How to Select the Best Endpoint Security Solutions in 2022: IT security experts sometimes struggle with the idea that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Many major corporations nowadays are in charge of more than 50,000 individual endpoints, and some are in charge of over 500,000. Hackers have not been slow to recognize how many entry points there are. Your endpoints’ security and protection are currently possibly the most crucial aspects of information security. So what features should your endpoint security products have?
Endpoint Security: What is it?
We must first define an endpoint in order to comprehend end point security solutions. Any point of entry onto your company’s network might be considered an endpoint. End-user devices like desktops and laptops, as well as printers, routers, and servers, as well as mobile and Internet of Things (IoT) devices like wearables, could be included in this. A new generation of endpoint security solutions has been developed since conventional network security is insufficient to safeguard these access points.
The vulnerability of network endpoints has been quickly exploited by cybercriminals, necessitating the need for more sophisticated endpoint security solutions. These systems can now be used to immediately identify, contain, and fix security breaches as well as fast detect, analyze, and block ongoing cyberattacks.
For your company to have complete visibility and control over all endpoint security risks and threats, a variety of endpoint security systems must work in concert with one another and other security products to accomplish this.
Why Endpoint Security is Necessary?
Endpoint security is frequently believed to have evolved from anti-virus and anti-malware software. This is accurate, but it’s a little oversimplified. The need to create an information security strategy built on layers of defense that collectively does much more than simply prevent well-known viruses or applications from running on your network has arisen due to the increasing number of endpoints that are not adequately protected as well as the sophistication and cunningness of cyberattacks.
A new generation of endpoint security tools that can adapt better to detecting new threats while introducing proactive measures, such as real-time threat hunting, has been made possible by the rapid development of artificial intelligence and machine learning in combination with the enormous amount of data generated from these endpoints.
A casino in the US experienced hacking in 2017. Except for the fact that the attackers got access via an IoT-enabled thermometer in the casino’s fish tank, nothing about it was unique. This serves to emphasize how challenging it is to comprehend all of the endpoints you need to take into account when establishing your endpoint security approach. However, even the most well-known endpoint security vulnerabilities still provide a significant concern. The largest meat processor in the world, JBS, acknowledged in June 2021 that it had paid hackers $11 million, the highest sum ever paid for a ransomware attack.
A combined OpenText and SANS endpoint security poll found that roughly a third of respondents reported that attackers had accessed their endpoints, with 77% of them admitting that they either didn’t know what data had been compromised or found it difficult to determine it.
The following causes, among others, are contributing to the ongoing growth in the demand for an all-encompassing and integrated endpoint security solution:
Expansion of Endpoints
User devices like desktop computers and laptops are no longer the only endpoints you need to secure. The following endpoints are in the list provided by OpenText and SANS:
– Desktops
– Laptops
– Mobile gadgets
– based on the cloud
– IoT gadgets
– Wearables
– Printers
-Servers
-POS systems
– Routers
– Clever sensors
– Smart devices
– Constructing controls
– Environmental safeguards
– Systems for physical perimeter security
– offensive sophistication
The term “arms race” has been used to characterize cybersecurity. As soon as you stop an attack, the crooks have either modified it or created a brand-new attack vector. Recent innovations like zero-day attacks, where criminals take advantage of a vulnerability before it is learned about or patched, and fileless malware, which leverages normal programs to attack and leaves no visible trace, show how clever these attacks can be.
Remote Employment
Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, there was a significant increase in the number of businesses that permitted workers to work remotely in a secure environment. However, in order for this to happen, the IT infrastructure needed to be introduced extremely quickly. It implied that suddenly there were a lot more endpoints in need of network connectivity. In fact, the term “Zoombombing,” which refers to hackers assaulting Zoom meetings, was recently coined.
Edge Processing
Organizations are aiming to move information, data, and processing closer to the applications, devices, and users who interact with them through edge computing as cloud, 5G, and IoT technologies evolve. More intelligent endpoints have been produced as a result, however, as the number of IoT devices and sensors increases within an organization, this inevitably creates significant vulnerabilities because many IoT devices and sensors have not historically been developed with security in mind.
Important Endpoint Security Elements
Endpoint security is made up of various elements, despite the fact that it may seem like a single category. security systems’ essential components include:
Endpoint Response and Detection
All endpoints are continuously monitored by endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions for quick threat identification and automatic reaction. The most effective EDR systems use behavioral analysis and heuristics to examine the large volumes of endpoint data in order to automatically identify and respond to known risks in real-time. Furthermore, EDR solutions with data forensic capabilities offer the necessary visibility to find malicious behavior regardless of how well-hidden it may be. Additionally, it enables enterprises to swiftly pinpoint the origin and extent of breaches and take corrective action.
