How many devices connect to your company’s network every day? Maybe it’s below 100 or over 1,000. But more than likely, it’s not just the laptops and tablets employees use to get their work done. You’ve got servers, IoT gadgets, and mobile phones. And if your network also provides public Wi-Fi access, there’s a sea of personal devices your organization doesn’t manage.
Anything that connects to your network is considered an endpoint. Now, you might wonder what the big deal is. Devices are supposed to connect. Otherwise, what’s the point of having a network? While this is true, each connected device represents a potential threat.
Whether a smartphone or a company-issued tablet, gadgets can become gateways for cybercriminals to exploit. All it takes is one piece of malware on a USB drive to wreak havoc.
And you can’t expect your IT team to police what everyone uses on your network at any given moment. Nevertheless, you can take a crucial measure — implementing endpoint security. Let’s look at why this measure is so critical to your cyber defense strategy.
Puts Your Company in the Driver’s Seat
With so many emerging cyber threats, it may seem like your organization doesn’t have much control. You can monitor your network, install anti-malware programs, and establish a firewall.
Yet, the bad guys always seem to find a way to gain unauthorized access. At this point, most IT teams don’t think it’s a matter of if a breach will happen but when.
But what if your team could put up more robust layers of defense to stop malicious actors in their tracks?
It’s possible to do this with an endpoint protection platform that lets you control what can run on network-connected devices. Your team can establish a list of permitted applications, scripts, libraries, and executables.
If cybercriminals try to execute something outside of the list, they won’t get very far. It doesn’t matter if the program is on a plugged-in USB drive or a finance employee’s tablet. If your team hasn’t authorized it, the application won’t run.
Your company is back in the driver’s seat, controlling what programs are allowed on your network. You can mitigate threats from company-managed and personal devices at the same time.
Addresses Inside Jobs
When you think of cybercriminals, your mind naturally gravitates toward individuals and groups outside your organization. They’re faceless and nameless, located in a dark room far away from your physical location(s). So, you might be surprised to learn insider threats are the root cause of 60% of data breaches.
Insider threats come from people who have authorized access to your network and its endpoints. Employees come to mind, in addition to vendors. However, this group could also include former employees, partners, and contractors.
Say your IT team doesn’t promptly revoke access to web-based programs, VPN connections, and other systems. Previous partners can discover they can still log in.
Granted, sometimes inside jobs can be unintentional. An employee may plug a personal USB device into their work laptop to transfer documents stored on the network. They do it so they can have examples of their work in case they leave the company.
The USB drive is unknowingly infected with a malicious script, which spreads through your network like wildfire.
Other times, an insider’s acts are by design, not accident. They’re out to do as much damage as possible for financial or personal gain. Endpoint security programs keep tabs on and manage the actions of authorized users.
These platforms can deny admin access while screening requests for elevated permissions on an ad hoc basis. It’s a way for your team to prevent someone from gaining access to connected applications when their behaviors are suspicious.
Guards Sensitive Data
Every device connected to your network has data. Some of it might not be valuable to cybercriminals, but there’s a good chance there’s information they could use nefariously. While cloud-based apps make local data storage less likely, you can’t count on it. People download copies of spreadsheets and other documents from the cloud all the time.
In addition, each connected device provides access to sensitive data stored in the cloud. Unless you inspect every device, you have no way of knowing what could potentially fall into the wrong hands.
Customers, employees, and partners trust organizations to prevent situations like this from happening. Yet, the more complex your network connections get, the more challenging it is to protect proprietary and personal information.
Endpoint protection helps your team extend its reach to every connected device. These platforms let you encrypt data on specific storage points, including USB drives. You can also audit whether encryption is in place and working as designed.
Endpoint protection allows the team to restrict access to data on certain devices and within specific network storage locations. You can further mitigate threats by only allowing access to particular file types within certain apps.
For instance, customer database files can only populate within your CMS program. Or, access to media files isn’t permitted outside of camera and video applications.
Implementing Endpoint Security
Protecting your network involves more than the devices that run it. Every connection is a risk in today’s evolving environment full of cyber threats. Cybercriminals know the human factor is their best bet. IT teams can’t get to every device or constantly manage what each individual using the network does.
Endpoint security platforms, on the other hand, can. Adding these programs to your company’s cyber defense strategy covers the entire spectrum of potential threats. Without them, you could be leaving the door to your network wide open.
