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choosing cybersecurity vendor

In a crowded field, take these three steps to choose the right endpoint protection vendor

  • min read
    • Stay focused. It's the perennial advice you'll hear as you strengthen and grow any small- to medium-sized business (SMB.) Avoid getting distracted. Keep things simple. Do less, but do it better. What does this age-old wisdom mean for cybersecurity? With cyberattacks becoming more common and more costly, you might think you must give cybersecurity more of your time and effort. The answer may be both yes, and no. Choosing the right endpoint protection supplier can make your business life easier now and in future, as cybercriminals gets more imaginative and your business develops and grows. By endpoints, we mean any end of a digital communications connection, like servers, laptops and mobile devices. Endpoints need protecting with antivirus, anti-malware and a range of other protective solutions, but it needn't be complex. Many endpoint products now let you control it all from one place. Bulletproof endpoint protection should save you time and money – not just in avoiding the cost of a breach, but in ease of updates and patching, reducing pressure on your IT security team. Getting endpoint security that keeps its promises Before things get easier, you're faced with the choice of dozens of vendors. Kaspersky's Endpoint security vendor evaluation guide helps you get the right endpoint protection platform (EPP) for your business. The guide recommends a three-step approach to make sure you get the best solution for the type of business you run and your growth phase. 1.  Research market opinions and independent test results Any vendor can claim their product does what you need and does it well, but you need to get evidence to back it up. Take a long, hard look at what independent experts and customers write about the vendor's product and solutions. Rather than focusing on what the product can do, focus on how well those capacities perform. If you're interested in a vendor that performs poorly in some assessments, there may be a good reason. Look for information about why they might seem to underperform, including by asking the vendor or tester directly if needed. Customer reviews The gold standard of customer review evaluation is Gartner's peer insights customers' choice for endpoint protection platforms. It compiles and analyses user reviews to reach a rating for each vendor. You should also check the vendor's help forums where users describe product problems. Look out for how quickly the vendor resolves the bugs users report. Independent testing and review The most accurate way to verify the vendor's capabilities against current cyber-threats is through independent tests and reviews by respected security industry experts. Look for evidence of solid performance across many tests. Laboratories that test technology against known, unknown and advanced threats include SE Labs, AV-Test's awards (especially AV-Test advanced endpoint protection test) and ICSA Labs. Analytical agency conclusions Leading analytical agencies also rate vendors and give reasons, compiled by experts who know the sector. Gartner magic quadrant for endpoint protection platforms, the Forrester Wave for endpoint security suites and Radicati market quadrant for endpoint security are all well respected. 2. Make a security criteria list Defining your business's essential security needs will give you a more critical lens to examine the tests and reviews. When choosing a vendor, the most important thing is to judge the quality and capacity of their endpoint protection correctly. Global market intelligence provider IDC says 70 percent of cybersecurity breaches start at endpoints. IDC also concluded it's something of a keystone in your cybersecurity arch: Related security products like threat intelligence and endpoint detection and response rely on effective endpoint protection. See the Endpoint security vendor evaluation guide for a full checklist of what to look for in a vendor. 3. Get to know the vendor's overall profile Cybersecurity now affects many parts of your business – arguably all parts. Choosing a security vendor that has a wider range of security solutions available may give you a better return on investment as your needs change. Research what's noteworthy about the vendor. What's their image and reputation? What do they specialize in? How transparent are they? How much of their work is investment in research and development? This three-step approach will help you evaluate your endpoint security options with clarity in a confusing market. You'll come to understand exactly what your organization needs, what the experts (and everyday users) say about the solutions and the potential of vendors to deliver overall value. Your choice is important. At this stage in your business growth, effective cybersecurity will make all the difference to your ability to protect your customers and outshine the competition. Good luck.
switching cybersecurity questions

