Endpoint Detection and Response Defined

Cybersecurity seems to be on everyone’s mind these days. This makes sense, considering there’s a constant flow of news about how yet another corporation or government agency has fallen victim to a massive breach. Endpoint security can help mitigate some of these risks. Below you will find endpoint detection and response defined, as well as some of its top benefits to enterprises. 

Endpoint Detection and Response Defined

Endpoint detection and response (EDR) has become one of the defining names among cybersecurity solutions today. While EDR is technically its own entity (and carries a lot of importance), it’s generally just one part of a broader network security stack. There’s a reason for this: endpoint detection and response security focuses specifically on endpoints. 

Endpoints are devices of all kinds and origins that connect to enterprise networks. These can be mobile devices like a smartphone or tablet; they can be laptops or point-of-sale consoles; they can even be Internet-of-Things IoT devices. No matter what the endpoint is or its location, organizations need to be able to monitor and secure these devices. This is the overarching goal of EDR. 

These are a few of the backbone, defining characteristics of a good endpoint detection and response security solution:

• Next-generation tools driven by AI and machine learning are able to spot abnormal behavior at endpoints faster than ever before. This is essential to identifying threats sooner, which is a critical factor in preventing lateral movement and further infection. 
• A great team of engineers is there to triage when necessary. Whether you’re deploying EDR in-house, or opting for a service-based option through XDR or SASE, it’s essential the right people are there to step in to handle critical alerts. One of the top selling points of a managed EDR service is that you’ll always have top-tier experts guarding your networks for a fraction of the price it would cost to hire them. 
• Wide-ranging visibility along with the ability to view things granularly give better control over network endpoints. Keeping all devices updated, patched, and compliant is one of the background, but essential, duties of EDR. 

The overall purpose of endpoint detection and response security is to give firms a leg-up against attackers. It’s impossible to overstate the significance of this in an age where the vast majority of successful breaches originate at endpoints. While you can learn a lot from the definition of EDR, there’s more to read between the lines. 

What Are the Benefits of EDR?

Now that you have a general idea of what EDR is and how endpoint detection and security can fit into enterprise security, let’s look more closely at some of its specific benefits. Here are a few ways utilizing EDR can pay off for organizations:

• Absolute monitoring capabilities – Enterprise networks keep becoming more complex, largely due to the fact they continue having to facilitate more endpoints. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies were expanding their remote work policies. But this was put into overdrive when people everywhere had to start doing this all at once. The ability to detect abnormalities on endpoints connecting to enterprise networks—regardless of location—is a huge benefit of EDR. Furthermore, logging all endpoint activity makes it much easier to piece together what happened if a threat infiltrates your network. 
• Rapid response – You can’t be caught sitting on your hands when a live cyberthreat is attempting to exploit vulnerabilities. Due to EDR’s endpoint sensor capabilities, it’s possible to spot and stop attacks before they get out of hand. This can lead to massive cost savings, as a successful breach can be extremely costly for an organization. 
• Have experts on your side – Cybercriminals are becoming increasingly subtle and sophisticated. It’s essential to have the stronger team when going to battle with these shady actors. Opting for managed EDR through a service-based platform provider will get you industry-leading engineers at a much more palatable price. Having these experts backing you can make all the difference when dealing with an active threat. 

While cybersecurity used to mainly be a concern for larger organization, today, all need to have this on their radar. With so many issues no originating at endpoints, all should consider whether endpoint detection and response security is the appropriate solution.