Why Endpoint Detection and Response is Crucial for Small Business Security?
Do you know there had been more than 12000 new ransomware attacks in the first half of 2023 alone? Yes, you heard it right! As the threat is continuously increasing in this fast-tech world, small businesses and organizations are more vulnerable to being prey. In reality, no organization in the world is safe from cyber attacks, as more new cyber attacks are breaking the internet. But, the question arises that how small businesses tackle these security issues and how they can protect their system from cyber attacks.
The answer to this threat is using high-end security measures that can protect small enterprises from cyber threats. However, these high-end security measures are costly and are not affordable for small enterprises. Such companies should look at smart end-point detection solutions that offer a robust incident management portal that helps small businesses to efficiently prevent any cyber-attacks. Not investing in smart security solutions will keep small organizations on the verge of cyber attacks.
The Heat is on
The attackers are innovating new & improved methods to hack the data and the computers that not only impact small organizations but also many large organizations. They are using casual tools and techniques including malware as a service and ransomware as a service to hack even some of the big organizations.
The actual cost of the breaches is double the amount of what small businesses make in one year. That are severe consequences that small businesses have to face if they fall upon one cyber attack.
Unfortunately, a poll released some insights about small business owners. It revealed that they are least concerned about deploying any of the security measures. Over 61% of business owners ain’t worried about the possibility of being a target of cyber attack. Only four percent were concerned about their company’s data and ready to take endpoint detection and response. In reality, the fact is small business owners should invest in high-end security measures to be more prepared than ever before in this world of evolving cyber-attacks.
Closing the gap
Due to the ‘it won’t happen to us’ attitude small businesses have become a soft target for attackers. They don’t have sufficient solutions to safeguard themselves, thus ending up losing their important data. Investing your money into endpoint detection and response will help small businesses to prevent themselves from prevailing cyber threats.
What is EDR?
Data breaches are discovered on average after 197 days, and organizations frequently get notified by law enforcement or cardholder merchant services rather than discovering the breach themselves. Reduced data breach expenses and brand reputation protection can be achieved by cutting down on the “dwell time” that attackers spend within an organization. Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) solutions, according to Gartner Research, are those that track and store endpoint-system-level behaviors, employ a variety of data analytics techniques to identify suspicious system behavior, offer contextual data to thwart malicious activity and offer recommendations for corrective action to fix harmed systems. EDR typically has two product approaches: managed services or self-managed EDR software. EDR and anomaly detection are being used by businesses of all sizes and industries as a critical means of preventing, detecting, responding to, and predicting cybersecurity assaults. A 3x rise in EDR use is also predicted by Gartner Research until 2023.
What Are Considered Critical EDR Capabilities?
The EDR industry is still developing, and the features and offerings of providers and solutions vary greatly. However, these five fundamental skills are included in the majority of EDR solutions:
Rapid detection is crucial to prevent threats from materializing, from insights into developing endpoint assaults through root cause investigation and prevention of actual threats. Many small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) are aware of the need for increased security effectiveness, but they might not be familiar with all the alternatives available for advanced threat detection or know where to begin. Too frequently, overburdened IT teams choose to re-image a laptop without thoroughly examining the root cause and conducting a forensic examination of the breadth of the compromise. The outcome? A cycle of compromise that keeps happening as the enemy takes advantage of structural flaws in people, procedures, and technology to undermine corporate resilience.
What Drawbacks Do Traditional Anti-Virus Systems Have?
One conventional security measure that utilizes a constantly expanding library of signature-based identification is antivirus (AV) software. According to “Endpoint Protection and Response: a SANS Survey” from June 2018, attackers adapt to the shifting threat landscape by modifying and mutating their techniques and frequently reverse engineering anti-virus solutions to discover how to circumvent detection. SMBs are becoming more and more aware that anti-virus software has some significant limitations as more data breaches are coming to light. Some anti-virus restrictions are as follows:
Ineffective visibility: Traditional anti-virus software depends on signature-based detection, which misses evolving threats like zero-day assaults. Attackers are skilled at hiding their tracks; they frequently make small adjustments to malware to generate a new variation with a new hash value. EDR is capable of identifying previously unidentified dangers and defending against deliberate or unintentional insider risks that behavioral analysis has shown.
Limited understanding of attacker behavior: Since next-generation anti-virus and antivirus software concentrate on preventative methods rather than detection and investigation. EDR assists in identifying the “cybersecurity kill chain”—the path of compromise—and how the attacker penetrated the target organization. EDR also makes it possible to conduct forensic investigations, allowing you to track lateral movement inside your company and guarantee that all infected devices are found.
False feeling of security: Anti-virus software, long the cornerstone security instrument of every organization, has been less effective in recent years as the hacker economy has developed to monetize threats like ransomware and elude detection using a low-and-slow strategy. According to a SANS endpoint research study (5), conventional anti-virus only detects 47% of endpoint compromises. A lack of security expenditure may cause organizations to develop a false sense of security that leads to a risk gap.
Credential spoofing: Genuine username and password combinations for computer logins that have been hacked due to a data breach. These compromised logins are legitimate logins that function if passwords haven’t been changed. Hackers can access private networks and SMB supply chain partners of larger companies by using the roughly 1.4 billion stolen credentials that are available on the deep and dark web. EDR systems with behavioral analytics can identify attackers who log in at strange times or from nations where your organization does not operate, even while anti-virus programs cannot detect credential spoofing.
Conclusion
While anti-virus and next-gen anti-virus (NGAV) tools offer some level of protection, layered security defenses are needed to mitigate stealthy and mutating threats. Kepler Safe offers one such holistic approach to cyber security with endpoint detection and response (EDR) services. Organizations can accelerate cybersecurity effectiveness when integrating with our EDR services, all with a managed service and 24/7 security operations center (SOC). These three components, when properly integrated and managed, provide an SMB with powerful and efficient advanced threat protection.