Old endpoint protection methods, new cyber security risks
For over a decade, the standard approach for protecting corporate endpoints was relatively straightforward: use a firewall to tightly control access to devices and data on the network, and antivirus software installed on each user’s machine to catch any malware that might slip through.
Back in the 1990s and the early 2000s, this approach was effective for the vast majority of information security use cases. Endpoints seldom ever left the protection of the corporate firewall, and the number of new malware threats was small enough that developers could easily keep up by adding the signatures to their antivirus software databases.
Old tech and an ever-increasing endpoint landscape
In recent years, antivirus software has become significantly more sophisticated. Most tools now go far beyond basic signature scanning, in which the hashes of applications or files are compared to those of known malware.
Today, it’s also common for tools to offer heuristic scans, enabling them to detect abnormal application behaviour that might indicate a malware infection. Antivirus tools can also detect malicious changes to operating system files, and even help users to restore their device to a previous, healthy state.
These kinds of capabilities are still necessary components of modern approaches to enterprise information security. However, they’re no longer sufficient to protect businesses against today’s cyber threats. That’s because adversaries are creating new malware faster than developers can write signatures, and cyber criminals are taking a far more professional approach to deploying the malware.
Equally, the endpoint landscape has dramatically increased in size and variety, as users may now have corporate PCs, laptops, smartphones and tablets both in the office and at home.
Breaches are inevitable, but their success isn’t
Zero-days are a prime example of why antivirus software alone isn’t enough to keep a corporate network protected. It can take weeks for signatures to be released, even for high-profile threats—leaving your business exposed.
Worse still, threats such as in-memory and fileless attacks are capable of evading antivirus software altogether, potentially opening the door for cyber criminals to move laterally through your systems undetected.
Today, information security professionals take the view that it is unrealistic to expect that organisations can eliminate the risk of endpoints being compromised.
Future-facing enterprises know that it is not a question of if a device will be breached but a question of when that will happen. Armed with this insight, it’s what you do after a breach that makes the difference.
IT security professionals know it's unrealistic to eliminate the risk of endpoints being compromised. It's no longer a question of if a device will be breached, but a question of when that will happen. Share on XAI-driven EDR solutions that detect, triage and respond to threats
That’s where Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) solutions from Northdoor come in. Our EDR solutions offer all the protection of the best antivirus tools, and a range of advanced capabilities that allow your business to react rapidly if one of your endpoints is compromised.
How does the Northdoor EDR solution work? We deploy undetectable, tamper-proof agents on each of your devices, delivering always-on insights into the status of every endpoint.
Our AI-powered solution actively hunts down threats, evaluating more than 200 parameters and 80 behaviour types in real time to keep your environment safe. With automated detection, triage, and response, you’ll gain the peace of mind that when a successful attack does occur, your security specialists will be ready to respond immediately.
For more information on how Northdoor can help you tackle your endpoint security challenges, email us, leave us a message or call us on 020 7448 8500 to arrange a free initial consultation.