Security used to be easier. You installed antivirus (AV) solutions, trained employees not to click on unknown links, and kept software and websites up to date. 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, severe 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 any device connected to your company’s network, i.e., laptops, desktop computers, servers, and other devices.
The primary function of endpoint detection and response software is to monitor and collect activity data from those endpoints, analyze this data to hunt out threat patterns, and then respond to those identified threats to remove or contain them.
EDR has become a critical component of endpoint security solutions since it’s a powerful tool to detect and monitor 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 collects telemetry data from endpoints via installed agents and sends it to a central location or cloud-based EDR platform.
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 tool should offer advanced threat detection, investigate, and respond 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 even cloud workloads. One of the significant benefits is this speed, which shortens the response times for incidents and incident response teams, ideally eliminating threats before they can cause any damage.
Why Use Endpoint Detection and Response?
The use of enterprise EDR solutions has increased dramatically partly because of the increased sophistication of cyberattacks focused on endpoints. 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.
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: Using automated threat containment and remediation actions, EDR reduces the time to address security incidents.
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; 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
The modern enterprise generates massive amounts of user and system activity data that results in an
avalanche of alerts. How do you keep pace with identifying what’s a real threat? 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 responses leave you feeling vulnerable and overwhelmed, a managed detection and response (MDR) solution may be the answer to addressing these challenges. An MDR solution takes all the beautiful tools associated with EDR and gives you a dedicated team of cybersecurity experts via a managed service provider.
How Managed EDR Benefits You
Protect your business from ransomware attacks.
Gain peace of mind by using Managed EDR to roll back devices to their pre-threat state. Simply click and restore infected machines to a fully productive state, no matter which strain of ransomware is holding them hostage. There’s no need to pay expensive ransoms to cyber attackers. Our Managed EDR service pays for itself by keeping you safe and secure.
Increase employee productivity.
Eliminate threats that outwit traditional AV solutions and maintain faster device performance, creating fewer distractions that affect employee productivity.
Let the experts manage it for you.
Don’t spend time trying to support and manage your systems and security. Focus on running and growing your business with ongoing support from your managed services provider.
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