Introduction:

In ever – evolving landscape of cyber security, it is important for every organization to protect endpoints. As cyber threat continues to grow in complexity and frequency it becomes essential for every organization to deploy robust endpoint security solutions. Here you will know more about EPP and EDR, their unique capabilities and how they complement each other in creating comprehensive defense strategy.

What is EPP?

Endpoint protection platform are the stalwarts of endpoint security which is designed to prevent and block known threats from endpoints. EPP solutions offer a range of proactive measures which includes antivirus solution, anti-malware, firewalls, application control and device control. The primary focus on EPP sis to stop threats at the entry points, safeguard the endpoints from wide array of threat activities. EPP is the best solution for day-to-day endpoints protection, and it sets the foundation for overall endpoint security.

Key Features of EPP:

1) EPP solutions leverage signature based scanning and heuristic analysis to identify the viruses and then eliminate those viruses and malware.

2) The built-in firewall in EPP monitors and controls the overall network traffic, protecting the end points from unauthorized access and malicious inbound and outbound connections.

3) EPP solution will allow company administrator to define policies for device usage and restrict unauthorized application from running on endpoints.

4) EPP actively prevents known viruses and threats by providing a baseline level of security against common attacks.

What is EDR?

The main focus of EPP is on prevention, but the Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) solutions take a different approach. EDR is centered on detecting and responding to sophisticated and advanced threats that may evade traditional security methods. These solutions emphasize threat hunting, monitoring of real-time endpoint, behavior analysis and automated response capabilities to quickly identify the security incidents.

Key Features of EDR:

1) EDR continuously observes endpoint activities to identify suspicious behavior of threats.

2) EDR platform enable security analysts to conduct proactive threat hunting to identify threats that have not been previously detected by any other analysts or in-house team.

3) When any incident occurs, EDR always provides detailed visibility into the extent of the attack and assists in responding effectively to mitigate the damage.

4) EDR solutions use behavioral analysis and machine learning algorithm to identify anomalies which will help to indicate the presence of unknown threats, spreading across the entire network.

EDR vs EPP; The Difference

Most of the time organizations combine EPP and EDR into one system, but there are still few differences between both EDR and EPP.

1) Focus:

• EPP: Endpoint Protection Platform mainly focuses on preventing and blocking known threats and malware from infecting the endpoints and also provides proactive measures to defend against various cyber threats.
• EDR: Endpoint Detection and Response, on other hand is more focused on detecting and responding to advanced threats that may not use traditional security measures and also provides visibility into endpoint activities for detecting and containing cyber attacks.

2) Functionality:

• EPP: EPP provides different security tools for prevention method such as antivirus, anti-malware, firewall, application and device control. Also it will stop threats at the initial entry point and prevent them from causing any harm or damage.
• EDR: EDR solution mainly focuses on post- breach activities because they are likely to offer advanced solutions like real time endpoint monitoring, behavior analysis, threat hunting, investigations and automated response technique.

3) Approach:

• EPP: EPP will always attempt to block threats based on their patterns and signatures. They will also work against known threats but sometimes they may find difficulty in detecting new threats and attacks.
• EDR: Here in EDR solution, they can detect unknown threats that will eventually bypass preventive measures. EDR tools will collect and analyze data in real time to identify suspicious activities and suspicious behavior.

4) Visibility:

• EPP: EPP solutions provides visibility into endpoints but the primary focus of EPP is prevention, so they may not offer same level of visibility as EDR solution provides.
• EDR: EDR solution provides extensive visibility into endpoints activities, allowing security team to track and investigate the attack and also protect from further unknown threats.

5) Integration:

• EPP: EPP solutions provides security suite which includes various security components like network security, email security, security from threat and more.
• EDR: EDR solution provides security tools such as Security information and event management (SIEM) tool, threat intelligence platform, various security solutions etc.

EPP vs EDR: which one to choose?

Most of the time security experts recommend an organization to use combination of EPP and EDR for endpoint protection. EPP can prevent threats before it hits the end point but EDR is more about assumption of breach. Every organization should never assume that you are completely protected or secure. You must always adopt best security measures to protect the endpoint.

But, which one would you choose between them?

• EPP does not prevent attacks, but it makes more difficult for attackers to achieve their target. Attackers all attacks easier targets to avoid major effort which is involved in EPP security.
• EDR provides visibility and operational tools to an organization and hence with the use of tools security team can react to an attack. EDR solution will reduce the time required for an attack detection by identifying that attack and provides the full kill chain to an organization.

Conclusion:

Now you know the main difference between EPP and EDR. EPP tools provide basic security methods, while EDR tools provide more advanced features. Depending on an organization and their security system need, they decide which one to choose. Sometimes, organization can combine both tools to provide a more holistic solution to secure them against threats. Even a well-balanced security solution will help organizations protect their critical assets, maintain business continuity, safeguard their reputation and secure the network.

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