Gone are the days when antivirus was enough to protect your endpoints from nasty viruses as the cyber threats facing organisations today perpetually evolve and outgrow the programming of antivirus software. EDR security solutions offer the comprehensive protection organisations desperately need to keep the bad guys out.
What is EDR?
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) refers to an endpoint security solution that monitors end-user devices in real-time to detect and respond to cyber threats, such as ransomware and malware.
Core Components of EDR Security
Endpoint data collection agents:
Software agents continuously monitor and collect events and activities across all endpoints and workloads, such as processes, connections, activity volume, and data transfers - collating this data into a central database.
Automated response:
Behavioural analytics study billions of real-time events to detect suspicious behaviour traces by identifying patterns that match with known Indicators of Attack (IOAs). Once a match is found, the EDR tool flags the activity as malicious and automatically responds by removing or containing the threat, simultaneously notifying the security team via an alert. Due to the high degree of automation involved, security teams can quickly remediate cyber threats before it’s too late. Without this, cyber threats could easily slip under a security team’s radar and breach their security systems, since individual events appear innocuous in isolation.
To illustrate just how automated responses work in the real world, let’s look at one of the most common types of cyber threats - the spear phish attack. To successfully compromise a system, an unsuspecting end-user is tricked into revealing their login credentials, with which the attacker gains access to the network, moving laterally in search of privileged credentials that will allow them access to sensitive data. Meanwhile, the EDR solution sits in the background, monitoring each stage of this attack process and correlating the sequence of events in real-time to identify a pattern, at which point the automated response kicks in to intercept the attack before the attacker can compromise sensitive data.
Enriched analysis and forensics:
Some EDR solutions are enriched by threat intelligence services that provide evidence-based knowledge on existing and emerging cyber threats, thus offering protection against threats that do not entirely match with known IOAs and zero-day cyberattacks. The addition of forensics tools enables security teams to proactively hunt for threats that may be lurking in their system, while also allowing them to investigate previous breaches to gain insight into how their security systems were breached and prevent them from occurring again.
Why do organisations need EDR?
The cyber threat landscape constantly evolves, meaning cybercriminals can bypass traditional cyber security defences like network-based firewalls, so deploying protection at the end-point level is crucial to catch those that do slip through. With the rise in home-working and hybrid working, the need for strong endpoint protection is now more important than ever. This is because home workers typically do not have the same level of protection as on-site workers who benefit from automatic updates and security patches and are far less likely to practice good cyber security hygiene in a more casual environment. Subsequently, remote workers are far more susceptible to cyber attackers looking to leverage their devices as a stepping stone to the enterprise network. EDR significantly reduces this risk by providing instant and full remediation against ransomware and malware.
Additionally, the continuous monitoring and recording of events and activities across all endpoints and workloads provide security teams with comprehensive visibility into incidents as they happen in real-time. This allows security teams to act immediately before cyber attackers can wreak havoc on their security systems and prevent the operational, reputational, and financial damage that would follow a data breach.
How COOLSPIRiT can help
We strive to help our customers save valuable time, money and resources which is why we have partnered with industry-leading EDR solution providers to offer a range of products suitable for organisations of all sizes.
Contact our expert team today to learn more at 01246 454 222 or hello@coolspirit.co.uk.
