Today’s advanced cyber threats are making it more difficult than ever before to manage security in your organisation. In this blog, Security and Compliance Director Pravesh Kara explains why antimalware software alone is no longer enough to protect your most valuable assets – and why endpoint detection and response is the alternative you need.
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In our technology-driven world, data breaches and cyber attacks are becoming more common. According to the UK Government’s Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2022, 39% of UK businesses reported experiencing a cyber attack in the last 12 months, and 38% reported experiencing a breach that resulted in at least one negative impact to the business. Of the 39%, around one in five (21%) identified a more sophisticated attack type such as a denial of service, malware, or ransomware attack. Â
Cyber criminals often target SMBs specifically because they are seen as easier targets with less robust cyber security measures in place. One small business in the UK is successfully hacked every 19 seconds, according to Hiscox. Around 65,000 attempts to hack small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) occur in the UK every day, around 4,500 of which are successful. That equates to around 1.6 million of the 5.7 million SMBs in the UK per year. Â
It’s crystal clear that businesses in the UK are indeed being targeted by advanced threats, so it’s crucial that you take proactive measures to protect your organisation. Â
As threats evolve, new tools are needed to combat them. Implementing endpoint detection and response software, in addition to other cyber security measures, can help you better detect and respond to these types of threats, reducing the risk of data breaches and other cyber attacks. Read on to find out how you can protect your organisation from becoming their next target. Â
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How can you protect your organisation from cyber attacks?
Technology plays a large part in preventing, detecting and responding to cyber threats. As the stats above highlight, scale is needed to deal with the barrage of attacks directed at UK businesses. Â
One of the main targets and pivot points for threats are your endpoints, or the devices and servers that your people are using every day. There are two types of software commonly used to protect those devices: antimalware and endpoint detection and response (EDR) software. Â
You’ll likely be familiar with some of the more established software used to detect and remove malware, whether that’s at home or within your organisation, and you might even be aware of its limitations – but EDR may be a newer concept. Let’s take a look at this traditional software and compare it to new capabilities of EDR to continuously monitor your devices. Â
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Antimalware: your established line of defence
Antimalware software is used to detect and remove malware such as viruses and spyware from a computer or network. It is typically installed on individual computers or on a network server and scans files and data for known malicious code. Â
The benefits of antimalware software are that it is relatively easy to use, doesn’t require a high level of technical knowledge, and is generally effective at detecting and removing known malware threats. Â
However, it’s not very effective at detecting new or unknown threats, and it can be resource-intensive, slowing down computer performance. Antimalware software also typically has a narrow view of a cyber threat’s attack chain, which can be a problem particularly where the threat actor is not using ‘malware’ to compromise a user or a device. Â