What Is Endpoint Detection and Response? Definition, Importance, Key Components, and Best Practices

Endpoint detection and response (EDR) is defined as a cybersecurity system that monitors endpoint devices for signs of threat, detects vulnerabilities and attacks in real time, alerts stakeholders, and initiates the appropriate response via automated workflows, human intervention, or a combination of the two. This article explains EDR in detail, explores its key components, and shares best practices for enterprises. 

What Is Endpoint Detection and Response?

Endpoint detection and response (EDR) is a cybersecurity system that monitors endpoint devices for signs of threat, detects vulnerabilities and attacks in real time, alerts stakeholders, and initiates the appropriate response via automated workflows, human intervention, or a combination of the two. 

The term “endpoint detection and response” was first coined by Gartner in 2013 to highlight the emergence of a new category of cybersecurity software known as “endpoint threat detection and response”. 

EDR solutions were an improvement over the older endpoint protection platforms (EPP), which were limited to protecting local devices from threats. Conversely, EDR acknowledges that the damage caused by endpoint threats is rarely limited to local device environments. Rather, these threats can spread across the enterprise and infect connected systems and services. 

EDR systems work through agents installed in local devices. Multiple agents are connected to a centralized hub, and each agent continuously monitors its local device environment and collects data. This data is conveyed to the centralized hub for processing and analytics, often using sophisticated technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). The statistical models created through this process are used to analyze incoming endpoint data in real time and spot threats.

Threat detection techniques used by EDR solutions include: 

• Signature analysis: Network traffic signatures are checked against a database of known malware signatures to find a match. 
• Behavioral analysis: The accepted behavior threshold of the endpoint is benchmarked to identify instances of unusual behavior, even if all traffic signatures are valid. 
• Sandbox analysis: Potentially malicious files are placed in a safe environment called a sandbox and then executed to observe their behavior without risking any damage to the endpoint. 
• Whitelist/blacklist matching: Endpoint activities are checked against a predetermined list of whitelisted and blacklisted IP addresses to allow or deny network traffic. 

If a threat, anomaly, or vulnerability is detected, the EDR system triggers an alert and sends it to the appropriate stakeholders through the user console. EDR is also capable of responding to certain threats automatically. For instance, unknown or suspicious file types are immediately quarantined, even before a human stakeholder is alerted. 

Stakeholders such as the IT manager or the cybersecurity team can act on alerts by isolating a suspicious file, deleting it, placing it in a sandbox for further investigation, isolating the entire endpoint device, and so on.

EDR is designed to protect different types of endpoints, including desktop computers, laptops, mobile devices, and the like. Typically, the system is hosted on the cloud to make it easier to relay information from endpoint agents to the central hub. The cloud also provides scalable compute resources for data processing. 

As an enterprise evolves, endpoint detection and response systems become more mature and powerful. This journey has four steps: 

1. Only EPP: The enterprise relies only on endpoint protection platforms that may overlook larger threats to the IT landscape. 
2. Detection with limited automation: A basic EDR solution continuously scans the endpoint landscape to uncover data trends. However, users need to spend time and effort analyzing these trends, hunting for threats, and manually initiating a response. 
3. Intelligent detection aided by automation: The enterprise relies on a mature EDR system that visualizes critical endpoint data and finds threats, assigns them a risk score, and alerts stakeholders as per prioritization. Response systems combine intelligent automation with manual controls. 
4. Extended detection and response (XDR): XDR is the next frontier in EDR maturity, as it extends threat detection and response capabilities to networks, clouds, and applications, in addition to endpoint devices. 

See More: How Enterprises Can Secure Endpoints With Extended and Managed Detection and Response

Importance of Endpoint Detection and Response

There are various reasons why EDR systems play an important role in enterprise security. 

1. Helps gain visibility into a large and distributed endpoint environment 

As organizations evolve, they add an increasing number of endpoint devices to support employees, business verticals, and various processes. Maintaining constant visibility into every endpoint device can be challenging, especially when spread across multiple locations. 