10 questions to find out if your endpoint security measures up

  • min read
    • The digital perimeter around businesses has changed a lot in the past decade, with cloud computing, bring-your-own-device (BYOD) and the internet of things (IoT,) to name but a few. For many, this has meant a radical rethink of their endpoint protection. Companies might do the same because they've outgrown their provider or lost trust when the protection has let them down. If you're thinking about changing your cybersecurity dance partner while you're in good company, it's important to think through your decision. And it's important to take stock and question if your current solution is going to be good enough to face oncoming threats. Kaspersky's white paper, Time to switch — updating endpoint security: Why now is the time to act, recommends you ask these questions. 1. What do independent test results say? If another vendor is claiming their product is better than what you've got, be sure to check whether their claims match up with what independent test labs find. These labs use cybersecurity experts to examine and evaluate features rigorously. Look at different labs' results carefully, because there are differences in the performance of different products. For example, AV-Test gave only one company's endpoint protection top marks in detecting fileless attacks. Look at the results of several tests and see which products consistently score near the top of the list. 2. Can your threat prevention cope with the most sophisticated attacks? With threats becoming ever more sophisticated by the day, products designed a decade back may not be able to cope with them. Endpoint protection that has a behavioral engine does the job. A behavioral engine detects fileless threats at the execution stage by analyzing execution patterns, spotting the fileless attack among a myriad of legitimate processes. It then isolates the threat and restores user data. It also blocks vulnerabilities to prevent this happening in the first place. 3. Is it giving you enough management flexibility? Older endpoint security technologies may not be designed for a heavily clouded IT sky. The cloud has led many companies to change how they do things, such as moving away from a centralized data center view of the world. They find it saves money and is more flexible. Security tools should be able to control new attack vectors that come with infrastructure change as well as the old ones. No company wants to get lost in a forest of different management tools. Your solution should handle it all – cloud and on-premise – equally well from a central console, also known as a 'single pane of glass.' 4. Does it support remote work? The lockdowns around the world that followed the COVID-19 pandemic showed employees must be able to work from home, among other places. Corporate networks need to be secure and resistant to attack from outside, but by definition, remote workers are outside that network. Existing software may not be able to handle it. For secure remote working, your endpoint protection platform must be able to secure endpoints remotely. This is especially challenging when employees are using older operating systems. 5. Got automation? Reducing human interaction gives your organization a boost in controlling unwanted activity. This is particularly true when using cloud because allocating workload becomes more complex. There are modern security systems geared for this, often using artificial intelligence (AI.) AI-driven tools like Adaptive Anomaly Control bring automation to the task of sorting legitimate from nefarious activity, and constantly improves with machine learning. Businesses find these kinds of tools can significantly reduce staffing costs and related overheads. 6. Can it meet specialized needs? On top of fileless attack protection, endpoint security most often comes unstuck on desktop firewall, ransomware protection and anti-exploit technology. As an example of why this matters, ransomware is a growing threat facing all organizations. To be effective, the software must protect not only impacted files, but also the disk to keep the master boot record intact. Look at your specific needs and see if your security vendor offers that level of protection. 7. Is there enhanced visibility with endpoint detection and response (EDR?) You need to be able to act fast on threats. To be effective, threat blocking should be married with analyzing the root cause. EDR blocks threats and ensures attacks don't hit other parts of the corporate infrastructure. It lets you see into all endpoints, for protection and threat analysis. And no matter how complex the attack, security managers have a real-time view of the threat. All this means faster response to a security incident. 8. Does it have an effective sandbox for advanced threat protection? Where threats are designed to bypass endpoint detection, sandboxes give an extra layer of security to automate detection and response. The sandbox isolates and detonates malicious applications, to analyze and detect even advanced exploits in targeted attacks. It can be costly, because it usually requires a cybersecurity specialist. Sandboxes are most effective when they're easy to install and operate, scalable and don't need specialist staff. Some endpoint products can't quickly identify and neutralize threats, for example, rules that detect and block similar malware attacks. Security managers should consider whether their current product gives enough control. If not, there are others out there that do. 9. Does it have data protection with encryption management? Integrated tools for data encryption come in two forms: Full-disk encryption (FDE,) preventing data leakage when a laptop is lost and file-level encryption (FLE,) protecting files when they're transferred in untrusted channels. You can also set policies that only certain users can see unencrypted files. 10. Does it have vulnerability management and system hardening? Many attacks happen through software vulnerabilities that could've been patched. It seems basic, but not every endpoint solution can check your system for preparedness and strength. Effective patch management makes sure you find security vulnerabilities early and take pre-emptive measures. System hardening reduces the chance of an incident by intelligently disabling some higher risk features and applications. Companies are adjusting their IT infrastructure to support growth and respond to a changing world. Many will find their security products are no longer fit for a new business paradigm. It's time to look again at whether your current protection is enough. An effective endpoint security product should be able to meet all strains placed upon it. It will handle cloud and on-premises traffic with ease, all from a common platform. It will use automation to reduce the need for human intervention. The vendor should be able to back their claims with reputable lab tests. Even with updates, having an older endpoint security system may mean your business struggles against today's threats. Switching to an automated, comprehensive system, your company will be better able to cope with sophisticated attacks.
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About Secure Futures

Secure Futures magazine is your go-to business guide for opinions, trends and insight into the world of technology and cybersecurity. We help your business to bring on the future. Brought to you by Kaspersky, the global cybersecurity experts.

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