Stand and Deliver – Your Data Or Your Life

September 2021

Endpoints are now the most popular in-road for cybercriminals

Today’s savvy hackers prefer attacking threat surfaces that are isolated, vulnerable and integrated into a corporate network. That’s why endpoints are now the most popular in-road for cybercriminals. Endpoint security is how organisations secure endpoints (or entry points) of end-user devices such as desktops, laptops, and mobile devices from being attacked by cybercriminals. From its genesis within traditional antivirus software, endpoint security has evolved to be able to provide comprehensive protection from all manner of malware and evolving zero-day threats.

Endpoint protection is a critical part of enterprise cybersecurity. For example, data is often the most valuable asset a company has, so losing that data could endanger the entire business. And there are fresh challenges to face – not only a growing number of endpoints, but also an increase in the number of types of endpoints. This has allowed an increasing amount of new or unknown attacks (defined as “zero-day attacks) that involve the exploitation of undisclosed vulnerabilities – more traditional, signature-based detection solutions cannot recognise these.

Many reports illustrate the economic damage such attacks are inflicting on the bottom line as malicious actors bypass enterprise antivirus solutions. So, whilst the economic backlash of Covid-19 will undoubtedly place more strain than ever on IT budgets, now is the time to build a business case for endpoint security. Your organisation can’t afford to let its guard down – maintaining the highest levels of endpoint security should be a top priority.

So, what are some of the key criteria to include in your endpoint security business case therefore?

Reducing incidents

Delivering effective security and endpoint detection & response (EDR) for mobile is very different to that of legacy devices such as servers, desktops and laptops. On mobile devices you cannot rely on tactics that are battery draining, privacy-invasive, or require privileged access to the operating systems and apps.

Solving complex endpoint security problems – especially security emergencies – and all the associated analytics reports and analyses that need to be run is both costly and time-consuming. You need a persistent, unbreakable connection to every endpoint providing the device visibility your teams need to troubleshoot problems quickly and efficiently.

Creating an undeletable tether

As enterprises get to grips with the fact that a degree of remote working will become permanent for many employees, they are reconsidering their approach to mobile (devices). Autonomous endpoints with an undeletable tether improve compliance, control, and visibility. This is a must-have in the new hybrid remote workplace. For endpoint security to scale across every threat surface, having an undeletable tether to every device is essential for scalable remote work and hybrid remote work programs in the enterprise.

Remote work and BYOD policies are very challenging for perimeter security and serve to create vulnerabilities. With the threat landscape becoming more complicated, hackers are coming up with new ways to gain access or steal information (sensitive information). The reputational cost of a large-scale breach (plus and regulatory punitive damages) serves to prove why endpoint protection platforms should be considered as a must-have for an organisation’s security.

Reducing IT asset loss and increasing visibility

Keeping IT asset loss to a minimum, fully understanding asset utilisation, and monitoring the system-level software installed on every device can save a typical organisation hundreds of thousands of pounds a year.

Accurate asset lifecycle planning

With solid data from every device, accurate asset lifecycle planning becomes possible. Having autonomous endpoints based on a hardware connection delivers the data needed to increase the accuracy of asset lifecycle planning and resource allocation, giving IT and Operations the visibility they need at the device level.

Endpoint security costs

Your business case will, of course, need to include endpoint security licensing costs, along with all your change management, implementation and integration costs.

These days, threats increasingly manifest themselves via endpoints – centralised network protection does not go far enough. With shifting security perimeters that lack clear definition, businesses need new layers of security using endpoint protection. With the massive increase in remote device usage, building a business case for endpoint security should be a priority for any organisation.