Without adequate visibility, it becomes difficult to trace enterprise security threats back to the devices where they originated and maintained accountability. EDR systems install a local agent on every endpoint to collect machine data and convey it back to a centralized system through telemetry for 24/7 monitoring. 

2. Addresses blind spots left by traditional prevention systems 

Traditional prevention systems like antivirus or malware detection tools may have blind spots. For example, the threat may pass under the radar if a file with an unusual name does not show any suspicious behavior right after it is downloaded. 

Also, traditional systems rely heavily on user awareness – which means that if the device user or the organization’s employee is negligent, a threat may creep into the system undetected. Endpoint detection and response uses sophisticated analysis techniques to detect and resolve threats without these blindspots. 

3. Looks for dormant threats lurking underneath the surface 

Cybersecurity threats aren’t always activated immediately after it enters your network perimeter. For instance, in the recent spate of Log4j vulnerabilities, experts warned that attackers could exploit the vulnerability to enter enterprise networks and stay dormant for several months before launching an attack. 

These threats are difficult to identify as there are no apparent indicators noticed by the user or picked up by traditional tools. EDR systems can detect subtle changes in endpoint behavior that could hint at a bigger, more severe risk. Security professionals can investigate these seemingly innocuous anomalies and decommission the threat before activating them. 

4. Obtains contextualized information on suspicious events 

One of the most crucial elements in security incident resolution is data. Security professionals need access to comprehensive and contextualized information to understand the big picture around an event. However, this data can be challenging to uncover after a threat has emerged, which is why EDR systems are so important. 

EDR systems constantly monitor endpoint devices and collect data 24/7, regardless of whether it detects any active threats. This robust database can serve as the threat bedrock for investigation, allowing security professionals to refer to historical information and understand the context behind past events. 

5. Reduces IT efforts through automated event prioritization 

Endpoint detection and response can make your security operations more efficient by reducing the time and effort needed from the in-house security team. Without EDR, security professionals would have to attend to every alert, follow up on the event, select the alerts that require urgent attention, delegate tasks, and finally arrive at a resolution. 

A next-gen EDR system automatically prioritizes security events by assigning them a risk score. It cuts down false positives – i.e., alerts arising from behavior that seems suspicious but are legitimate. This way, security teams can focus on signals that matter the most and save their time and efforts. 

6. Streamlines root cause analysis with threat pathway visualization 

Next-generation EDR systems monitor endpoints, collect data, and represent the data through easy-to-understand visualizations. One of the most valuable visualization features available to EDR users is mapping threat pathways. 

EDR systems can precisely map when and how a threat entered the enterprise perimeter, the security barriers it breached, and the vulnerabilities that allowed it to creep in. This streamlines the root cause analysis process during threat investigation and helps prevent similar threats in the future. 

7. Helps make sense of high-volume endpoint data 

Endpoint devices generate massive volumes of machine data, most relevant to security professionals. Endpoint protection and response systems convert this data into a comprehensible format through tables, charts, and dashboards. 

It maps specific data points as per pre-configured metrics, and your IT or security team can filter the data, visualize their desired metrics, correlate information, and much more. The centralized console of an EDR system has an administrative hub where users can define the rules for data analysis and effectively make sense of the information. 

8. Speeds up the threat remediation process to avoid downtime 

EDR systems play a central role in business continuity. A cybersecurity threat can slow down endpoint devices, impact endpoint performance, and even siphon confidential data during business transactions. 

This can cause significant disruptions to business processes, from dealing with data loss to corrupted systems and the time spent in holding employees accountable. EDR enables a speedy response to threats and typically blocks most threats from ever causing any harm to endpoint devices that could hinder business processes. 

9. Tackles multiple threat types with one solution 

Endpoint detection and response consolidates various types of protection in one platform. It can detect signs of traditional virus attacks, which could creep in through dangerous websites. It also protects against fileless attacks, zero-day threats, phishing, and a host of other adversarial tactics. 

