Why Your Antivirus Isn’t Enough!
Remember when security was simple? You just installed antivirus (AV) software, trained employees to avoid suspicious links, and kept everything updated. But times have changed, and now you need modern tools like an endpoint detection and response solution.
AV solutions have done a great job of helping to keep small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) safe for many years. However, the threat patterns are changing, and SMBs need a different type of protection to combat these increasingly sophisticated attacks.
Here’s why: AV solutions rely on signatures (think of a digital fingerprint) to detect threats. However, the latest threats don’t use signatures and can slip through and enter your company’s networks undetected.
Enter EDR.
What is EDR?
EDR, or Endpoint Detection and Response, is a security solution that monitors end-user devices to detect and respond to cyber threats like ransomware and malware. Endpoints are devices connected to your company’s network, such as laptops, desktop computers, servers, and others.
EDR software monitors and collects data from endpoints, analyzes it to spot threat patterns, and responds to neutralize or contain threats.
EDR has become a critical component of endpoint security solutions since it’s a powerful tool for detecting and monitoring the target IT environment being attacked. Another way to think of EDR is like the black box in a plane that records flight data. EDR solutions record and store endpoint system-level behaviors, then use that data to detect suspicious behavior and block malicious activity.
How Does EDR Work?
Data Collection, Real-Time Analysis, and Response and Remediation are the critical components of EDR security.
Data Collection: EDR gathers telemetry data from endpoints through installed agents, then sends it to a central or cloud-based platform for analysis.
Real-Time Analysis: Machine learning correlates and analyzes data by establishing a baseline of normal endpoint operations and user behavior and then looking for anomalies.
Response and Remediation: When an anomaly is discovered, the solution flags the activity and alerts the proper personnel. It will also automate responses based on predetermined triggers. EDR tools offer advanced threat detection, investigation, and response to validate suspicious activity, threat hunting, and malicious activity detection and containment.
An EDR solution can quickly analyze millions of events on laptops, desktops, PCs, mobile devices, servers, and cloud workloads. This speed has a significant benefit: it shortens the response times for incidents and incident response teams, ideally eliminating threats before they can cause damage.
Why Use Endpoint Detection and Response?
Enterprise EDR solutions are now essential due to the growing sophistication of endpoint-targeted cyberattacks. Cyber attackers know that endpoints are typically easier targets for infiltrating your company’s network.
Currently, the biggest threat to companies is ransomware. Antivirus software will not stop ransomware – you have to remember, from a cyber attacker’s point of view, it’s not the company’s size but the data’s value. Small to mid-sized businesses are targeted just as much, if not more, than larger-sized businesses.
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Here are a few reasons to consider an enterprise EDR solution:
Evolving threat landscape: Attackers use sophisticated tactics to bypass traditional security measures.
Growing remote workforce: Endpoint detection helps secure remote workers connecting to corporate networks from various locations and devices.
Faster incident response: EDR reduces the time it takes to address security incidents by using automated threat containment and remediation actions.
Reducing dwell time: Since incident response time increases, endpoint detection also reduces the amount of time attackers can remain undetected within a network, known as dwell time.
Proactive security: A shift to proactive versus reactive means threats are detected and mitigated before they can cause severe damage.
How is EDR Different from Antivirus?
Antivirus still has its place and is great for individual users at home, but it isn’t EDR. Endpoint detection and response software is designed to work alongside antivirus software while simultaneously intended to be an enterprise upgrade.
For a business that needs reporting, EDR is an excellent solution. EDR provides a window into every endpoint on a network at any given time. Traditional antivirus software will not offer business-level analytics and reporting.
Another vital point is that EDR isn’t antivirus software, even though it may have antivirus capabilities or use data from another antivirus product. The significant difference, however, is that EDR solutions find new exploits while traditional antivirus protects against known malicious software.
Managed Detection and Response Services
Modern businesses generate huge amounts of activity data, leading to a flood of alerts. How can you keep up with identifying real threats?" Do you have the right tools to help you? Does your IT security staff have the expertise needed to make sense of it all — and if so, do they have the cycles required to defend you 24/7?
If your answer leaves you feeling nervous, a managed detection and response (MDR) solution may be the answer to addressing these challenges. An MDR solution takes all the wonderful tools associated with EDR and combines them with a dedicated team of cybersecurity experts via a managed service provider.
How Managed EDR Benefits You
Want to Learn More?
Reach out to a ONE 2 ONE EDR expert today!