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Endpoint Security Advice for the CISO on the Go!

Why Visibility Is the Most Important Endpoint Security Capability

endpoint security advice

We get it. You’re an enterprise-level CISO. You’re busy.

Actually, let us rephrase that. You’re an enterprise-level CISO. You’re probably stressed to the point of hair pulling, teeth gnashing, and lamentations. Your enterprise IT security team processes hundreds if not thousands of security events, potential data breaches, and employee access requests every day. We can’t blame you if, in the midst of continual digital turmoil, you’re nostalgic for the days when simply installing antivirus on each computer was enough to keep hackers at bay.

Download Link to Gartner 2018 Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms

But those days are gone. We know. We’re sad too.

Even endpoint security—once the simplest cybersecurity solution and the centerpiece of any enterprise’s digital security—has become infinitely more complicated as digital threats have increased in sophistication and severity. New threats, such as fileless malware, have emerged that bypass traditional endpoint protection platform detection and prevention. Hackers continue to develop and deploy new tactics to penetrate network perimeters. Plus, with the mobile device bring-your-own-device revolution well underway, it can be hard to know just how far your perimeter extends.  

In the spirit of making your life easier (it’s what we do here at Solutions Review), here’s some endpoint security advice to mull over as you make your moves against threat actors aiming to harm your business.

Integration is the Key

A common theme in the human experience is humans developing tunnel vision about a problem, trying to solve it quickly, and failing to account for the effects their solution will have elsewhere.

Compounding this common foible? It tends to be exacerbated by stress and time constraints—two factors that tend to be present in IT security team offices the world over.

We don’t want to disparage you or your team, but we’ve seen patterns of IT security teams falling victim to this problem without realizing it. Endpoint security, in particular, tends to require solutions quickly and therefore falls prey to this foible constantly. So enterprises end up inadvertently stacking multiple solutions at once, creating integration issues that actually cause more security holes than they solve.

Our endpoint security advice? Keep it simple. Choose the single endpoint security solution that fits your IT security perimeter needs most completely. Sometimes this could be as simple as checking what other features or updates your current endpoint security solution offers that you could deploy to potentially secure your current issue. If you do make a new endpoint security solution selection, make sure it integrates with the other cybersecurity tools at your disposal.

Is it Time to Go Cloud?

Everyone in the corporate world is talking about the potential inherent in cloud adoption and digital transformation. It is easy to see why: more collaboration, more connectivity, more scalability, and more profits are all on the table for the digitally transformed enterprise. Yet cybersecurity experts see digital transformation as a more mixed affair: lots of opportunities carrying lots of risks.

Cloud endpoint security can help your IT security team manage multiple agents through a consolidated interface, providing a consistent level of protection while alleviating the burden on individual endpoints, and improving their prevention capabilities. However, our endpoint security advice is to approach cloud endpoint security judiciously. Is your enterprise scaling up? Is your current endpoint protection platform weighing down your performance? Are you facing more threats than usual? The answers will determine whether you need your endpoint protection platforms to stay on-premises or take to the metaphorical skies.    

Look for Talent in the Right Places

Of course, all of the endpoint security advice in the world is useless if you don’t have the technical talent on hand to implement and enforce them.

Unfortunately, finding that talent can be as much if not more of a challenge than facing down hackers. We’ve written time and time again about how cybersecurity as a field is suffering from a limited pool of trained, experienced individuals and the difficulties in recruiting and retaining that talent.

As a CISO, we’re sure you’re aware of it. In our opinion, the problem may be where you’re looking. A job posting on your enterprises’ website probably won’t bring in the experienced individuals your IT security team needs to function optimally.

Instead, we recommend reaching out to your local universities and training courses to attract the right talent. Fostering an internship program with your local university can also be a great way to help train future talent while keeping the best for yourself. Don’t forget about the career fair—it’s a great networking opportunity for finding young, fresh recruits interested in cybersecurity.

One Last Bit of Endpoint Security Advice

We don’t want to keep you—time is always against us, isn’t it?—but we want to leave you with this: prevention may not have the same place in the cybersecurity paradigm as it once did, but it is still essential. Having the right endpoint protection platform on your IT environment can dissuade most hackers from targeting you—and that’s worth every penny.

Other Resources:

Gartner’s 2018 Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms (EPP): What’s Changed?

Comparing the Top Endpoint Security Vendors — Solutions Review

2018 Gartner EPP Magic Quadrant: What’s In a Vision(ary)?

Answering the Top 4 Enterprise Endpoint Security Questions

Endpoint Detection and Response: A New Wave in Security?

Sorry, Your Legacy Antivirus Solution is Inadequate

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