It was only a matter of time before the rise of mobile led to the rise of mobile security threats. From smartphones and tablets to wearables and Internet of Things devices, the number and variety of endpoints have made it difficult for organizations to maintain control over mobile environments and deliver security updates in a timely fashion. Despite the increase in mobile security threats, two-thirds of organizations have no endpoint security strategy, according to a recent survey from a leading IT security company.
Traditionally, endpoint security has focused on antivirus, but antivirus alone is not enough. Perimeter defenses are not enough. Organizations need to implement an integrated endpoint detection and response solution that combines firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems, advanced encryption, application security, patch management, 24x7 monitoring, threat intelligence, and other security technologies.
Fortunately, more comprehensive, next-generation endpoint security solutions are becoming available as both vendors and their customers take a layered approach to security. The two most important layers are an endpoint protection platform and endpoint detection and response capabilities. The goal is to maximize the detection and blocking of malicious code while minimizing false positives and negatives. Endpoint security solutions should enable you to analyze, investigate and perform forensics across multiple endpoints, and quickly contain and remediate threats. Strong network security infrastructure and policies are also critical to effective endpoint security.
When choosing an endpoint security solution, look for a platform that’s easy to deploy and manage, especially if you have a high number of endpoints to secure. Will integration with existing infrastructure be a problem? Will the solution in any way impact productivity? Agents installed on an endpoint can sometimes cause performance issues. Because threats are constantly evolving, reconfiguring and updating the system’s policies and knowledge base must be a simple process that can be remotely managed. Find out how many of these tasks are automated, and ask for real-world data related to positive detection rates and false positives.
WatchGuard Technologies recently introduced Threat Detection and Response to provide network and endpoint visibility through a single, cloud-based service. Organizations can detect advanced threats on endpoints and quickly correlate event data with network data to ensure the most effective response. Threat Detection and Response is the first solution to combine detection and response capabilities on the endpoint with unified threat management (UTM) services.
Threat Detection and Response includes the new ThreatSync feature, which uses cloud-based correlation and scoring to automate malware detection and remediation. Threats are intelligently prioritized based upon risk and policies. Lightweight host sensors constantly scan and monitor endpoints beyond the network perimeter and send security event data to ThreatSync for analysis, scoring and remediation. UTM and a Host Ransomware Prevent Module provide added protection against sophisticated attacks.
Don’t wait until a data breach occurs to start protecting your endpoints. Let us show you how Threat Detection and Response from WatchGuard simplifies and strengthens endpoint security.
