Are your endpoints your weak points?
How safe is your data? The answer to that question depends on how safe your endpoints are. We often see organisations focusing all their efforts and resources on protecting and encrypting data, but falling short on securing endpoints. Unless you’re confident about your endpoints, you can’t be confident about your data.
The fact is – endpoint risks are rising. With the overnight shift to remote working, there is more sensitive data on endpoints than ever before. Any employee’s smartphone, laptop or tablet could be a weak link in your cyber security. So, what risks are you facing?
Determined attackers
Cyber criminals know that endpoints are a soft target, likely to give them access to sensitive and lucrative information. In fact, 86% of all breaches are financially motivated1. Hackers are hungry for financial data, health records, intellectual property and customer identities to sell on the dark web. What’s more, over half of breaches originate from organised crime gangs, proving that endpoints are under deliberate and sustained attack every day1. And methods are becoming more sophisticated. Phishing, malware and ransomware are still being used, but increasingly, we’re seeing attacks that use macros and scripts rather than executable files.
Hybrid working complexity
So, why has endpoint protection seemingly slipped down the priority list? One major factor has been the overnight acceleration of digital transformation to support remote working, triggered by the pandemic. IT teams found themselves stretched to capacity just keeping the lights on, troubleshooting and keeping employees productive. They simply don’t have the capacity to address endpoint security on top of an already-increased workload. Besides, most endpoints have some protection in place. Therefore, many organisations are hoping that old products and tools will be sufficient. For a number of them, this is a gamble that won’t end well. 2020 was the busiest year on record for cyber attacks on UK firms2,. It’s unlikely that attacks will slow down in 2021.
Too much of a good thing
Sometimes it’s not a lack of protection, but colliding types of protection that cause issues. To try and cover all the angles, some devices end up with multiple types of endpoint security agent installed, with more than one designed to perform the same service. This increases the likelihood that agents will conflict and degrade when competing for device services and resources. This is the challenge of endpoint security. There’s a balance to be achieved and it’s not a ‘set-it-and-forget-it’ task.
Don’t pay the price
Breaches are expensive. Not only is there the potential for a fine under the GDPR, there’s also the cost of remediation, business downtime and reputational damage. Also, the longer a breach goes undetected, the more it tends to cost. How confident are you that you’d spot a breach quickly? According to IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report, it took organisations an average of 280 days to identify and contain a breach3. Imagine how much data could be taken and how much damage that could be done in that time.
Centri - standing guard over your endpoints
Endpoint security is complex but it cannot be left at the back of the queue. You need an effective and robust detection and response solution to protect your device, systems and data. This is what you get with Centri from Barrier. We use industry-leading, next generation endpoint solutions that combine traditional endpoint protection with detection and user behaviour analysis. This means we can tailor our protection to fit your business. No matter where your data flows, our technology will monitor how your endpoints interact with it, giving you the reassurance that you’re protected against cyber attacks and careless employees alike.
Trust Barrier for managed service
Creating an effective endpoint strategy is a mix of people, process and technology, but it takes time and effort to set up and maintain. With IT teams already maxed out, it makes sense to opt for our turnkey managed service for endpoint security. It’s a win win. You get complete confidence that Barrier is handling all the alerts and maintenance. Your IT team is freed up to focus where they are needed most. Centri from Barrier gives you an experienced Security Operations Centre (SOC), ready to make sense of the high volume of alerts generated by endpoint devices and spot the one alert that means something bad is happening. Then we coordinate with your IT team to contain the attack. You can read more about Centri Managed Endpoint Security here.
With you all the way
At Barrier, we work with customers across all sectors, and have particular experience in the Finance Sector, Legal, HMG/MoD and the Public Sector. Whatever business you’re in, why not take the first step in strengthening any weak points in your endpoint security and contact us for a free endpoint assessment?
SOURCE
3 https://www.ibm.com/security/data-breach