection capabilities.

The Threat Detection Rate is a critical metric used to assess the effectiveness of endpoint security solutions in identifying and mitigating both known and unknown threats. A high Threat Detection Rate indicates that the security solutions are effectively identifying and stopping malicious activities on endpoints, minimizing the risk of security breaches and data compromise. Integration with real-time threat intelligence feeds and threat intelligence platforms allows endpoint security solutions to stay updated on the latest threat indicators and attack pattern.

With the advanced in AI technology, threat detection may soon remodel as behaviour consistency. Any abnormal behaviour to the users or users group should be vetted after risk categorisation. The same operations to encrypt a sensitive file could be legitimate with management approval, but malicious if not. Do have the threat detection capability, which could be expensive, align with business criticality.

Threat response rate #Response Time: A high threat response rate is often correlated with swift response times. Effective incident response teams and processes can quickly identify, assess, and contain security incidents, minimizing the time attackers have to carry out their objectives and reducing the impact on business operations. #Incident Triage: Prioritizing and triaging security incidents based on severity, impact, and risk enables organizations to allocate resources effectively and focus on addressing the most critical threats first. Establishing clear incident classification criteria and response procedures helps streamline incident triage and response efforts.

Threat response time is basically resolution rate of the threats/bugs/vulnerabilities on endpoints using different solutions like EDR/DLP/MDM. If the policies and use cases configured properly and tested on different scenarios than this rate will be high and hence endpoints will be secured and compliant.

To effectively contain and mitigate the impact of threats on endpoints, organizations should focus on implementing robust endpoint security measures and incident response strategies, such as: Mean Time to Detect/Respond (MTTD/R), Containment Time, Remediation Time, Incident Closure Rate. Overall, endpoint security solutions that incorporate advanced detection, automated response, threat intelligence integration, and continuous monitoring capabilities are essential for containing and mitigating the impact of threats on endpoints. These solutions help organizations achieve faster threat response rates, reduce the time to detect and mitigate security incidents, and maintain the security and integrity of their endpoints effectively.

Endpoint availability rate #Business Continuity: High endpoint availability rates are essential for maintaining business continuity and ensuring uninterrupted access to critical applications, data, and services. Downtime or disruptions in endpoint availability can impact productivity, revenue generation, and customer satisfaction, making it imperative to prioritize availability. #User Experience: Endpoint availability directly impacts the user experience, as employees, customers, and partners rely on endpoint devices to perform their daily tasks and access essential resources. Ensuring consistent availability of endpoints enhances user satisfaction and contributes to overall operational efficiency

Monitoring endpoint availability can provide insight into a network's health and help an organization maintain the A of the CIA triangle. If not paid attention to or if endpoint availability degrades over time, it has the potential to impact the business which is the primary concern of any cybersecurity framework. It will also have negative impacts on the workforce that is using the network resources and potentially cause an organization to lose customers which again, impacts the business. And in today's 'always on' society, this could be extremely detrimental in regards to being competitive in a particular workspace.

Endpoint security metrics focus on assessing the accessibility and operational status of endpoints within an organization's network. Uptime percentage indicates the proportion of time that endpoints are operational, the higher the better. MTBF measures the average time between endpoint failures, providing insights into the reliability and resilience of endpoint infrastructure. MTTR measures the average time it takes to restore failed endpoints to a fully operational state. By tracking these metrics, organizations can evaluate the reliability and performance of their endpoint infrastructure and implement proactive measures to minimize downtime and maintain optimal endpoint availability rates.

It’s basically say’s about availability of the endpoints/systems. So if the solutions like EDR/DLP have proper automation setup to update the existing client software,OS software then it won’t interrupt the availability of endpoint.MDM solutions can be used to install any software in all endpoints without any downtime.

Endpoint security ROI #Cost Reduction: Effective endpoint security solutions can help organizations reduce costs associated with cybersecurity incidents, such as data breaches, malware infections, and system downtime. By preventing security breaches and minimizing the impact of incidents, organizations can avoid potential financial losses and operational disruptions. #Risk Reduction: Investing in endpoint security measures helps mitigate the risk of cyber threats and vulnerabilities that could compromise sensitive data, intellectual property, and customer trust. A reduction in security incidents and their associated risks translates into tangible benefits in terms of mitigating potential financial, legal, and reputational damages.

ROI is basically denotes the ratio of the benefits and costs of your endpoint security investments. So cost what a company invest in such endpoint detection and response tools the results should also be the same. So if threat detection rate,threat response rate,compliance rate all are high and there is no downtime than ROI is good.

Endpoint security ROI can be measured by assessing cost savings, such as reduced incident response costs and downtime, and comparing them to the investment in security solutions. Calculate the reduction in financial risk resulting from improved security posture. Measure improvements in incident response efficiency. Assess productivity gains from minimizing disruptions and preventing data loss. Evaluate compliance benefits, including cost savings from avoiding non-compliance penalties. Quantify the impact on customer trust and brand reputation by avoiding data breaches and preserving brand integrity. These quantifiable metrics provide a comprehensive assessment of endpoint security ROI, justifying investments in security measures.

1. Admin control an absolute must 2. Data encryption at data in rest, data in transit. 3. Password Management & Protection 4. Time servers

Another key metrics is to also track the exceptions rate and false alerts. Each exception provided to default rules add to maintenance costs and false alerts result in alert fatigue and noise. Look for level of application control offered by EDR and XDR tools - Discovery of Applications running on endpoint and risk profiling - Assessment of Application Vulnerabilities - Stopping unwanted apps from running - Managing application drift - Creating use case specific workstation profiles

When defining metrics, the first thing we must think about is “what question am I trying to answer?” Tou should also think about the audience, and what decisions they can make based on the metrics. Even if you consider some metrics as informative, they must drive some actions if at a certain threshold.

1. EDR Alerts 2. Malware Detection 3. Incident Response Time 4. Patch Compliance 5. User Activity Monitoring 6. Device Encryption 7. Authentication Failures 8. Endpoint Compliance 9. Anomalous Network Traffic 10. DLP Incidents 11. Mobile Device Security 12. Insider Threat Indicators 13. Endpoint Health 14. Remediation Time 15. Endpoint Configuration Changes

Many endpoint security metrics discussed focus on measurable factors related to the endpoint. Unfortunately, from a security standpoint, this approach may not be significant. In my opinion, when facing targeted and unknown threats, efficiency and coverage cannot be measured if they are not detected. It's essential to utilize solutions that offer broader coverage of MITRE tactics and techniques to detect both known and unknown threats. Additionally, metrics such as Mean Time to Detect or Mean Time to Respond are critical for understanding security efficiency across endpoints and other areas.