The saying “two is better than one, and three is better than two” holds true when it comes to the number of measures you need to take to ensure your company has robust security. The more security measures you put in place, the better. However, managing all these security modules separately can be a daunting task. As businesses increasingly rely on vulnerable technologies like the cloud, investing in endpoint protection platforms has become more important than ever.

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Sounds like a nightmare scenario, doesn’t it? But it happened, and it happens all the time: ransomware attacks alone skyrocketed by 144% in 2021. As businesses increasingly depend on vulnerable technologies like the cloud, it’s more important than ever to invest in sophisticated security measures like endpoint protection platforms.

But what do they do, and how can they keep your business safe? Read on to find out!

This article covers the following:

• What Is an Endpoint Protection Platform?
• Importance
• Key Features
• EPP vs. EDR
• Questions To Ask
• Next Steps

What Is an Endpoint Protection Platform?

An endpoint protection platform is a set of integrated tools that detects security threats such as malware, data theft, ransomware, phishing attacks and trojans to your endpoints and provides remedial capabilities. These solutions are typically cloud-based and provide remote remediation and advanced threat monitoring.

It works by creating multiple layers of defense against verified and unverified sources. The software analyzes historical data, existing safety modules, file reputation, level of risk and user-specific requirements to authenticate or block access requests, identifying suspicious activity before it escalates.

A traditional EPP detects and eliminates threats at the point of entry based on rules set by system administrators. Next-generation EPPs combine this with advanced technology, like AI and machine learning, to defend against an even broader range of attacks.

More and more companies are moving to remote operations and BYOD (bring your own device) policies. But this growth in BYOD usage significantly increases security risks, making it crucial to gain control over your network.

Endpoint protection platforms succeed where siloed security tools don’t measure up. Deploying EPP in the cloud gives you better visibility into what’s happening with all your endpoints, even outside the company firewall.

Is Endpoint Protection the Same as Antivirus?

It’s a common misconception that all cybersecurity solutions are the same. Endpoint antivirus and endpoint security have key differences.

Mainly, it’s the scope of protection. An antivirus program is deployed on a physical device, like a computer or mobile phone, and only protects the device where you’ve installed it. While it protects against trojans, malware and corrupted files, it’s helpless against unknown or more complex threats, like zero-day attacks.

On the other hand, you can deploy an endpoint protection platform in multiple environments, including the cloud, meaning its protection extends to every device connected to your corporate network. In addition to handling more complicated threats, it also offers tools for investigating attacks and remediating system damage.

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Importance

Threat actors keep inventing new ways to evade traditional security measures of security operations centers (SOCs). With advanced cyberattack techniques, they can now stay undetected and severely harm your business. This situation has made endpoint protection platforms even more essential for deploying advanced security measures to detect and prevent unknown threats.

With endpoint protection platforms, you can prevent attackers from bypassing traditional security measures and avoid the following vulnerabilities:

Outdated Endpoints

You need to update your systems and develop patches continuously to keep up with the fast-changing threat landscape. However, the speed of these updates and patches often outruns SOC’s capabilities, especially without automation and patch management. Unsecured endpoints are prone to breaches and can become serious threats to the entire network.

Cloud-based endpoint protection platforms offer automated updates and patch management, keeping the entire network secure at all times.

Filtered Data

Traditional endpoint solutions typically filter endpoint data based on recorded indicators of compromise (IoC) and established behavioral patterns. This filtered data makes it impossible for SoC teams to identify new threat patterns with modern attack techniques.

EPPs can continuously monitor endpoint activity, offer advanced capabilities like security analytics, machine learning, IoT security and threat intelligence, and help predict future threats.

Fileless Ransomware Attacks

According to a survey, ransomware attacks are the number one type of cyber security attack. Traditional security systems can’t detect and block ransomware delivered through fileless techniques. An EPP, on the other hand, can track behavioral patterns and provide alerts about fileless ransomware attacks.

Advanced Attack Techniques

Cybercriminals usually steal or develop advanced attack techniques and upload them on the internet for sale. They can now buy them easily on the dark web and use these tactics to hide from traditional security systems.

With advanced monitoring of endpoint behavior and real-time threat intelligence, endpoint protection platforms can quickly identify hidden attackers. These solutions can help secure your company from evolved malicious attacks and identify attacks prior to their occurrence.

Multiple Data Sources

Unlike traditional endpoint security systems that run isolated in the network, EPPs offer an integrated solution for the entire security infrastructure. That’s why the former requires multiple modules to trace malicious activities on all endpoints during analysis or investigation.

