Organizations are rapidly adopting endpoint detection and response software to address the challenge and strengthen their overall network infrastructure security.
Why?
In large part because endpoints are used by the weakest link in the cybersecurity chain (humans!) and therefore create business risk.
Endpoint devices typically have internet access, can reach sensitive internal data, and are primarily used by people who aren’t cybersecurity professionals. All this adds up to make endpoints a valuable target for threat actors and helps explain why a Ponemon Institute study indicated 68% of organizations fell victim to an endpoint attack that compromised data or infrastructure.
Endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools help organizations fortify the weak link in the cybersecurity chain by detecting, containing, and analyzing endpoint threats. This article will explore EDR in detail, including how EDR software works, key EDR capabilities, and what organizations should look for in an EDR solution.
What is endpoint detection and response (EDR)?
EDR is the set of practices and technologies that detect and remediate endpoint (smartphone, server, laptop, etc.) threats like malware and ransomware. EDR is intended to detect and contain advanced threats that are missed by security tooling such as network firewalls, secure web gateways, antivirus and unified threat management (UTM) appliances.
EDR is often compared to endpoint protection platforms (EPPs). If you’re researching EPP and EDR for the first time, you may notice that different vendors use the terms differently. This is typically due to varying marketing positioning from specific tool and platform vendors.
A simple way to think about the difference between EDR and EPP is:
- EDR focuses on breaches that have already occurred
- EPP focuses on preventing breaches from occurring
No antivirus or EPP is perfect and endpoint security is a game of cat and mouse where threat actors come up with clever techniques to evade known prevention techniques. EDR helps organizations add an extra layer of defense to account for that reality and address endpoint breaches before they do more damage.
EDR and EPP are best used together to provide robust endpoint protection.
What is endpoint detection and response software?
Endpoint detection and response software is the category of software programs that implement EDR capabilities. EDR agents run on endpoints and provide threat hunting, detection, analysis, and containment of endpoint threats. Typically, these agents will be monitored and managed by a centralized platform that enables reporting and visibility for administrators.
Endpoint detection and response software goes beyond traditional signature-based detection and provides intelligent threat detection and real-time analysis. In the sections below, we’ll unpack some of the key features and capabilities of EDR.
Organizations can deploy and manage EDR software themselves or outsource EDR administration to a third party with managed endpoint detection and response. Typically, an MSP or EDR vendor will provide managed EDR services.
Main capabilities of EDR
While specific functions and implementations vary from vendor to vendor, the main capabilities of EDR software are summarized in the table below.
| EDR Capability | Description |
| Continuous endpoint activity monitoring | An EDR agent runs on an endpoint (e.g., laptop, PC, smartphone, etc.) and monitors system activity to build baselines and act as inputs for threat detection. |
| Threat detection | The EDR agent uses heuristics, signatures, and artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) capabilities to detect anomalies and potentially malicious behavior. |
| Threat containment | EDR software can contain and quarantine potentially malicious programs or isolate malware-infected endpoints from the network. |
| Corrective action | EDR software may be able to rollback changes made by malware. |
| Threat analysis | EDR threat analysis provides detailed information such as incident timelines, root cause, and threat behavior. |
| Alerting | Alerts and notifications can be sent to EDR users and administrators. |
| Reporting | Centralized reports and visualizations provide administrators details on EDR agents, threats, activity, compliance, and other security posture-related information. |
| Central management and monitoring | EDR administrators can manage and monitor EDR agents from a centralized portal. |
| Integrations | EDR tools often integrate with third-party tools such as security incident and event management (SIEM) platforms. |
How does EDR software work?
Now that we understand the capabilities of EDR software, understanding how it works should be a bit more intuitive.
Let’s walk through a specific example of how EDR software works end-to-end using a malware-infected Windows PC scenario.
- EDR agent installation: Before the malware infection, a systems administrator used a group policy to install an EDR agent on all their Windows endpoints.
- Continuous monitoring: Post-install, the EDR agent began collecting data on system activity such as network traffic, file changes, and registry modifications.
- Malware infection: A Windows endpoint user fell victim to a phishing scam and downloaded a malicious program. The sophisticated program sat dormant for several days and was not flagged as malware by the antivirus program running on the machine.
- Malicious activity: The malware takes its first malicious action by modifying a Windows registry file.
- Threat detection: The EDR agent’s AI/ML algorithms detect the malicious registry modification as an anomaly and kick off containment, alerting, and analysis workflows. An alert is raised in the central management platform and an email is sent to an administrator.
