In recent years, the increasing remote work trends have resulted in a rapid rise & interconnectivity of endpoints as well as data. This ‘next normal’ way of working has its own set of security challenges. These include the surge in sophisticated & automated attacks & a rise in the sheer volume of alerts the security analysts must investigate.

While a lot of time has to be spent by cybersecurity analysts for checking for alerts that result in false positives, the inaccurate data, as well as alert growth, ultimately leads to wasting a lot of time which could rather be utilized in more strategic analysis.

Furthermore, attackers are changing their modus operandi continuously & becoming stealthier & faster, while threat actors are going more adept in automating their operations, rendering already overtaxed security teams a little less time to respond. Eliminating pricy business delays, securing endpoints against advanced zero-day attacks, as well as relieving analysts are the challenges that ask for a different approach.

There is a greater need for investigating cybersecurity automation tools as they can render complete visibility, precise detection & protection against both known as well as unknown threats. This helps to stay on top of the aforementioned challenges. Not just that, they also need to be easy to operate as well as reduce analyst workloads. For instance, to deal with today’s cyber threats effective endpoint detection & response solutions block & isolate malware by default, and they also equip security teams with enhanced endpoint protection.

Heimdal offers an EDR solution - Heimal Endpoint Detection and Response that is designed with an aim to assist firms to detect & remediate sophisticated malware threats. Not just that it also prevents these threats from taking root.

What effective EDR should offer

Since effective endpoint security is one of the core components of the modern enterprise’s cybersecurity program, it should provide anti-ransomware protection, anti-bot capabilities, and post-breach detection remediation & response and anti-phishing protection, content disarms & reconstruction. 

Harmony offers comprehensive endpoint protection at the highest security level, Harmony Endpoint which is crucial for avoiding security breaches as well as data compromise.

Deep visibility made simple

Lack of deep visibility is one of the greatest challenges to securing endpoints. In other words, this is about getting to know the 4Ws of threat and endpoint activity such as the who, what, when & where of threat and endpoint activity. Since visibility is the basis of detention security analysts should have the means for understanding the storyline of the cyberattack quickly & completely as it unfolds. In this way, analysts can track every step of an attack as it happens for responding in an efficient manner.

Since the traditional EDR tools have very poor visibility & do not render much insight, we need an advanced approach that leverages a behavioral-based methodology that is both sustainable & future-proof to fight modern threats.

Leveraging AI & ML for automating manual tasks & enhancing endpoint detection & remediation will let teams respond faster as it can also defend against unknown & evolving threats which include ransomware, fileless attacks & various other threats which transform their codes to evade detection.

Modern & Effective EDR Solutions

Modern end-point security should be eliminating the workloads of security analysts & at the same time be easy to use. Modern & effective EDR solutions should achieve the following:

Real-time detection: the speed of cyberattacks has increased rapidly today. Cyberattacks that once took several hours are now occurring in minutes. However, completely automated endpoint protection which includes AI/ML features & does not require any human intervention or limited intervention makes sure analysts can identify & block threats in real-time. After this, they can take action for removing threats so that business can continue running smoothly & swiftly.

ESET provides an extended detection and response (XDR) platform - ESET PROTECT Enterprise that combines endpoint security, proactive threat detection, file server security, full disk encryption, as well as facilitated response for enabling businesses of all sizes to prevent, identify & remediate threats in their digital environments. The platform leverages adaptive scanning & behavioral analysis, and ML algorithms, coupled with cloud-based behavioral analysis to identify & remediate zero-day threats in real-time.

Lower mean time to respond: detecting the threat quickly & possessing tools such as guided remediation assists the security teams to respond to malware well & resolve threats in a single click. It is crucial to ensure that team has accurate & reliable data collection methods which keep the MTTR/the incident investigation time down.

Reduced alert fatigue: security alerts are increasing greater with the rise in endpoints, attacks & data. Therefore, by adopting innovative as well as advanced tools which use algorithmic decision-making, the bulk of false-positive alerts can be removed and this frees analysts to focus on higher-level investigations & real security alerts.

The way ahead

The EDR market is anticipated to reach USD 6.72 billion by 2026. Growing adoption of decentralized as well as edge-based security techniques by organizations are the factors bolstering the market growth. And, the vendors in the sector providing EDR are further looking to collaborate with other managed security service providers.