The Importance of Endpoint Security for Enterprises
Endpoints are a common challenge for enterprise cybersecurity. Most common cyberattacks, such as phishing and malware, target the endpoint. At the same time, remote work, bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies, and growing use of cloud and SaaS applications have made endpoint security more complex. Additionally, endpoints are how users interact with the network, and, in many cases, users are the weakest link for corporate cybersecurity.
Enterprise endpoint security solutions are designed to address the cyber threats that companies face at scale. With the size, complexity, and value of enterprise networks, identifying and remediating attacks quickly is essential to minimizing the cost and impact of cyberattacks on the organization.
Primary Challenges for Enterprise Endpoint Security
Enteprise environments have many endpoints, and securing all of these endpoints can be a challenge.
Some of the main hurdles to enterprise endpoint security include the following:
- Diverse Endpoints: Enterprise IT environments commonly contain a variety of endpoints — workstations, servers, mobile devices, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices — running various operating systems (Windows, Mac, Linux, macOS, and Android) with different versions. These different endpoints all have unique security needs, adding to the complexity of enterprise endpoint security.
- Personal Devices: Companies are increasingly adopting BYOD and remote work policies. Personal and dual-use devices increase the difficulty of properly protecting corporate data and systems from attack.
- Log Volumes: A large number of enterprise endpoints can produce a massive volume of log data. Combing through these files to identify threats and weed out false positives requires significant time and resources and contributes to security teams’ alert fatigue.
- Standalone Solutions: Many enterprises use standalone endpoint detection and response (EDR) and endpoint protection platform (EPP) solutions. Multiple platforms creates additional overhead for purchasing, configuring, and operating these solutions.
- Security Expertise: Securing a large number of diverse endpoints withpoint solutions requires a large, highly-skilled security team. Attracting and retaining this talent incurs additional costs, especially with the current cybersecurity skills gap.
The Cyber Threats That Enterprises Face
Enterprises face a wide variety of cybersecurity threats. Some of the main risks to corporate endpoints include:
- Phishing: Phishing attacks are designed to trick users into revealing sensitive information or opening malicious files. A successful phishing campaign can result in a malware infection or an attacker with access to corporate IT systems.
- Ransomware: Ransomware has emerged as one of the leading malware threats to companies of all sizes. If an endpoint becomes infected with ransomware, the malware may steal and exfiltrate sensitive data before encrypting the files and holding them for ransom.
- Infostealers: Endpoints are the systems that employees use to gain access to other corporate systems. If an attacker or malware on an endpoint can collect authentication information, they can use this data to expand their access to corporate systems.
- Data Breaches: Corporate endpoints commonly contain or have access to a great deal of sensitive information, including corporate and customer data. An attacker can collect and exfiltrate this information from an infected endpoint for use in additional attacks, fraud, or extortion.
These are some of the leading threats that enterprises face, but they are not a comprehensive list. The scale of enterprise networks and the value of the data that they hold makes them a prime target for cyberattacks. As a result, advanced persistent threats (APTs) and other sophisticated threat actors make enterprises the main focus of their attacks.
What are the Main Components of an Enterprise Endpoint Security Solution?
An enterprise endpoint security solution should provide comprehensive protection for an organization’s endpoints. This means that the solution should offer protections for a wide variety of endpoints and attack vectors and enable security teams to scale to protect sprawling IT architectures.
An effective enterprise endpoint security architecture includes the capabilities of a variety of endpoint security solutions. Some of the main components of an enterprise endpoint security system include the following:
- Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP): An EPP is designed to offer preventative protection against common endpoint security threats, such as file-based and fileless malware. EPP is the first line of defense, blocking threats before they reach the endpoint and reducing an enterprise’s cyber risk exposure.
- Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR): EDR is a proactive approach to endpoint security by enhancing endpoint visibility and supporting threat detection and response and threat hunting operations. EDR solutions help enterprises to address threats at scale by allowing automated remediation of threats based on playbooks and predefined rules.
- Unified Endpoint Management (UEM): As their name suggests, UEM solutions unify the management of all organization’s endpoints, expanding on the functionality provided by mobile device management (MDM) solutions to include other systems as well. UEM is essential to managing endpoint security at scale, especially with the growth of remote work policies.
- Privileged Access Management (PAM): Accounts with elevated privileges pose a significant threat to an organization’s systems and data if compromised or misused. PAM solutions help to limit this risk by enforcing least privilege and monitoring the use of highly privileged accounts.
- Antivirus (AV): Malware is one of the main endpoint security threats that enterprises face. AVs can identify and block attempts by malware to infect systems and can identify and remediate existing malware infections.
Enterprise Endpoint Security with Check Point
Enterprises face unique security challenges. The sheer scale and diversity of an enterprise network dramatically increase the complexity of monitoring and securing it. At the same time, enterprises are also a prime target for APTs who have access to sophisticated tools and techniques.
Integration is essential to securing corporate endpoints at scale, and an enterprise endpoint security solution should coordinate with the rest of an organization’s security architecture. Check Point Harmony Endpoint provides enterprise security capable of protecting companies of any size.
To learn more about what to look for in an enterprise endpoint security solution, check out this buyer’s guide to endpoint security. Then, find out how Harmony Endpoint can meet your organization’s endpoint security needs by signing up for a free demo.
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