Threat Assessment
Information regarding risks and threat actors is known as cyber-threat intelligence, and it aids in reducing the likelihood of damaging cyberspace events. It is possible for other endpoint security technologies to learn about and keep track of known dangers to combat malware and phishing attempts, among other things, by using threat intelligence solutions, which aggregate data from a variety of sources, including open-source databases and social media. Also helps to unbanned Omegle on iPhone. An enterprise may quickly verify malware, harmful, and trustworthy files using Webroot BrightCloud, which has a global knowledge base of over 43 billion URLs and over 37 billion comprehensive file activity data.
Data Backup & Protection
With the rise of ransomware, there has never been a better time to put an efficient backup and disaster recovery plan into place. Organizations can’t afford the operational or reputational impact of having their data held to ransom. Data recovery from backup and protection solutions is possible in minutes, with the recovery point being extremely near to the last secure instance. This will enable your company to swiftly resume operations and enable the removal or remediation of damaged data.
Key endpoint Security Features
The following are the main features of enterprise endpoint security solutions:
- Security threat detection, including malware that takes advantage of both file-based and file-less exploits
- Allowing/blocking applications, scripts, and processes using white- and blacklists
- Threat detection in real-time with behavioral analysis of user, application, and device data
- Automated reaction to threats is used to eliminate or contain them and alert security personnel.
- In the case of a ransomware attack or system instability, rolling back endpoints and data
- Sandboxing and endpoint isolation for questionable endpoints and processes
- Supporting breadth and root-cause analysis with forensic response capabilities
- Techniques for spotting insider mischief and system abuse
- Optimum endpoint security procedures
Historically, enterprises have frequently used a variety of endpoint security systems, resulting in a patchwork of individual point solutions and data silos. Even worse, this circumstance causes a proliferation of false positives, which complicates the job of the IT security team and raises the possibility that real exploits may go undetected.
Endpoint protection platforms frequently lack the requisite threat detection and response capabilities. The optimal approach to endpoint security is to integrate as many of its component parts as you can. The very minimum is to integrate your EPP with EDR solutions, but when all components function together and with other network security solutions, effective layers of defense are built.
In addition, endpoint security has altered as a result of the growth of endpoint devices. The fish tank illustration shows how endpoint security expands the scope of an IT security team’s responsibilities into conventionally non-IT areas. IoT is connecting the physical and digital worlds more and more, thus it’s important to view information management from a wider perspective to make sure that the content and data now stored on each endpoint are appropriately controlled and protected.
How to Choose the Top Endpoint Security Products
The sort of endpoint security you require will depend on your unique business needs, however, the following advice can help you choose the right endpoint security tools:
Endpoint Monitoring Ongoing
Every company will probably become vulnerable sooner or later, as time (and ransomware) has shown. The endpoint security solution you select must be able to continuously monitor all of your endpoints in order to quickly identify malicious or unusual behavior. It also needs to be able to analyze endpoint data in close to real-time in order to comprehend the scope of any attack from beginning to end. The finest endpoint security systems also help identify the most effective means of stopping the attack and repairing the damage by providing visibility into where the malware originated from, where it has been, and what it is doing.
Swift Detection and Reaction
The best endpoint detection and response tools can shorten the time it takes to identify a breach and fix it for months or even years. The endpoint security tool prioritizes threat alerts and reduces false positives by integrating with threat data and utilizing the most recent tools, tactics. And procedures (TTP) and attack behavioral indicators. You may then use digital forensics to expedite investigations and lower management complexity by instantly scanning across all endpoints for signs of compromise or malware artifacts. This enables you to react swiftly and efficiently.
Obtaining Endpoint Security Solutions from a Single Source
Endpoint security frequently degenerates into a patchwork of point products. In actuality, no one option will offer you the level of safety and defense you want. Finding an endpoint security software provider with a broad range of complementary solutions. And natural integration with one another is advantageous for many enterprises. For instance, OpenText offers focused solutions for Threat Intelligence, Endpoint Detection and Response, and Data Protection and Backup.
Utilize Managed Services for Detection and Response
More providers are now offering endpoint security as a managed service as a result of improvements in cloud-based endpoint security solutions. The best endpoint security services will be created specifically for your company’s requirements and give you access to the right amount of security expertise and resources that are provided on a flexible and scalable basis. Taking into account security and data regulations in the markets and regions where you operate, the larger endpoint security vendors can offer global coverage. In order to help customers worldwide, OpenText MDR integrates best-in-class technologies with security personnel while regularly accumulating insights on the most recent tactics, methods, and procedures (TTP) employed by threat actors.