If you believe user training, password managers, and spam filters are the key to preventing cybersecurity attacks on your infrastructure, think again! While these measures are undeniably necessary, excellent security starts at the endpoint! So, why is the case?

As the gateway to your enterprise, endpoints are clearly an IT asset that needs to be monitored, secured, and protected. If compromised, they can serve as entry points for malicious actors, potentially leading to data breaches, operational disruptions, and financial losses. So, hardening devices is a strategic component to reducing your attack surface. Given the increasing velocity of cyberattacks and the innovations those attacks, such as the growing zero-day vulnerabilities, ensuring robust endpoint security measures is no longer optional—it’s a necessity.

No matter how innovations change the way organizations operate, devices are critical tools for business and often represent the front lines for cybersecurity. This includes servers, desktops, laptops, mobile devices, IoT gadgets, and more.

With cyber threats becoming increasingly sophisticated, securing these endpoints is paramount. For IT and Security professionals, understanding the complexity and importance of endpoint security is crucial for safeguarding organizational data and maintaining operational integrity.

During the 2024 RSA Conference, Kevin Mandia, CEO of Mandiant, Google Cloud, shared that they have seen an acceleration of innovation on offensive cyber-attacks. Namely, the increasing identification and exploitation of zero days. “It used to be 10 to 15 zero days a year were found…Now, you’re looking at…97 zero days” found in the wild over the last year, which affected more than 30 vendors. Mandia goes on to highlight that the primary way malicious actors got into an enterprise was via an exploit.

This was echoed in a presentation at the 2024 Gartner Security & Risk Management (“How to Apply Zero Trust to Strengthen Endpoint Security”), Gartner analyst Chris Silva noted that Gartner believes that “more than 60% of attacks…will come back to a device that’s misconfigured…”

Proper endpoint security and management can significantly enhance configuration management by ensuring that all devices adhere to organizational security policies and baseline configurations.

Ensuring endpoints are configured securely – and monitoring endpoints to ensure they stay properly configured – can prevent unauthorized access and reduce the risk of lateral movement if attackers do get inside your network.

Maintaining secure endpoint configuration has an added bonus – it allows IT and SecOps teams to achieve and sustain regulatory compliance. For some organizations regulatory compliance is a necessity, but those with reduced regulatory obligations can reap the benefits of improved resilience, smoother cybersecurity procurement and increased appeal to customers looking for suppliers that actively use best-practice measures.

Effective device management is crucial for maintaining security, productivity, and operational efficiency across an organization’s digital ecosystem. Whether dealing with smartphones, laptops, or IoT devices, a comprehensive solution should ensure seamless administration, robust security, and streamlined updates. Secure device management policies must balance endpoint security with user experience to reduce risk without impacting productivity. Being able to manage devices regardless of their location is now a critical capability with widespread post-pandemic continuation of remote working practices.

Continuous vulnerability scanning can help identify weaknesses in your endpoint security posture quickly – hopefully before an attacker finds the vulnerability and exploits it.

Advanced tools can scan all your endpoints for known vulnerabilities in real-time, providing you with a clear, detailed report of your endpoint risks.

This is typically achieved using micro-agent that has a two-way connection with the endpoint to enable it to query and return status and health information with real-time data. This helps security teams to understand exactly what vulnerabilities may be present and be confident in that data.

Not all vulnerabilities pose the same level of risk. By prioritizing vulnerabilities based on their severity and potential impact, IT teams can allocate resources more effectively.

This prioritization should include additional context beyond the CVSS score, as this doesn’t take factors like the number of devices affected or how likely it is that a vulnerability will be exploited by threat actors. IT and Security Operations teams should, at a minimum, include the breadth and depth of that vulnerability across the enterprise as a part of the risk prioritization methodology. For example, if a high-severity vulnerability is only present on 5 endpoints versus a medium-severity vulnerability that is present on 1,000 endpoints across your organization, those risks and the remediation efforts needed for them are very different. This kind of contextual prioritization ensures that the most critical vulnerabilities to your organization are addressed promptly.

Ensuring fast and thorough vulnerability remediation is essential for mitigating risks. Automated remediation tools can not only apply patches and updates promptly, but also enable IT teams to update configurations and apply new security policies to endpoints. This reduces the window of opportunity for attackers.

