Endpoint Security

Endpoint security is the process of protecting devices like workstations, servers, and other devices (that can accept a security client) from malicious threats and cyberattacks. Endpoint security software enables businesses to protect devices that employees use for work purposes or servers that are either on a network or in the cloud from cyber threats.

Billions of connected devices  . Modern business landscape is seeing an increasing volume of cybersecurity threats from increasingly sophisticated cyber criminals.  Endpoints are one of the most common targets, given the sheer number of them in use to connect to networks.

Every endpoint that connects to the corporate network is a vulnerability, providing a potential entry point for cyber criminals. Therefore, every device an employee uses to connect to any business system or resource carries the risk of becoming the chosen route for hacking into an organization. These devices can be exploited by malware that could leak or steal sensitive data from the business.

In the face of this, it is imperative for businesses to deploy solutions that can Analyze, Detect, then Block and Contain cyber attacks as they happen. Organizations also need to collaborate with one another and utilize technologies that provide their IT and security teams with visibility into advanced threats, enabling them to quickly detect security risks for swift remediation of potential issues.

Endpoint Security Working Principle

The main goal of any endpoint security solution is to protect data and workflows associated with all devices that connect to the corporate network. It does this by examining files as they enter the network and comparing them against an ever-increasing database of threat information, which is stored in the cloud.

The endpoint security solution provides system admins with a centralized management console that is installed on a network or server and enables them to control the security of all devices connecting to them. Client software is then deployed to each endpoint, either remotely or directly. With the endpoint set up, the software pushes updates to it whenever necessary, authenticates login attempts that are made from it, and administers corporate policies.

In addition, the endpoint security solution secures endpoints through application control. This blocks the user from downloading or accessing applications that are unsafe or unauthorized by the organization. It also uses encryption to prevent data loss.

The endpoint security solution enables businesses to quickly detect malware and other common security threats. It can also provide endpoint monitoring, detection and response, which enables the business to detect more advanced threats like fileless malware, polymorphic attacks, and zero-day attacks. This more advanced approach provides enhanced visibility and a wider variety of response options in the face of a security threat.

End Point Security Solution such as Endpoint detection and response (EDR) platforms continuously monitor physical endpoint devices using analytics with a high degree of automation to swiftly detect and respond to cyber threats. EDR solutions can vary broadly in their capabilities, but in general they follow a circular workflow to detect, contain, investigate, and remediate threats as follows:

Continuously monitor endpoint devices. When endpoints and users are onboarded, the EDR solution will install a software agent on each of them that “manages the device” by making use of AI and machine learning algorithms to analyze the behaviors on the endpoint. The software agent continuously logs relevant activity on each managed device. EDR ensures that all endpoints and users are visible to security teams.

Aggregate telemetry data. The data ingested from each device is sent back from the agent to the EDR solution, which can be in the cloud or on-premises. Event logs, authentication attempts, application use, and other information are made visible to security teams in real time. Data about the activity on each endpoint is stored so when the behavior changes, EDR takes action.

Analyze and correlate data to uncover anomalies. EDR collects data on the suspicious behavior then filters and analyzes it, looking for evidence of malicious files. In this manner, EDR discovers incidents of compromise that otherwise might be missed. EDR uses behavioral analytics that leverage AI and machine learning with global threat intelligence to detect cyberattacks. Detection triggers an alarm which initiates an investigation to identify the source of the attack and how it got through the system’s perimeter.

Flag suspected threats and take automatic remediation actions.  EDR solutions flag potential attacks and send actionable alerts to security teams so they can respond quickly and notify the users. Depending on the nature of the threat, EDR may isolate an endpoint(s) or a network segment to contain the threat while the incident is being investigated. Remediation leverages the previous steps to eliminate the threat from all systems and segments and restore endpoints to operation.

Store data for forensic use. EDR technology keeps a forensic record of past events to inform future investigations. Security analysts can use this historical data to consolidate events or to get the big picture about a prolonged or previously undetected attack

Endpoint Security Benefits

 Endpoint security technology plays a vital role in protecting organizations from the increasingly dangerous threat landscape. Some of the key benefits of an endpoint security approach include:

Protecting all endpoints: As employees now connect via not only a growing number of endpoints but also different types of devices, it is vital for organizations to ensure they do so securely. They also need to ensure that the data on those devices is secure and cannot be lost or stolen.

Securing remote working: The rise in device usage is linked to new ways of getting work done, such as bring your own device (BYOD) and remote working policies. These policies enable employees to be as effective as possible wherever they are and on any device. However, they also make it more difficult to ensure users are working securely, thus creating vulnerabilities for hackers to exploit. Protecting the device with an endpoint security platform is crucial.

