Hardware vulnerabilities and threats
Every laptop, smartphone, tablet, and desktop that connects to your network is a potential entry point for cybercriminals to penetrate your system with malware and viruses. These attacks can take advantage of weak passwords, delve deep into systems, infiltrate networks, and cause chaos and disruption within your business. Certain types of malware can even commandeer important files, slow down your systems, or exfiltrate sensitive data. They pose a catastrophic threat to businesses, with consequences ranging from lost productivity and revenue to fines and legal action, and even long-term impaired business continuity. Therefore, to guard your business against increasingly complex cyber threats, it is essential to protect every endpoint device your employees use to carry out their work in the cloud or on your corporate network.
Security Blind spots
Endpoint security, the process of protecting all of your connected devices, has become increasingly challenging. Remote and hybrid working has vastly increased the number of endpoints your business must protect, and trends like BYOD mean that IT departments, to a certain degree, cannot proactively control which devices users can use to access company networks.
This often leads to ‘blind spots,’ which are unmanaged and unauthorised endpoints and network devices. Criminals commonly take advantage of vulnerabilities and misconfigurations in these blind spots to gain access and take control over your system.
The solution for today’s world of work
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint protects end-user devices like tablets, smartphones, laptops, and more. A holistic, cloud-based solution, it helps to protect your business from threats by detecting, investigating, and responding to cyberattacks that threaten your endpoints. Being cloud-based, organisations do not need additional deployment or infrastructure to use Defender for Endpoint Plan 1, plus it automatically updates to ensure your endpoints are always protected.
There are two Microsoft Defender for Endpoint plans. This blog discusses Plan 1, which goes beyond basic anti-malware protection and defends your business in more ways than traditional antivirus software. Using preventative protection, this solution decreases your vulnerability to cyberattacks that gain access via your endpoints. Plan 1 has four core features that will benefit organisations of any size.
Attack surface reduction
Any place where your organisation is vulnerable to cyberattacks is an ‘attack surface.’ Minimising or reducing your attack surface closes security gaps and reduces the probability that you’ll fall victim to an attack.
This intelligent solution identifies areas where yours and many other businesses are most vulnerable to attacks, then configures them for the best possible security without compromising productivity. Being highly configurable, Attack Surface Reduction also allows users to set bespoke security compliances across multiple technologies, making it as flexible as it is formidable.
Specific ways of reducing your attack surface include isolating volatile documents in a lightweight container or sandbox to identify whether they are malicious before opening them. If the documents are malicious, the impacts will be contained within your sandbox, maintaining the security of your network and endpoint. Microsoft Defender also reduces your attack area by prohibiting access to low-trust websites and preventing untrusted applications from running.
Next-Generation Antivirus
Microsoft Defender Antivirus uses machine learning, data research, analysis, and Microsoft’s ever-increasing threat database, to provide evolving antivirus protection. Because of its combined machine-learning and threat database, it can even detect all-new malware strains based on its own experiences and analytics.
Application Programming Interface
You’re not beholden to Microsoft’s security solutions, and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint provides an application programming interface to help you connect Defender for Endpoint to your existing security solutions. If you have specific defensive software, this is ideal for making the most out of it and your Defender for Endpoint technologies.
Security Reporting
Microsoft Defender’s reporting tool provides clear, at-a-glance reports of any incidents, alerts, and actions taken upon detection of a threat, allowing users to quickly identify any potential data or devices that might be under threat.
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Plan 1 is a highly robust solution backed by security experts that provides advanced protection for your business’ endpoints.
As your endpoints multiply, it becomes essential to protect your business’ hardware, as well as its software. After all, a compromised device can undermine the additional layers of your system’s cybersecurity to devastating effect. Thankfully, the Microsoft security stack offers several solutions and technologies to guard your business against the rising number of threats.
Download our comprehensive eBook today to discover how Microsoft can provide your business with holistic security, including protection, recovery, and analysis.
