What is Endpoint Detection and Why is it Important?

EDR blog graphic

With the rise of cyberattacks, organizations should proactively protect their devices. Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR), also known as endpoint detection and threat response (EDTR), is a security solution that consistently monitors end-user devices to identify and react to cyber threats such as ransomware and malware.

EDR solutions can: 

  • Document and stock endpoint system behaviors 
  • Detect questionable system behavior using a variety of data analytics
  • Offer contextually relevant information 
  • Restrict malicious activity 
  • Provide solutions to recover systems that were affected

EDR looks into the entire scope of the threat, then offers insight into what happened, how the cyber threat was able to gain access, where the threat has been, what the threat is doing now, and how to address the breach. EDR helps prevent and eliminate cybersecurity threats before they are able to spread across your system.

Why is endpoint detection important?

Endpoint detection is important because it enables security teams to monitor unusual activity in all endpoints, with real time visibility, it helps organizations avoid successful breaches.  A hacker with motivation, time, and resources will eventually find a way to break through your security measures, no matter how intensive they may be. All organizations should prioritize EDR solutions in their security plans.

  • Preventative measures are great but not enough to guarantee total security. When your prevention fails, a hacker will use this opportunity to remain in your system for longer to learn more about your network. 
  • Without any idea that the security system failed, hackers can stay inside your network for a long time and come and go as they please. They can use this time to create avenues for them to return. Usually, they don’t get found out until a third party, like law enforcement, notifies the organization. 
  • Organizations can’t pinpoint exactly what happened to allow a hacker into their system. This forces the organization to spend weeks deciphering the next steps to ensure this breach won’t happen again. 
  • Actionable intelligence is necessary to stockpile important information. Most organizations aren’t able to store relevant information to their security and recall it quickly when it’s needed. 
  • Without the ability and resources to analyze it, data won’t help find a solution. With the vast amount of data gathered, it becomes difficult to know what they are looking for, and issues — like speed and scalability — begin popping up before they can get to the issue they were trying to solve in the first place.
  • Implementing a solution can be a lengthy and costly process. Without the tools listed, organizations may take twice as long to decide what action steps to take. Most of the steps they do finally decide on can disrupt business, affect productivity, and potentially cause financial loss.

How does EDR work?

Endpoint detection and response solutions document the cyber events happening on endpoints and workloads. This allows the security team to see what they need to uncover incidents that would otherwise stay hidden. A quality EDR solution will block known and even unknown cyber threats from entering your network.

An effective EDR will: 

  • Provide sophisticated threat detection 
  • Offers intensive investigations and response abilities 
  • Identify suspicious activity
  • Hunt down potential threats 
  • Detect malicious activity

EDR capabilities

An effective EDR can give your security team clear advantages, allowing them to better protect important data. With insight into details about a potential breach, security teams can respond to threats quickly and efficiently. The EDR solution you choose should be able to perform four main capabilities.

Reveal attackers

EDR technology combines visibility on all endpoints with indicators of attack (IOAs) to apply appropriate behavioral analytics that cover many real-time events. This allows the team to find hints of abnormal behaviors. 

When a series of events aligns with a known IOA, then the EDR tool will label the activity as malicious and immediately dispatch a security alert. With this security alert, your team can quickly identify the threat and shut down the attacker before they can access your data.

Incorporate threat intelligence

An EDR that incorporates threat intelligence allows for quicker detection of malicious activity, strategies, and methods. This offers a comprehensive understanding of the attack, including information about the attacker and any other details that are relevant to the threat.

Proactive protection

Before a threat can become a successful breach, an EDR proactively finds it and offers action steps to prevent it from occurring. When the EDR identifies a threat, it works with your team to classify, examine, and repair the incident.

Offer real-time and historical visibility

EDR provides users with full visibility into what is happening on their endpoint security. Security-related events are recorded to give the team the information they need to gain insight into the intruder’s activity, like the techniques the attacker is using and what commands they are running, all while the security team is watching them.

The EDR tracks a variety of security-related activities such as: 

  • Process creation 
  • Drivers loading 
  • Registry modifications 
  • Disk access 
  • Memory access 
  • Network connections

Threat detection and response solutions

When finding an EDR security solution, it’s important to understand the features you need so you can decide what to look for. An EDR solution should offer a high level of protection without requiring a lot of effort or investment from your team. The goal is to add value to your security team without exhausting resources.

Look for these five features in an EDR security solution:

  1. Real-time visibility
    With visibility across all endpoints, your team can monitor the attacker’s activity and stop them from successfully breaching your network.
  2. Threat records
    A useful EDR solution needs a large record of data from all endpoints that is paired with contextual information so it can be scanned for any signs of attack using various methods of analytic techniques.
  3. Detection of suspicious behavior
    Data breaches, known as “silent failures” can occur when security teams rely on signature-based methods or indicators of compromise (IOCs). An efficient EDR solution will find indicators of attack (IOAs) and alert the security team of unusual behavior before an attack can happen.
  4. Threat intelligence
    A threat intelligence integration allows the EDR to give context on the attack, such as details on the user attacking the system or additional information about the attack itself.
  5. Speedy responses
    An effective EDR will quickly and accurately respond to incidents before they can become a successful attack, allowing your organization to continue productivity.

With an effective EDR solution, your organization can avoid breaches, proactively catch attackers in real time, and continue business as usual. A quality endpoint detection and response solution is critical for any organization to keep its data safe. 

With our top-notch technology, Applied Tech can help you protect all your endpoints and avoid data breaches. Maintain a secure and productive IT infrastructure–reach out to Applied Tech today.

AppliedTech

About Applied Tech

Applied Tech is a leading IT and cybersecurity services provider dedicated to helping businesses protect their digital assets. Our proactive and strategic services include cloud management, security, productivity, and IT growth strategy. With a team of experienced professionals, we provide unique solutions tailored to your IT needs.

Protect your business with Applied Tech’s fully managed IT services, co-managed support, and security assistance. With IT services focused on your business goals, keep your team productive and your data secure.

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