This means that enterprises do not need to invest in multiple standalone solutions for each type of threat. They can analyze 100% of machine data generated by an endpoint to find signs of virtually any kind of threat that could impact the enterprise. 

10. Amplifies the capabilities of existing cybersecurity tools like SIEM

EDR coexists with the rest of your cybersecurity landscape and can be integrated with other tools like security information and event management (SIEM). Depending on the EDR tool you choose, it will route alerts through a SIEM solution to unify your cybersecurity capabilities. 

See More: Top 10 Cyber Threat Intelligence Tools in 2022

Key Components of Endpoint Detection and Response

An EDR system has two types of components – mandatory components that support its core functionalities and nice-to-haves that add value and help maximize the potential of the rest of your security stack. 

1. Mandatory components of endpoint detection and response include: 

• Data collection agents: Agents are lightweight software components installed on endpoint devices like desktops, laptops, etc., to collect data 24/7. The agents should not consume too much computing power, negatively impacting device performance. 
• Threat detection rules: These rules determine which activities are labeled as suspicious and which ones are considered legitimate or safe. Typically, an EDR system has fixed rules (like a list of blocked IP addresses) and dynamic rules (like AI algorithms that update the behavioral baseline depending on endpoint usage). 
• Threat analytics: The system processes incoming data from the agent based on the static and dynamic rules. It generates insights and stores them as detailed logs, including information on legitimate and suspicious activities. 
• Event-based triggers: The EDR system has an event-based alert mechanism that notifies the IT or security team whenever a suspicious event is detected. The alert mechanism should prioritize events based on their urgency and severity levels to reduce false positives. 
• Automated and manual response tools: The EDR system should automatically resolve simple threats without notifying the stakeholders in real-time. For example, it should block access to files with a suspicious extension based on historical data and preset threat detection rules. It also offers options to manually resolve threats and troubleshoot endpoint issues by involving a human stakeholder. To enable this, most EDR systems have workflow templates and playbooks. 
• Centralized user console: This component allows IT and security teams to receive alerts, go through device logs, initiate response workflows, generate reports, and perform other endpoint security tasks. The console includes data dashboards to visualize critical information comprehensively. 
• Centralized admin console: The administration console or hub allows you to define custom threat detection rules, configure automated workflows, schedule reports, etc. Essentially, this component helps complete the backend tasks related to endpoint detection and response. 

2.  Value-adding components of endpoint detection and response include: 

• Cloud-hosting environment: EDR can be hosted either on-premise or on the cloud. A cloud-hosting environment gives the flexibility to process any volume of data without any hardware limitations. It also makes adding new endpoints easier. 
• AI and ML: AI and ML capabilities make threat analytics more accurate and reduce the chances of false positives and false negatives when assessing security events. AI processes a larger volume and variety of telemetry data than traditional algorithms, while ML helps the system to become more effective over time. 
• Forensic investigation: EDR can streamline the threat investigation process by providing contextual information on security events. Some tools can even visualize the threat pathway as it originated and moved through the enterprise network. 
• External threat intelligence database: You can augment EDR capabilities with a third-party database that collects the latest threat information from global cybersecurity events. 
• SIEM integration: While EDR has an alert and response mechanism, organizations may want to connect it to their existing SIEM solution to unify security event response. 

See More: What Is Hardware Security? Definition, Threats, and Best Practices

Endpoint Detection and Response Best Practices for 2022

As remote and hybrid work practices continue, enterprise reliance on endpoint devices will grow. Here are some best practices to strengthen EDR and protect endpoint systems in 2022. 

1. Inspect your landscape before EDR adoption and automate device discovery 

It is possible to overlook endpoint devices in a large enterprise when implementing EDR. Employees could be using unregistered devices for distributed teams without informing the IT team. 

Organizational restructuring, changes in the IT team, addition of a new location, mergers and acquisitions, etc., could also make it challenging to gain visibility into the device landscape. That’s why an end-to-end inventory is required before adopting EDR so that every device is properly onboarded. Automated device discovery can also prove helpful, as it detects any endpoint connected to your network. 