Sophisticated threat protection: Hackers are deploying more sophisticated attack methods that see them come up with new ways of gaining access to corporate networks, stealing data, and manipulating employees into giving up sensitive information. Endpoint protection is critical to securing the modern enterprise and preventing cyber criminals from gaining access to their networks.

Protecting identity: As employees connect to business systems via various devices and from different networks and locations, the traditional process of protecting the business perimeter is no longer viable. Endpoint security ensures that the business puts security on employees’ devices, enabling them to work safely regardless of how and where they connect to corporate data and resources.

Reduce the risk of security breaches and keeps cyberthreats from spreading via continuous monitoring and detection and automatic incident response (i.e. containment, investigation, and remediation).

Identify sophisticated threats overlooked by traditional antivirus software with advanced analytics, machine learning, and behavioral analysis.

Provide insight into endpoint activities to help security teams investigate the scope and nature of threats (i.e. threat data lake, detailed logs, and forensic data).

Automate responses to threats that trigger mitigation and remediation procedures to  isolate infected devices, segment the network to contain infection, terminate malicious processes, and eliminate malware files).

Shrink the attack surface available to cyberthreats with threat hunting tools that can proactively identify potential vulnerabilities across a network before they can be exploited.

Help organizations comply with industry standards and regulations with reporting that includes comprehensive logs to demonstrate the use of appropriate security measures and incident responses.

Improve overall security posture and visibility of threat activity by integrating with broader security systems such as SIEM systems, SOAR, and XDR.

Strengthen future defenses for post incident analysis with threat intelligence that gives analysts information about attack vectors

Reduce attack surfaces and eliminate blind spots – EDR automatically discovers rogue devices, IoT devices, and applications and their vulnerabilities, based on risk mitigation policies for existing and unmanaged endpoints connected to the network. This is to either bring them under management, set up communication control policies, or set up virtual patching policies.

Block sophisticated cyberattacks – EDR automatically detects and defuses potential threats in real time, to help security teams identify stealthy attacks such as ransomware. Anti-tampering capabilities prevent malware from shutting down EDR software.

Proactively hunt threats and automate remediation – EDR applies behavioral analytics for threat monitoring to identify suspicious behavior and can conduct threat hunting for malicious behaviors and other IOCs. EDR can automate remediation steps via customizable incident response playbooks.

Increase the efficiency and speed of security operations – EDR eases the burden on security teams by prioritizing potential serious threats, and upon validation, automating triage actions. EDR detects and defuses threats in real time, contains attacks, and initiates investigations.

Integrate detection and response with SIEM, SOAR, XDR, and security operations solutions – EDR can integrate with existing SecOps tools, SIEM and SOAR solutions, and is part of extended detection and response or XDR—a cloud delivered, next-generation solution that integrates EDR with other cyber security tools including network detection and response (NDR).

Enchanting EDR capabilities with 3^rd Party threat intelligence Services

Third-party threat intelligence services increase the effectiveness of endpoint security solutions. Threat intelligence services provide an organization with a global pool of information on current threats and their characteristics. That collective intelligence helps increase an EDR’s ability to identify exploits, especially multi-layered and zero-day attacks. Many EDR security vendors offer threat intelligence subscriptions as part of their endpoint security solution. Additionally, new investigative capabilities in some EDR solutions can leverage AI and machine learning to automate the steps in an investigative process. These new capabilities can learn an organization’s baseline behaviors and use this information, along with a variety of other threat intelligence sources, to interpret findings.

Another type of threat intelligence is the Adversarial Tactics, Techniques, and Common Knowledge (ATT&CK) project underway at MITRE, a nonprofit research group that works with the U.S. government. ATT&CK is a knowledgebase and framework built on the study of millions of real-world cyberattacks.

ATT&CK categorizes cyberthreats by various factors, such as the tactics used to infiltrate an IT system, the type of system vulnerabilities exploited, the malware tools used, and the criminal groups associated with the attack. The focus of the work is on identifying patterns and characteristics that remain unchanged regardless of minor changes to an exploit. Details such as IP addresses, registry keys, and domain numbers can change frequently. But an attacker’s methods—or “modus operandi”—usually remain the same. An EDR can use these common behaviors to identify threats that may have been altered in other ways.

As IT security professionals face increasingly complex cyberthreats, as well as a greater diversity in the number and types of endpoints accessing the network, they need more help from the automated analysis and response that endpoint detection and response solutions provide.

