What Managed EDR Can Do for Your Data Security That Anti-Virus Cannot

Wait, is antivirus not enough? For decades, small and medium-sized businesses relied on commercially available anti-virus software to protect their company data. Install the antivirus solution and all the latest software updates and train your employees to check the email addresses and not click on suspicious links, right? 

We wish. For decades, antivirus solutions have protected corporate data by identifying signatures of cyber threats (think of this as a digital fingerprint of a piece of software) and acting as a shield against bits of code carrying those signatures. Unfortunately, cybercriminals have had plenty of time to crack antivirus strategies and have been hard at work coming up with new patterns of attacks. Now, they develop threats and patterns of attack that don’t use detectable signatures and can slip through the cracks in the antivirus’s “attention.” 

The time when the majority of small and medium-sized businesses transitioned to remote work and most of the data migrated to the cloud for easy access and collaboration is the time to be hypervigilant about security. Globally, the number of cyberattacks has risen sixfold since the beginning of the pandemic, with hacking and phishing attempts rising 37% month-on-month since February 2020. And if that wasn’t enough, most companies take up to 6 months to detect data breaches.   

Some of the most elaborate attacks pose far more sophisticated risks than before. Among them are:

• Weaponized documents that arrive as email attachments and don’t even require to be opened to do harm; 
• Fileless threats that don’t require a download but can execute from memory;
• Zero-day threats that immediately attack an unknowns system vulnerability before providers can issue a patch; 
• Next level ransomware attacks that sneak into the system, disable it, and threaten sensitive data until the ransom (usually starting at $1,000 and going up into infinity) is paid, and more.

So, which solution, if not the familiar antivirus, can help combat the flood? 

MANAGED ENDPOINT DETECTION AND RESPONSE

Enter Managed Endpoint Detection and Response (Managed EDR for short). EDR is an emerging technology closely related to the Advanced Threat Protection, that addresses the need for continuous monitoring and response to advanced threats.

There several key difference between a traditional anti-virus and an EDR: 

• EDRs ensure continuous real-time monitoring of all systems (leveraging artificial intelligence) and provide visibility into the systems’ status at any moment. Most antiviruses rely on daily or weekly scans, increasing the probability of attacks.   
• EDRs proactively prevent threats the moment they are detected and throughout the life of the attack, eliminating the change of new threats slipping in. Most antivirus solutions fly blind during execution, creating an entry-point for new threats.
• EDRs, unlike most antivirus solutions, help deflect ransomware attacks by rolling back devices to their pre-infection state. 
• EDRs have advanced filtering capabilities, protecting users from the flood of false positives that may disrupt the workflow. 
• EDRs, unlike most antivirus solutions, don’t slow down devices. 
• On top of this, quality EDRs are created to handle multiple types of threats and multiple attacks simultaneously, further minimizing damage to data. 

EDRs can be safely set up and managed externally by an experienced Managed Service Provider (MSP) like 3nom. Small and medium-sized businesses who choose to work with an MSP on their cybersecurity not only save money by eliminating the need to in-house cybersecurity specialists and instead, having predictable monthly costs. They also employ a full team of experts available 24/7 to monitor and respond to any threats, and all the storage space to combat cyberattacks quickly and efficiently. 

Ready to augment your company’s data security with Managed End Detection and Response (EDR)? Give 3nom a call today to get started.