2. Complement EDR with an automated patching service 

Endpoint detection and response scans machine data for threats based on threat detection rules – but it isn’t a preventive service. EDR can only detect signs of suspicious activity, but it cannot stop suspicious activity from happening in the first place. 

That’s why organizations need an automated patching service as the primary line of defense. Automatic patching will ensure that your device landscape is regularly assessed, every device is kept up-to-date, and security vulnerabilities are patched immediately without delay, reducing the number of threats to be detected via EDR. 

3. Opt for a simple device onboarding process to accommodate BYOD 

Bring your own device (BYOD) policies allow employees to use their own devices for work, which may also double up as their personal device. In remote and hybrid work environments, BYOD is extremely popular and allows employees to switch between locations. 

Ensure that the device onboarding process can be quickly completed by the IT team whenever employees add a new device to the network. This will ensure that all BYOD devices are properly registered and protected using strict threat detection rules and not overlooked for the sake of short-term convenience. 

4. Adopt cloud-native EDR systems to drive scalability

EDR solutions can be deployed on-premise or on the cloud, and each has its pros and cons. On-premise deployment provides enterprises with greater control but is challenging to scale as you add new endpoints and the volume of telemetry data grows. Cloud-native EDR systems are easier to deploy and grow with your enterprise environment. 

New devices can be quickly onboarded without having to provision new computing resources manually, and the cloud also simplifies integration with existing security tools like SIEM. You may work with your cloud EDR vendor to control and customize the solution as per your requirements without having to host it on-premise. 

5. Configure threat detection rules for use on foreign networks 

In 2022, EDR operations must be network-agnostic and apply equally stringent protection rules to internal and foreign networks. A remote or hybrid work environment allows employees the flexibility to work from any location they want, which could be their home office, a coffee shop, an airport, a hospital, an office, or a holiday destination. 

Endpoint detection and response rules must be correctly configured to support operations on unknown or foreign networks without blocking all traffic (i.e., too many false positives) or allowing all traffic to go through indiscriminately (i.e., too many false negatives). 

6. Ensure mechanism for endpoint backups 

In the case of highly sophisticated attacks, EDR will be able to detect a threat only when it has advanced to a severe stage. In such scenarios, the infected device must be isolated for further monitoring, investigation, and threat removal, often involving reinstalling the entire system. 

An end-to-end endpoint system reinstallation would erase all data stored locally on the device, interrupting key business processes. A robust endpoint backup mechanism is necessary to prevent data loss due to endpoint threats. You can subscribe to a cloud-based data backup and security service that maintains secure copies of local storage, updated in near-real-time. 

7. Choose a silent installation and feature enablement process for EDR agents 

The local agent installation and deployment process should be as non-intrusive as possible to facilitate EDR adoption without disrupting employee productivity. You can use the admin console to remotely install agents in the background and enable EDR features, even as employees continue to use their devices for everyday work. 

In 2022, threat database updates and feature releases will likely become more frequent to keep up with increasingly sophisticated threats. A silent installation and feature enablement process will allow you to configure agents without hindering device usage. 

See More: Top Tips to Protect Your Organization Against the Biggest Security Threats of 2022

Takeaway

EDR systems are now widely adopted by organizations around the world. Particularly in the era of remote and hybrid work, organizations rely heavily on a distributed endpoint landscape to manage remote employees and drive productivity. As a result, the global EDR market is expected to grow from $1.76 billion in 2020 to $6.72 billion by 2026, as per ReportLinker, to support this expansion and ensure that enterprise security is not compromised. 

In its recent Hype Cycle for Endpoint Security, 2021, Gartner notes that EDR is fast maturing and reaching widespread adoption. To protect the enterprise, organizations must soon explore more advanced capabilities like XDR and secure access service edge (SASE). This marks the next frontier in endpoint security, beyond localized threat detection and towards holistic protection. 

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