Advanced Endpoint Protection: Your Cybersecurity Front Line

Technology Solutions

Try not to worry if your knowledge of advanced endpoint protection (AEP) is limited. This post will answer any and all questiony you have on this topic – questions such as ‘what is advanced endpoint protection,’ and ‘is endpoint protection the same as antivirus.’

Both are popular search queries online, and with good reason. Advanced endpoint protection, while helpful, can be quite complicated to grasp – especially if you have very little knowledge of endpoint protection, generally.

You see, there is more than one solution of note here.

Take machine learning, for example, a category of artificial intelligence used to analyze large amounts of data to learn the typical behaviors of users and endpoints.

Security analytics is another prime example of AEP, where tools aggregate security data from multiple sources and analyze it to identify trends and potential indicators of attack; similar to penetration testing in its proactive approach.

Again, try not to worry if this doesn’t make a lot of sense to you at this stage. All will be made clear as we go from section to section below.

Let’s begin by providing an answer to one of the AEP questions mentioned above (what is advanced endpoint protection?).

From there, we’ll turn our attention to the benefits of advanced endpoint protection, so that you fully understand why this type of cybersecurity is considered more of a requirement than a suggestion; or as we have put it:

Your cybersecurity front line.

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What is Advanced Endpoint Protection?

Advanced endpoint protection – often shortened to just AEP – is a next-generation endpoint security solution that uses machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI), and other intelligent automation capabilities to provide effective cybersecurity protection from threats such as:

  • Fileless malware
  • Script-based attacks
  • Zero-day threats
  • And more

Unlike traditional endpoint tools, like firewalls and antivirus software, AEO systems utilize advanced technologies to keep your organization secure.

An endpoint in security refers to end-user devices such as desktops, laptops, and mobile devices. Endpoint security is all about protecting these points from being exploited by malicious actors and campaigns.

Easily one of the best things about this form of cybersecurity is its ability to address threats that are seemingly ‘unknown’ – ‘unknown’ refers to threats that are new, emerging, complex, or a mix of all three.

Hackers tend to be far too ambitious for their own good, and are always on the lookout for new ways to infiltrate your organization and steal from you. AEP protection, like other forms of cybersecurity, helps strengthen your cybersecurity posture, putting you one-step-ahead at all times.

How Does Advanced Endpoint Protection Work?

Advanced endpoint protection solutions include multiple complementary technologies that aid in identifying potential threats, catching them early before they enter a network or database.

Do keep in mind that some endpoint security solutions rely on small software agents at each of the endpoints within the network to record data, send alerts, and configure commands.

That said, some vendors have begun offering advanced endpoint protection as a form of single-agent architecture, which is rapidly becoming the most common type of protection thanks to its ease of deployment and management.

All examples of advanced endpoint security will include the following technologies and capabilities:

  • Security Analytics: These tools record and analyze data from endpoints and other sources to detect potential threats. These analytics are beyond helpful to IT professionals investigating any security breaches or unique activity. Analytics are beneficial as they outline vulnerabilities and what to do to patch those vulnerabilities.
  • IoT Security: Smart devices are very important to organizations. They also pose significant risks when it comes to cybersecurity. A single unprotected device could be all a hacker needs to infiltrate your organization. Industrial controls, medical imaging systems, offline printers, and network routers are all examples of these devices.
  • Machine Learning: This form of artificial intelligence analyzes large amounts of data to get a read on the typical behaviors of users and all endpoints. These learning systems can then identify baselines and deviations from these pathways. When finding issues, an alert is typically triggered, causing the threat to be contained.
  • Threat Intelligence: Real-time threat intelligence is another popular capability of advanced security. These updates inform organizations of the latest types of malware, zero-day threats, and other trending attacks.

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Why do Organizations Need Advanced Endpoint Protection?

As we’ve just mentioned, hackers are getting a lot more crafty these days and are finding new ways to extract valuable information from your organization; often, without warning. This requires some form of deterrent to ensure that they leave your network well enough alone.

To be clear:

Any connected device can serve as a gateway to your network, that covers everything from phones to tablets. Companies of all sizes will have access points like this, making it a must that they protect themselves in whatever way they can.

