Client and company data are a big part of any business.
They hold a high value and are one of the most important assets of a business.
As a business owner, it is your responsibility to keep all of your business’s assets secure, whether by managing them yourself or by entrusting them to qualified staff, such as your IT team.Â
Purchasing and implementing proper cybersecurity software that matches your business’s needs is your responsibility.
However, with loads of options available on the market, each with different features and price points, how do you calculate the benefit-cost ratio?
Why Endpoint Security is the Superior Software
Endpoint security focuses on securing access points or endpoints of a network’s devices.
From employee devices like laptops, desktops, tablets, and smartphones, to communal office devices such as printers and fax machines.
Traditional antivirus software only protects one device at a time and needs re-installation and calibration with every new device.
Endpoint security software works on protecting entire networks by securing both digital and physical access points from exploitation and unauthorized access.
It keeps track of all endpoint activity and stores their data for future insight, sending out an alert of any note-worthy behaviors even if they did not result in an attack.
Protecting online endpoints is crucial to a business’s safety, as 70 percent of attacks were at the hands of outsiders who didn’t have physical access.
Endpoint Security: Standard Edition
The standard edition of endpoint security excels over traditional antivirus in keeping networks safe.
It uses machine learning and endpoint detection and response (EDR) to collect and analyze data coming from endpoints.
This allows it to detect suspicious behavior and stop an attack before it happens.
It also provides complete endpoint visibility without running scans that slow the system down, which, more often than not, leaves it vulnerable to outside attacks.
However, this type of security falls short when it comes to processing large quantities of data while keeping all endpoints visible and connected.
A dedicated and detail-oriented hacker can take advantage of a small hole that might occur when transferring data due to the system overloading.
While it’s still far better than traditional antivirus, this is still a point that you need to take into consideration when purchasing a security system.
Endpoint Security: Up in the Cloud
When integrated into the cloud, endpoint security can better protect endpoints by storing and analyzing all of the data coming from online access points.
It also centralizes the management of the network’s security, allowing network administrators to control access restrictions and liberties.
Click here to learn more about cloud endpoint security software and how it works on preventing new types of attacks before they occur, without exhausting the network’s system.
Stealth is ever-growing in the hacking community, making it harder for security systems and antivirus software to detect all threats and counteract them.
While most endpoint security systems only gather endpoint data of what’s considered or suspected of being a threat, you need one that collects all the possible data and analyzes it, detecting new methods of attacks.
What’s Best for Your Business?
Different businesses have different needs.
The range depends on their size, the value of their data, and network complexity.
Businesses that value information security above all else should only invest in the best protection technology has to offer, which is cloud-based endpoint security.Â
While standard endpoint security software is of great value to businesses of all types, the main problem arises when transferring large amounts of data collected from multiple endpoints.
The process can interfere with the system’s speed and functionality, which could cause lapses in its security.Â
However, using cloud-based endpoint security allows the cloud to directly gather the data to analyze with external computational power without exhausting the system.
This prevents attacks before they happen.
Since cloud-based endpoint security provides better protection against cyber threats, it costs more to implement.
Whether you should invest in it depends on thoroughly analyzing your business’s cost to risk probabilities.
Nonetheless, investing in endpoint security software in general still beats using a traditional antivirus as your primary means of defense.Â
Future-forward Thinking
Different types of security cover different security needs.
While settling for the lower-cost but slightly higher-risk could be the right option for your business at the moment, considering the future is key.
Having a realistic plan of your business’s growth rate can help you decide when you need to upgrade your security measures to cloud-native endpoint security software.