Implementing an endpoint security strategy may seem daunting, especially as there is a wide variety of tools, systems, and platform to choose from. Forward thinking organizations are constantly evaluating their stack to determine whether their tools remain fit for purpose. Threat actors can exploit vulnerabilities at alarming speeds, helped by artificial intelligence and automation capabilities. Teams looking to future-proof their defensive capabilities value two key attributes above others when it comes to taking a proactive approach. A recent Omdia research report, commissioned by Syxsense identified automation and integration as stand out requirements for endpoint security tools. By automating activities like patching and vulnerability remediation, security teams can free up valuable resources to focus on demanding tasks like threat hunting and investigations.

When it comes to integration, a variety of approaches are available. Some organizations solve this problem by adopting a platform deployment tactic and there are benefits to using a single vendor approach, but these should also be weighed against having a theoretical single point of failure and inevitable compromises that arise from a vendor being “jack of all trades”. At the other end of the scale, “tool sprawl” has obvious drawbacks when it comes to cost, onboarding, training, and ongoing management resource requirements. Even the best security solution is only as good as it’s plumbing. So, ready-made integrations and open APIs are essential.  Once you have decided how to go about building or upgrading your stack there are several key solution components that should feature in your requirements.

Understanding how different endpoint protection tools contribute to security can help you decide which components to prioritize as part of your endpoint security stack. Of course, vendors rarely stick to one specific function, so you may end up with solutions that overlap. In some cases, this isn’t a bad thing. For example, in the same way that some organizations use more than one anti-virus scanner, they may proactively choose to deploy more than endpoint vulnerability scanning tool. Any stack, however, should contain patch management and vulnerability scanning components as an absolute minimum.

Patch management is a critical process in IT and security operations. It involves identifying, acquiring, installing, and verifying software patches to keep systems up-to-date. By addressing vulnerabilities and applying security fixes, patch management helps mitigate cyber risks and maintain system integrity. It’s an ongoing cycle of monitoring, evaluating, and applying updates to secure IT environments.

Endpoint vulnerability management tools continuously scan, identify, assess, and remediate vulnerabilities across endpoints. They help security teams stay ahead of cyber threats by detecting weaknesses, prioritizing them based on risk, and promptly applying patches or remediation measures. Ideally, you should consider a specialist tool in this area that supports all the devices your business uses. Having separate solutions for Windows, Linux or mobile devices can increase workload and complicate vulnerability prioritization.

Endpoint protection tools are designed to safeguard endpoints from specific types of threats. It combines features like antivirus, anti-malware, firewall, and intrusion prevention to detect, prevent, and remediate security risks. It helps organizations secure their network by protecting individual devices against malicious software and unauthorized access.

Unified Endpoint Management solutions help organizations to monitor and manage fixed and mobile devices like PCs, laptops, servers, and mobiles from a single interface. UEM enables security and IT operations teams to work from a single platform, replacing traditional, siloed (MDM, EMM, and CMT tools). Another advantage of UEM over legacy tools is that IT and security teams can unify policies and processes across all devices and locations.

EDR solutions perform three main functions. Firstly, they analyze endpoint data in real-time to detect traces of suspicious behavior. They compare activity patterns to an Indicator of Attack (IOA) library, the EDR tool identifies it as malicious and sends an automatic detection alert. Secondly, they combine with threat intelligence solutions to produce contextualized information, including details about adversaries and known attack tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs). Finally, EDR tools empower threat hunters to proactively seek out and investigate threat activity within your environment. When they discover a threat, they collaborate with your team to triage, investigate, and remediate incidents before they escalate.

An Extended Detection and Response (XDR) solution integrates threat detection, investigation, and response across an organization’s entire digital environment. As the name suggests, XDR solutions are focused purely on endpoint security, but they do integrate with other endpoint security tools.  It collects and correlates security data from various sources—endpoints, networks, cloud services, and applications—to provide a unified view of potential threats. By analyzing this data, XDR identifies suspicious activities, alerts security teams, and support incident response as well as managing and mitigating security risks.

With the breakthroughs in AI and other tech innovations, it may seem like endpoints are a relic of the past. But the truth is endpoints will always be a tool for businesses. However, the future of endpoint security is being shaped by these emerging technologies and innovative approaches. Here are three major trends to watch:

Autonomous endpoint management (AEM) leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of unified endpoint management tools and improve endpoint security. According to Gartner, AEM will replace “traditional tools and architectures with lightweight, cloud-based, intelligence-powered capabilities. AEM supports agile approaches, reduces IT overhead and enables efforts to be redirected toward employee enablement and business-value-added work.”