According to BetaNews, 82% of CIOs believe their software supply chains are vulnerable, so why not do something about it?

Yes, we understand that we’re being quite vague at the moment. Hopefully, the next section where we outline the benefits of AEP, should help highlight specific reasons as to why you need to consider an endpoint protection platform, or something similar.

What are the Main Benefits of Advanced Endpoint Protection?

There are several benefits to utilizing advanced endpoint protection; some you may be aware of, others, not so much:

AEP solutions are great as they combine the latest in endpoint security technology through a single, integrated solution, thus enabling these solutions to be a lot more effective.

This benefits not only you, but other members of the team too, not to mention, external security teams. Better threat management ensures that everyone is aware of what safeguards are put in place, and what the steps are should they find themselves with a hacker.

Amplified Accuracy and Response Time

Advanced endpoint protection systems are incredibly intelligent, meaning they are very good at providing precise solutions to a level of accuracy that could only be achieved by a machine.

What’s more, the systems you put in place will only get better with time. This, in turn, will only strengthen your organization’s ability to prevent, detect, and respond to threats!

Sure, humans are also rather equipped to deal with these issues themselves, but machines have been proven a lot more efficient/effective in comparison, which is a statement that could apply to anything that involves machines, when you stop and think about it.

Additional Protection

This is an obvious benefit, but we’ll include it anyway for the sake of offering a complete end-to-end guide.

Advanced endpoint protection leverages next-generation technology – the hint is in the name with the word ‘advanced.’

It’s never been easier to streamline data collection and analysis, improve system visibility, detect anomalous system activity, and expedite responses. It helps that the majority of it is automated, too, which brings us to our next point.

Automated Processes

The majority of the solutions we mention in this post are mostly automated. This enables more rapid threat response and helps alleviate some of the stress for security personnel, who can then focus their time/efforts elsewhere!

Another thing this does is helps increase response times, which goes back to what we were just saying in the section on amplifying the accuracy of your cybersecurity.

Continued Improvements

The AEP tools you see mostly rely on machine learning that is constantly evolving to process new information. This new information takes into account the various ways that a hacker might cause harm to your organization.
Any and all information is taken and used to update internal models over time. In other words, this enables AEP solutions to grow more efficient and effective at detecting and sorting potential incidents.

Advanced Endpoint Protection: Your Cybersecurity Front Line

At this point, you should be more than comfortable should anyone ask what you know about advanced endpoint protection, the benefits of this cyber solution, and how it works exactly compared to other forms of cybersecurity. .

Making cyber security accessible is what we do best here at TLR, be it through the services we offer, or the information found in blogs across the site.

Our range of services ensure that all of your endpoints are kept under lock and key, accessible by only the relevant individuals.

Our digital risk protection services, for example, continuously monitors for threats, indicators of risk, and provides remediation recommendations that are much more relevant and actionable.

The great thing about this service is that it can be tailored to any organization, regardless of industry or where in the world they operate.

We should also mention our SETH while we’re at it. Our SETH system here has been designed to detect and remediate any security issues within your network. It’s an all-in-one solution that utilizes micro bots that heal or contain the issues.

To find out more, simply click the big yellow button you see below and get in touch.

AEP FAQs

What does endpoint protection do?

Endpoint protection is the process of protecting key devices such as desktops, mobile phones, laptops, and tablets from cyber threats. Protecting these points enables businesses to carry on with its current continuity and empower teams in more ways than one (see the benefits above for more).

Is endpoint protection the same as antivirus?

Yes and no is the answer to this particular question. Antivirus is but one part of endpoint protection. You see, endpoint security solutions typically cover your entire network and protect you from all sorts of cyber attacks. Antivirus tends to cover a single endpoint in comparison.

What is an endpoint protection platform?

An endpoint protection platform (EPP) is a complete security solution deployed on endpoint devices to keep threats at bay. EPP solutions tend to be cloud-managed and take advantage of cloud data to assist in advanced monitoring and remote remediation.

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Written by

Dave Roberts