What are EPP, EDR, XDR and MDR solutions and how do they work?
Companies require an ever-greater number of insights into their IT devices and networks, while security is a real challenge as it’s crucial to have constant protection within your organisation. There are a multitude of existing and emerging solutions all promising guaranteed optimum protection of your devices. It can be difficult, however, for companies to make sense of all the different offerings on the market.
What are the differences between the tools?
There are the following different types of solution:
EPP (Endpoint Protection Platform)
An Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) solution protects you against existing and emerging threats and is a program that keeps developing along with the increasing number of attack factors with the help of technology such as:
- Detection of threats from malware signatures.
- Using machine learning algorithms to analyse and scan files for threats before opening them.
- Behaviour analysis – EPP solutions can determine devices’ behavioural baselines and therefore any anomalies.
- Authorised and block lists that allow you to block access to IP address, URL, apps or specific processes.
- A sandbox for testing suspicious files by isolating them in a virtual environment before they’re approved.
- Data encryption.
- Standard and next-gen antivirus.
As threats are constantly evolving, it’s advisable to pair traditional end device protection with EDR or even XDR technologies.
EDR (Endpoint Detection Response)
Endpoint detection response (EDR) escalates all events happening on one network component to a single console. It gives you visibility over the entire IT fleet and its system elements to more easily identify attacks.
The main features of this type of solution are:
- Constantly monitoring and collecting device activity data that could indicate a threat.
- Analysing data to identify threat patterns as well as observing process, network connection logs, and user login history.
- Responding to alerts, automatically blocking detected threats, and isolating affected devices.
Undoubtedly the most complete tool currently on the market. Extended detection and response centralises and outsources all threats detected and incident responses. This type of tool doesn’t merely monitor end devices, but also other log sources such as e-mails, servers, clouds, and networks. It also offers a CTI (cyber threat intelligence) service in addition to simple setup.
XDR is an AI-based technology that correlates various alerts and highlights threats. Moreover, this type of tool allows for automated threat defence and resolution, making it easier to more accurately and quickly pinpoint attempted attacks than a human could.
Highly flexible, it’s also possible to purchase as a partial subscription if your organisation already has certain solutions active. Investigation and response to alerts can be outsourced via MDR (Managed Detection and Response) solutions.
Comprises a range of managed (operated by external experts) solutions as well as incident detection and response services. This next level up is a considerable advantage compared to EDR platforms. While there are various offerings available for Managed Detection and Response services, they need to fulfil certain criteria such as:
- Increased resources and support from SecOps teams for tasks that require specific expertise such as threat hunting, post-incident reviews and incident response.
- Proactive threat management and 24/7 availability.
- Reduction of attack response and alert processing time.
- Quicker return on investment thanks to qualified security experts ensuring smoother practical operations.
Getting to grips with the different solutions is one thing, but making the right decision for your company is another matter.
To ensure all needs are met you can first make a precise diagram of your structure, skills, and teams to ensure that our experts can give you comprehensive advice.
The second step in choosing the right solution for your company depends on technical expertise with or without SOC, the size of your infrastructure and whether to choose an on premise or cloud approach.
After conducting an extensive study, our experts will be able to direct you to suitable solutions, provide you with comprehensive consultation and be at your side throughout your security project.
