Why Maintenance of Endpoint Security is an Integral Practice For Keeping Your Company’s Assets Safe

What is endpoint security?   

Firstly, an endpoint is simply a location from where data can be attained. These locations can be devices such as computers, working devices, tablets, laptops, printers, ATM machines, medical devices, smartphones, and smart watches.  

Endpoint security is the method of ensuring that endpoints or entry points are secure to prevent end-user devices from becoming maliciously exploited. To run these platforms, a security software needs to be installed into a centrally managed server, with client software being installed on to each associated endpoint device. Typically, protection format takes the method of cloud-based endpoint protection which is referred to as on-premises solution.  

Previously, endpoint security was provided in the form of a traditional software however in recent times, this has evolved to administration of protection against sophisticated malware and advanced zero-day threat.  Often regarded as the frontline in cybersecurity, endpoint security is one of the initial programs businesses should install to protect their networks.  

Why is endpoint security valuable for your business?   

An endpoint security software is an integral part of your business’s cybersecurity for a variety of reasons.  

For businesses, data is regarded as the most critical asset a company has and to lose access to that data or to outright loose the data could greatly impact the adequacy of the business. With a growing need to connect to an increasing number of endpoints, assuring endpoint security for business related devices is becoming more and more challenging.        

More specifically, with the rise of remote working and BYOD (bring your own device), further vulnerabilities arise as a result of increased perimeter insecurity.   

The threat landscape is continuously evolving with hackers constantly forming new methods to gain unauthorised access, steal data or manipulate employees into providing them with data or access to the data. In addition to this, increased costs that will stem from addressing threats, damage to reputation and compliance violations further enforces the importance of endpoint security software to secure business assets. 

Services provided by endpoint security software 

Services that are typically provided by endpoint security software include the following:  

• Zero-day threat detection near real time.  
• Advanced detection and protection against malware across various endpoint devices and operating systems.  
• Web security and safe browsing.  
• Data loss prevention and data classification.  
• Firewall to prevent network attacks. 
• Email protection to block phishing and social engineering efforts targeted to employees. 
• Enabling administrators to detect and isolate infections. 
• Safeguarding against insider threats for example, unintentional actions that can have great consequences on the security of the business network. 
• Improved and simplified operations offered by centralised endpoint management software. 
• Endpoint, email, and disk encryption.   

Difference between business endpoint protection and consumer endpoint protection  

Endpoint security software catered towards businesses security offer: 

• Improved management of multiple endpoints. 
• Central management software. 
• Remote administration. 
• Remote configuration of endpoint protection for devices.  
• Distributes patches to associated endpoints. 
• Mandatory modified permissions. 
• Monitoring of employee activities and devices. 

Endpoint security software designed for consumer usage including the following: 

• Offers management capabilities for a small number of endpoints. 
• Individual installation and configuration of endpoints. 
• Lack of need for remote management. 
• Automatic updates for each associated device. 
• Usage based on granted administrative permissions. 
• Activity restricted to the individual user. 

Endpoint protection platforms vs traditional anti-virus software  

Differences between endpoint protection platforms and traditional antivirus software include the following: 

• Traditional anti-virus software are programmed to secure a single endpoint however endpoint security software can be used to oversee an organisation’s network and all connections of given endpoints from a single location.  
• Traditional anti-virus platforms may sometimes need the user to manually update the data bases or manually set a time to install updates however endpoint platforms provide interconnected security. 
• Traditional antivirus software tends to use its trademark cybersecurity threat detection to identify threats and viruses and therefore, if your employees have failed to make recent updates to their system, risks are still prevalent. In contrast, EPP software automatically keep up to date.   

What Securiwiser can help you with 

We aim to provide our clients advice concerning implementation of various specific cyber security methods, some of which will be more suitable than others depending on the business type to help ensure the cyber health of our client’s system.  

We advise our clients (whether they are individual users or business owners) regarding various cyber threats that their businesses and operating systems may face. This includes increasing trends of certain threats and prevention methods that are cost effective and time saving.   

Furthermore, business owners, employees and the general users may forget to conduct regular scans to monitor the health of their operating system, which criminals can take advantage of to gain unauthorised access by exploiting unrecognised, underlying vulnerabilities.  

Securiwiser can conduct regular scans for your system and provide a detailed cybersecurity risk assessment and a cybersecurity vulnerability assessment. We can further explain detected vulnerabilities and risks in detail to our clients and provide the best course of action that will save your business time and money.