What is Endpoint Security? How to Ensure it?

As digitalization has become an indispensable element of everyday and business life, there has been a huge growth in cyber security problems. The easiness with which hackers can threaten misconfigured IT networks has a significant disadvantage in terms of access security, as well as serious consequences for data loss costs.

One of the steps required to minimize cyber risk factors and create IT infrastructure that can support complete countermeasures against attack vectors is the use of endpoint security systems. In brief, endpoint applications, which are a collection of cyber systems required to protect the security of devices in an IT network, are one of the most effective methods for minimizing data breaches.

What is Endpoint Security?

Endpoint security is a collection of cyber security applications that prevent malicious actors from manipulating the endpoints of end-user and administrator devices in the IT network, such as servers, computers, and mobile devices. The system, which protects network and cloud endpoints from cyber attacks, was built on the zero-trust principle. Endpoint software offers high security against malicious attempts like malware and phishing attacks, promising far more than standard antivirus protection.

In the field of cybersecurity, this system is regarded as the front of the protocols intended to be used in the IT network. This is invaluable in terms of early detection of the growing threat level as a result of attack vector complexity and volume increase. Because if your front line of protection against complex and large-scale attacks is weak, it will be much easier for cyber attackers to reach deeper. As reaching deeper, not only endpoint device security but all critical services of the IT network will be threatened.

It is essential to pay attention to two important elements in the success of this system, which fights on the front lines of endpoint device protection. The first is the zero trust policy, and the other is the least privilege approach. The combined use of the two approaches simply shows the following result: “Don't trust, test and verify in the first step. Restrict privileges after verification, set different privilege criteria for each user.”

What are the Endpoint Devices?

Endpoint devices can be defined as a group of electrical devices that keep an IT system working properly. In general, these devices are as follows:

• Computers (Desktop and laptop)
• Servers
• Mobile Devices
• Tablets
• Smart Watches
• Printers
• Medical Devices
• ATMs
• Network devices
• POS devices
• Smart Systems
• IoT devices/sensors
• Cloud-based servers (Paas)
• Cloud-based software (Paas)

Any connected device, regardless of network scale, is regarded as an endpoint. It is extremely likely that the number of individual devices connected to a network today will exceed the level that indicated the standard just a few years ago as a result of the growth of IoT technology. In fact, it is expected that the total number of devices in any network may reach hundreds of thousands as a result of the rise in the number of individual devices connected to the network.

Endpoints are a favorite of cyber attackers since they serve as the attack initiation and network access point for both internal and external threats wanting to harm the IT infrastructure. Especially mobile and remotely managed devices are the weaknesses of IT infrastructures. The spread of IoT technology, wearable technological products becoming more accessible and the rise in the number of computers, mobile devices and tablets used through remote access make it necessary to implement advanced cyber security measures to maintain endpoint protection.

Why is Endpoint Security Important?

Endpoint security is the basis of the cybersecurity protocol-building process for a variety of reasons. First of all, data is one of the most valuable assets in both everyday life and the business world today. Individuals and organizations may face irreversible issues as a result of individual or legal data loss and data breach cases. Vital factors such as financial losses, bankruptcy, the full cessation of the workflow, loss of customers, and violation of personal data can all be considered as among these problems.

On the other hand, the rise in the number of endpoint devices has increased the significance of human error and internal threat factors. According to the results of the research, human errors (24%) and internal threats (20%) are the leading threats to endpoint security. At the top of this list is malware attacks (35%), which is a significant external threat element.

To detail the importance of endpoint security, it can be useful to examine the ways in which endpoint attacks harm the organizations. The research we just mentioned is also important for identifying the issues that cybersecurity experts are most worried about when facing endpoint attacks. For example, 48% of cybersecurity professionals surveyed stated that endpoint security breaches reduce end-user productivity. 38% think that the most important problem is the downtime of the system. It is obvious that these issues are critical for the sustainability of organizations' workflows.

Addressing the key issues that expose IT infrastructures to endpoint attacks may be useful when answering the question of why endpoint device security is important. In fact, according to the same report, 38% of the cyber security professionals in the study claim that the absence of 24/7 surveillance is the major cause of these attacks. While 36% complain about the slow response time to the breach, 33% agree that the lack of basic cybersecurity knowledge of the people working in the organization makes it easier for hackers.

Improve Your Endpoint Security with PAM and AAA Solutions

Organizations may experience data breaches, workflow interruptions, and financial losses if endpoint security is not ensured. Privileged Access Management (PAM) and AAA solutions are very successful in protecting the IT infrastructure from attack methods that threat actors develop and make more complex every day, defining privileged access correctly, eliminating endpoint security gaps and preventing shadow IT accesses. In this context, the Authentication, Authorization and Accounting modules of AAA systems provide an advanced cyber security protocol to eliminate cyber risks that may occur through endpoint devices.

Kron’s Marta AAA, has the ability to simultaneously control thousands of devices. Marta AAA effectively defends your IT infrastructure on the front line against various cyber attack vectors by ensuring the application of the zero trust and least privilege principles in addition to the 24/7 principle.

Turkey's leading banks e.g. İşbank and Kuveyt Türk prefers Marta AAA to safeguard thousands of endpoint devices to complete cyber security structure with the high-end features like privilege management, auditing, and verification. You can contact our team to get detailed information about Marta AAA and learn about the special advantages our product will provide your organization.