- Threat containment: The endpoint detection and response software quarantines the malware program to prevent further spread or system modification. Depending on the policies and tool, the EDR software may disconnect the Windows endpoint from the network.
- Recovery actions: The EDR software reverses the changes made by the malware to restore the Windows registry to a pre-attack state. Administrators are provided with additional recommendations to restore the system (e.g., restoring from a pre-breach backup).
- Analysis: The EDR software provides a timeline of events including when the registry was changed, details on the malware, and containment activities.
- Reporting: The incident is added to a report in the EDR management portal where administrators can drill down into details to learn more about the incident.
Why is EDR software important?
EDR software helps organizations add a strong last line of defense for an oft-exploited attack surface. While it isn’t a cybersecurity silver bullet (spoiler alert: nothing is), EDR addresses several key business risks and cybersecurity use cases.
EDR software improves security posture
Signature-based prevention and detection isn’t sufficient for protecting endpoints from sophisticated malware and threat actors. Malicious programs often make it past traditional security solutions and have dwell times measured in weeks or months.
Endpoint detection and response software increases your chances of containing sophisticated threats and stopping malware from spreading.
Endpoint detection and response software drives enhanced endpoint visibility
Balancing user productivity and endpoint security is challenging. Like effective SaaS management, effective EDR software can help organizations improve visibility and security posture without wrecking end user productivity. Centralized EDR monitoring and management provides organizations with detailed reports and status information on EDR agents and the systems they are installed on.
EDR supports compliance initiatives
Many regulatory requirements and cybersecurity frameworks require endpoint monitoring, logging, and reporting. EDR continuous monitoring and logging capabilities can directly support compliance initiatives.
Additionally, EDR agents can be configured to enforce specific compliance-driven policies that keep endpoints secure and reduce business risk.
Managed EDR software can drive revenue for MSPs
Many modern managed service providers (MSPs) have recognized that cybersecurity is an essential aspect of modern business and improving their status as their clients’ trusted advisor for all things IT. EDR software hits the sweet spot of solving real business problems and providing MSPs with an opportunity to upsell existing clients on a managed EDR solution.
4 things to look for in endpoint detection and response software
The EDR software market is growing rapidly and solutions from different vendors can vary in their capabilities and intended use cases. There’s rarely a one-size-fits-all answer for cybersecurity, but there are several key criteria to consider when evaluating EDR solutions.
Below we’ll explore X things you should look for when selecting an EDR.
1. Threat detection capabilities
Finding and containing the endpoint threats other tools miss is the fundamental benefit of an EDR. A quality EDR solution should implement techniques that support robust detection and continuous security monitoring.
Examples include:
- Real time monitoring of system activities including file changes, network activity, and Windows registry modifications
- Signature-based detection to detect well-known threats
- Behavioral analysis to detect anomalies likely to occur with zero-day exploits, fileless malware, insider threats, and sophisticated attacks.
- ML/AI to reduce false positives and adapt as baselines and attacker techniques change
2. Containment and remediation
Detecting a breach is one thing, but stopping the spread and remediating the issue is another.
Look for EDRs that provide strong remediation capabilities such as:
- Malware quarantine: Isolating malicious programs in a sandboxed environment where they cannot damage the system.
- Network isolation: Disconnecting infected systems to reduce the risk of a compromise spreading to other endpoints.
- Process termination: Ending potentially malicious or compromised processes.
- Rollback support: Reverting system and file changes to a previously “good” state.
3. Centralized management
Even small IT organizations and MSPs typically have hundreds of endpoint assets. A centralized management portal helps streamline configuration, monitoring, and reporting related to endpoint security. As you evaluate EDR platforms, ensure that the management capabilities make it operationally reasonable to deploy and scale.
4. Integrations
Integrations with the rest of your cybersecurity stack can improve visibility and enable automated workflows. Organizations should consider end-to-end processes, logging, and reporting requirements as they select their endpoint detection and response software. EDR that can integrate with SIEM platforms and other security tools can help reduce data silos and streamline operations.
For more advanced integrations and custom workflows, look for EDR platforms that provide a robust management API (application programming interface).
Final thoughts
Endpoint detection and response software helps organizations mitigate business risk and reduce the damage when a breach occurs. As the EDR market matures, we are likely to see increased detection and containment capabilities and MSPs incorporating managed EDR offerings into their portfolios.
If you enjoyed this article and want to learn more about the world of IT, check out other articles in our FranklyIT blog!