Endpoint Security Solution – EDR Key Components and Functions

Endpoint detection and response (EDR) software is used by security operations teams to detect, contain, investigate and remediate cyberattacks—such as ransomware and other malware. EDR tools are used to discover suspicious activities on hosts and endpoints that are connected to the network—such as mobile phones, desktops, laptops, and virtual machines.

EDR software integrates real-time continuous monitoring and collection of endpoint data and actionable threat intelligence with rules-based, automated cyber threat response and analysis capabilities. Whether detecting, responding, or remediating, EDR solutions offer a great first and last line of defense for networked computer workstations and endpoint devices whether in the office or at remote locations, as well as for servers, and cloud workloads.

EDR acts like a DVR on the endpoint, recording relevant activity to catch incidents that evaded prevention. Comprehensive visibility into everything that is happening on their endpoints from a security perspective as EDR solutione tracks hundreds of different security-related events, such as process creation, drivers loading, registry modifications, disk access, memory access or network connections.

• This gives security teams the useful information they need, including:
• Local and External addresses to which the host is connected
• All the user accounts that have logged in, both directly and remotely
• Summary of changes to ASP keys, executables and administrative tool usage
• Process executions
• Both summary and detailed process-level network activity, including DNS requests, connections, and open ports
• Archive file creation, including RAR and ZIPS
• Removable media usage

Key Components of Endpoint (EDR) Security

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR), also referred to as endpoint detection and threat response (EDTR), is an endpoint security solution that continuously monitors end-user devices to detect and respond to cyber threats like ransomware and malware.

EDR tools have three basic components:

1. Endpoint data collection agents. Software agents conduct endpoint monitoring and collect data—such as processes, connections, volume of activity, and data transfers—into a central database.

2. Automated response. Pre-configured rules in an EDR solution can recognize when incoming data indicates a known type of security breach and triggers an automatic response, such as to log off the end user or send an alert to a staff member.

3. Analysis and forensics. An endpoint detection and response system may incorporate both real-time analytics, for rapid diagnosis of threats that do not quite fit the pre-configured rules, and forensics tools for threat hunting or conducting a post-mortem analysis of an attack.

• A real-time analytics engine uses algorithms to evaluate and correlate large volumes of data, searching for patterns.
• Forensics tools enable IT security professionals to investigate past breaches to better understand how an exploit works and how it penetrated security. IT security professionals also use forensics tools to hunt for threats in the system, such as malware or other exploits that might lurk undetected on an endpoint.

Summary key functional steps for EDR Security Solution

1. Detection

Continuous file analysis detects threats by examining each file that interacts with the endpoint. Files that present a threat are flagged. In many cases, a file appears safe, at first. However, if it starts to exhibit threatening behavior, your EDR can send an alert to let the IT team and other stakeholders know.

Global cyber threat intelligence identifies threats that resemble the profiles of the tools hackers employ to undermine cybersecurity systems. Threat intelligence analyzes information gleaned from artificial intelligence (AI) and large data storehouses of existing and constantly evolving cyber threats to detect threats that are targeting endpoints.

2. Containment

Upon detection, threat containment can isolate specific endpoints or segment parts of the network to prevent threats from spreading laterally. In addition to network segmentation, it’s critical to contain the threat to prevent other endpoints in the segment from becoming infected or held hostage as is the case with ransomware.

3. Investigation

As the culmination of all the steps above, remediation is able to eliminate a threat by removing it from an organization’s systems. The information gathered about the threat is used to pinpoint the applications and data the malicious file affected or tried to attack, as well as whether the file has replicated itself to other systems or network segments. Some EDR solutions can return infected endpoints to their previous state to reduce the impact on productivity.

4. Elimination

Eliminating the threat is the culmination of the previous steps: detection, containment, and investigation. While the other facets of EDR provide critical knowledge about the threat, that information is useless if it is not employed to eliminate it and similar threats in the future. The elimination process depends on gathering critical information about the threat and then using it to execute an action plan.

For example, the system has to figure out where the threat came from. Information about the threat’s origin can be used to enhance future security measures. The system also needs to pinpoint the applications and data the malicious file affected or tried to attack, as well as whether the file has replicated itself to continue its attack.

Elimination leans heavily on visibility. Visibility into the origins of the file and how it behaved during the attack enables you to adjust security protocols to protect the rest of the network. In some EDR systems, you can opt to return an infected endpoint to how it was before the attack occurred. In this way, you can get your system back up and running, which can reduce the impact of the threat on the organization’s productivity.