Consistently, antivirus (AV) testing shows that malware circumvents nearly all of the best NGAV solutions. How? One way is that adversaries can conduct reconnaissance to determine which NGAV you’re using. They then obtain and deploy malware that’s specifically designed to get past your AV software.
By monitoring for anomalies, Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) tools detect malicious activity perpetrated by Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) and fileless malware, also known as living-off-the-land. EDR tools attempt to contain the attack and curtail its spread across the entire network—all while enabling security team members to formulate an incident response and investigate the threat source.
Research shows that over 50% of attacks use fileless malware to evade NGAV solutions. While EDR data can help security teams and MSPs detect and respond to attacks, organizations struggle to hire and retain the number of people needed to investigate threats and manage responses.
To help security analysts focus on the most crucial alerts first, EDR tools use risk scoring (critical, high, medium, and low). While scoring is valuable, the reality is that a significant gap exists between detection and prevention on endpoints. Unfortunately, this is true for all organizations—from small- and medium-size companies that cannot afford a full-fledged security team or enterprises with robust cybersecurity departments.
Bottom line, organizations need solutions that truly prevent endpoint data breach attempts. Only then will cybersecurity team members have more time to focus on adversaries that move laterally, searching for targets of even higher value, such as servers.