These technologies can predict potential threats, automate routine tasks, and provide proactive responses to security incidents. Autonomous systems can analyze vast amounts of data at speeds far beyond human capability, identifying patterns and anomalies that may indicate a security breach. By integrating AI and ML into endpoint management solutions, organizations can reduce the workload on IT and security teams while improving their overall security posture.

With the rise of remote work and cloud computing, traditional perimeter security approaches by themselves are no longer enough to protect enterprises. “Zero Trust” is an approach that assumes no device or user can be trusted by default.

Foundationally, zero trust strategies focus on identities and access to data. But this approach misses the pressing need for zero trust to be applied to endpoints and devices, as well. As noted in a recent session at the 2024 Gartner Security and Risk Management Summit, “How to Apply Zero Trust to Strengthen Endpoint Security,” “a secure endpoint is the “key”” to dynamically monitor and change access and other security components.

Responding quickly to threats and adapting to new types of attack requires sophisticated automation. There are three areas which have seen significant evolution when it comes to automation. The first is automated scanning and remediation: this includes continuous endpoint scanning for vulnerabilities and deploying pre-built remediation playbooks to address issues automatically. This minimizes exposure time and ensures timely patching. The second area is real-time monitoring: by maintaining a live connection to endpoints, threats are detected and responded to instantly. Unlike periodic polling, this approach leaves no security gaps. Finally, IT security coordination has also so seen significant change: bridging the gap between IT operations and security to automate routine tasks like patch management, configuration compliance, and software distribution. This ensures all aspects of endpoint management are covered seamlessly.

Examining practical applications of endpoint security measures can provide valuable insights into their effectiveness. Here are three case studies highlighting how organizations such as EECO, Georgia State Treasurer, and Iron Road have successfully implemented robust endpoint security strategies.

The Office of the Georgia State Treasurer handles vast amounts of financial data, making endpoint security a top priority. They faced challenges related to securing various devices used by employees across different locations.

To address this, they deployed a Unified Endpoint Management solution that provided centralized control and monitoring of all endpoints. By leveraging Syxsense for automated vulnerability assessments and timely patch management, the office enhanced its ability to respond quickly to potential threats. This proactive approach not only strengthened their security infrastructure but also ensured compliance with financial regulations.

Electrical Equipment Company (EECO) is an industrial automation and electrical supply company operating across multiple states. Due to the nature of their business, EECO deals with sensitive manufacturing data and industrial control systems that are prime targets for cyberattacks.

By implementing a comprehensive endpoint management and security solution that includes regular patching, secure configurations, and effective device management, EECO significantly reduced their vulnerability exposure.

Utilizing autonomous endpoint management tools, including automated patching and real-time monitoring, EECO improved their endpoint security posture and minimized downtime due to cyber threats.

Iron Road, a leading provider of human resources and employee benefits services to healthcare organizations, handles confidential personal and financial data for numerous clients.

Recognizing the critical need for robust endpoint security, they adopted a multi-layered approach to endpoint management. Iron Road utilized Syxsense to perform regular vulnerability assessments and prioritized remediation based on the potential impact of identified risks. The centralized management platform enabled them to maintain secure configurations and enforce the least privilege principle across all endpoints. As a result, Iron Road successfully mitigated security risks and protected their clients’ sensitive information.

Endpoint security is a critical aspect of an organization’s cybersecurity strategy. Implementing best practices for managing endpoints and remediating vulnerabilities can significantly reduce risks and enhance overall security posture.

As our case studies illustrate, a proactive and comprehensive approach to endpoint security and management should be a critical component of any security and IT management strategy.

Investing in robust endpoint security solutions is imperative. By implementing best practices and leveraging advanced tools, organizations can significantly enhance their security posture and safeguard against increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. Such solutions, like Syxsense, offer comprehensive features to manage, monitor, configure, and secure endpoints effectively.

Are you ready to transform your endpoint security strategy? Explore the powerful capabilities of Syxsense today and take the first step towards a more secure future. Contact us for a personalized demo and see how we can help you achieve your security goals.