On the other hand, an endpoint protection platform combines endpoint data from all integrated security solutions and allows better data access. This streamlines the investigation process and creates a better alerting system.

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Key Features

Now that you have a sense of what endpoint protection platforms do, let’s talk about the features they provide to help enhance your company’s security.

1. AI and Machine Integration

Hackers aren’t the only ones getting smarter. With machine learning, your security tool can too.

Machine learning allows your software to learn from previous security incidents, so it can recognize and protect against them better in the future. It analyzes collected data and behavioral patterns to predict possible threats and improve itself beyond its baseline capabilities.

In addition to adaptability, AI offers other advantages, like detailed, real-time insights into security events, automated threat responses based on your requirements and easy integration with your company’s system.

2. Data and Network Protection

Data is one of your most valuable digital assets — no wonder it’s the target of so many cyberattacks.

Criminals have a lot to gain from stealing or compromising your data, whether it’s to sell it off to your competitors, take your proprietary information or use it to extort you.

Your endpoint protection platform can continuously monitor the exchange of data within and outside of your business. Unauthorized and undefined events are identified and blocked with encryption, whitelists and blacklists, protecting you from the devastating damage of a breach.

3. Centralized Management

Can you imagine how hard it would be to manage different applications on different mobile devices? It’s exactly the same for endpoint security systems. Having separate consoles would not only be time and resource-consuming but also impractical.

You can manage an endpoint protection platform through one console centrally. This single source provides better visibility into compliance issues as well as security threats. It also eases the load of moving from one screen to another and manually analyzing threats.

This centralized management control system provides configurable alert dashboards, KPIs, security status indicators and automated threat analysis.

4. Behavioral Analytics

Protecting yourself against threats as they come up is crucial, but what if you could avoid encountering them in the first place? With behavioral analytics, you can gain valuable insight into security events, to help you adapt better strategies moving forward.

These advanced analytics tools can forecast risks based on behavioral patterns, threat types, geolocation data and current trends. Insights are aggregated on a centralized dashboard for easy access and analysis.

5. Sandboxing

A sandbox is a secure virtual extension of an organization’s network, a digital clone of the real system environment. Sandboxing allows you to safely run untested code so you can determine if a certain file, program or URL is malicious before letting it touch your actual system.

In addition to offering another layer of security, sandboxing helps you see how new applications, like software programs or third-party apps, might function within your system before you decide to implement them.

6. Malware Protection

One of the biggest threats to endpoint devices is malware: software designed to make your device malfunction, steal sensitive data and block your access to your own information.

Anti-malware tools continuously scan your network for threats, identifying and neutralizing them before they can cause damage. They draw on a database of known malware that’s regularly updated to stay on top of hacker innovations, ensuring that no new threats sneak past your system.

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EPP vs. EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response)

Endpoint protection platforms and endpoint detection and response, or EDR, may sound alike, but they offer different approaches to security.

Both protect your endpoints against threats, but EPP provides more passive protection, focused on known and unknown malware attacks, while EDR solutions are active, continually scanning for and identifying threats at a granular level.

You could look at them as different security layers: your EPP is the first line of defense, and your EDR catches anything that manages to get past it. EPP makes it harder for hackers to penetrate your security perimeter, but if they do, EDR gives you the tools to respond.

A comprehensive endpoint security software would have the capabilities of both. Luckily, many vendors combine EPP and EDR into one system.

Questions To Ask

Real-time visibility, advanced threat detection and prevention are some of the primary benefits of implementing an EPP. To shortlist the best endpoint protection platform for your business, you can ask these key questions:

• Does the EPP offer protection against unknown attacks?
• What level of threat intelligence integration does it offer?
• Does the EPP provide zero trust assessments?
• Does it have advanced threat detection capabilities?
• What level of IT hygiene and vulnerability management does the software offer?

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Next Steps

In an increasingly digital world, it’s crucial for your business to stay afloat in the ever-evolving security landscape. The statistics around cybersecurity threats are alarming, but solid protection is out there — you just have to find the right solution for you.

If you’re in the market for an endpoint protection platform but don’t know where to start, take a look at our free comparison report. It contains ratings from real users, detailed pricing information and other industry analytics to help you hone in on products. We also recommend creating an endpoint security requirements list in line with your company’s budget, employee strength and technical expertise to make an informed decision.

We hope our article helped you take one step closer to keeping your business safe.

What has your experience been with an endpoint protection platform? How do you find them more beneficial than traditional endpoint security software? Do let us know in the comments.