As workforces and information systems have become more distributed over the past decade, they have become substantially more complex.
Teams now operate with an unparalleled level of productivity, easily collaborating across cloud and hybrid environments with minimal operational overhead. However, the catch is that this introduces a large and changing attack surface for CISOs to manage.
Endpoint security is not a single solution to be implemented once. Instead, it is an ever-evolving ecosystem, encompassing anything that can connect to your network, including:
- Employee computers
- Mobile devices
- IoT devices
- Servers
- Cloud services
As organizations navigate this landscape with endpoint security, there are five must-have elements they should include in their strategy. These aren’t a particular technology or tooling, but rather processes and approaches that can help teams stay on top of the threat landscape.
Behavioral Analytics
Behavioral analytics is the practice of analyzing user behavior to detect anomalies that could indicate malicious or unauthorized activity.
One example of unusual behavior that could indicate malicious or unauthorized activity is when a user begins to access systems or data that they normally would not. Another example is when a user suddenly starts working at odd hours or from different locations.
Any sudden change in behavior can be a sign that something is amiss and should be investigated.
Completeness of Attack Detection/Threat Detection
Completeness of attack detection, also known as threat detection, means having visibility into all the endpoint activity in your organization in order to identify and stop attacks quickly.
This includes not only identifying malicious activity but also understanding the context surrounding the activity. For example, if a user’s computer is trying to connect to an IP address that is known to be associated with bad actors, that’s a red flag.
Threat detection is a vital endpoint security measure because it can help you not only identify attacks as they’re happening but also understand the attack surface of your organization and take steps to reduce them.
Prioritization of Threats
With the vast amount of data collected by endpoint protection systems, it can be difficult to prioritize which threats are most important and need to be addressed first.
This is where threat intelligence comes in. Threat intelligence is information about threat actors, their tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs), and the vulnerabilities they exploit. This information can help you prioritize which threats are most likely to target your organization and which ones you need to be most concerned about.
Response Capabilities
Once a threat has been identified, you need to be able to quickly and effectively respond to it. This means having the right tools and processes in place to contain the threat, identify and mitigate any damage, and restore normal operations.
It also means having an incident response plan that everyone in your organization knows about and knows how to follow. This plan should be regularly tested and updated as needed.
Device Controls
Device controls are an important part of endpoint security. They help you limit what devices can connect to your network and what they can do once they’re connected.
For example, you might want to allow only certain types of devices to connect to your corporate network or require that all devices have a certain level of security before they’re allowed to connect.
Using combinations of role-based and account-based access control, teams can also limit what users can do with their devices once they’re connected. For example, preventing a junior employee from accessing a database of material financial data.
Device controls help limit the risk posed by devices and ensure that your organization follows the principle of least privilege, in that users have access to resources needed to complete their jobs, and nothing more.
Reach Out to Sanity Solutions About Your Endpoint Security Strategy
With workforce information systems becoming increasingly more complex, it’s important to build a endpoint security strategy that is scalable as the ecosystem evolves. At Sanity Solutions, we understand it can be difficult to know what to include and how to implement these types of strategies. Contact us today to learn more endpoint security strategy.
