Threat actors are creative as they keep changing the way they attack an endpoint of your organization. To deal with these evolving cyber threats, you need to rely on the best Endpoint detection procedures. Traditional methods of the first line of defense, such as firewalls and antivirus, are no longer effective.
Cybercriminals can quickly get past these security measures. It would be best if you employed advanced techniques of threat detection strategy; otherwise, you will have to pay the high cost of a breach. It’s time to check different threat identification methods so that you can go with the best one per your security needs.
Endpoint Detection Methods Explained
Here are the three most common methods to detect threats across all endpoints.
It is the most popular method to find indicators of malicious activity, such as names of files, registry of key names, and strings. When they appear in the file, a security alert is initiated. This method has been used in multiple malware protection software for quite some time. It is employed to identify malicious activities both on endpoints and networks.
When it comes to detecting known threats, you can rely on this method.
For example, when you employ an intrusion prevention system -which employs this method, it will run on some pre-defined rules to detect suspicious network activity. It will generate an alert when malware is detected so your analyst can review an unknown file.
The system relies on threat databases where the signature of 20-year-old threats are available. Your threat hunters can cross-reference malware indicators with these libraries, and it’s how they can detect threats.
Although this method is quite adequate, identifying only known attacks is good. How will you be able to deal with unknown ones? Besides, if there is no automation or additional context, it’s pretty overwhelming for your team to manage a system based on this method.
Behavior-Based Threat detectionIt is the second method to detect a threat on the endpoints. It relies on behavioral-based activity. Your system administrator establishes baseline behavior for the endpoint users and compares the typical pattern with the unusual one.
For example, a system analyst rules that end users can only connect to the network from a particular location. When users try to connect from another location, it’s unusual. Google uses this behavior-based threat identification method to safeguard your account against unauthorized use. It’s pretty standard.
It is quite an effective method to keep threat actors out of your business system. However, it is essential to keep updating the baseline rules as user behavior changes over time. Many endpoint security solutions upgrade baseline rules automatically, while other requires manual intervention.
What are the Endpoint Detection Methods with AI and ML?
Machine learning and Artificial intelligence technologies have been revolutionizing every industry.
Since the last decade, and when we check their role in endpoint threat detection, it’s pretty significant. Many companies rely on ML/AI-based endpoint protection tools like Xcitium EDR. These tools are pretty helpful in threat hunting.
For example, an Endpoint protection tool continuously monitors all the endpoints and collects and stores all the data in a structured form in the central database. This tool can separate unusual behavior from usual behavior thanks to machine learning. Your security team can supervise this dataset and quickly identify indicators of malware attacks.
This large amount of endpoint data offers excellent visibility across all endpoints. It boosts up work productivity and efficiency of a cybersecurity team. The reason is that this detection method unlocks an extensive endpoint activity database.
As soon as an alert is generated, your security analyst can look into the complete activity info of infected endpoints. Thereby, it becomes easy for an expert to identify a threat and respond.
Heuristic Based DetectionSignautre-based detection is a traditional way to detect threats and is only suitable for detecting known attacks. So, businesses always seek an advanced detection method known as Heuristic Based threat detection.
A security analyst can spot suspicious activity by examining the code in this method. It effectively deals with unknown viruses, new threats, or modified versions of known malware and viruses.
It is undoubtedly the best way to stop an attack by polymorphic viruses, a term used to describe malicious code that constantly changes and adapts.
What are the Endpoint Detection Methods? Final Words
Today, organizations of every size and scale have to deal with various cyber threats. Digital Criminals keep changing the way they attack your organization. It would be best if you used traditional and advanced endpoint detection techniques. They will help you combat known and unknown threats and even polymorphic viruses.
An Endpoint detection and response tool such as Xcitium EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) is integrated with threat detection techniques as mentioned above. It combines all these techniques to ensure your enterprise can enjoy comprehensive endpoint security.