Cybersecurity is a critical process no company can afford to neglect. Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBS) have different challenges because they usually aren’t set up with robust IT resources like larger companies. This increasingly puts SMBs at risk because threat actors specifically target them, assuming they don’t have strong protective measures in place. Last year there was a 424% increase in new small business cyber breaches.
To help combat cyber threats, IT experts often integrate endpoint detection and response (EDR) into their strategies. This proactive approach helps to identify and stop threats before they cause damage.
What is EDR?
EDR takes a holistic approach to cybersecurity, and experts in the field consider it a type of advanced threat protection. Essentially, EDR is a set of integrated security tools that monitors behavior and detects suspicious events at user endpoints, such as computers, servers, and mobile devices for unusual events or patterns.
If a suspicious event and/or pattern is identified, it blocks the event and saves the forensic data. Through a process of gathering and analysis, EDR enhances the ability to identify security breaches as they occur and facilitates a fast response to threats in real-time. EDR focuses on endpoints, not networks. However, endpoints are gateways to networks, making EDR an important preventative tool that can help provide comprehensive protection for your business.
Consequences of SMBs Not Protecting Themselves
The cost of just one cybersecurity event can be staggering for an SMB. The risks associated with cyberthreats are high because the direct and indirect costs are often too much for a smaller company to handle.
- Business Disruption: Every hour of downtime is costly, and extended periods can be devastating. Statistically speaking, smaller companies (60%) go out of business within six months post-incident.
- Data Losses: Your data is valuable to your company, and, unfortunately, threat actors know it. It’s one of the primary reasons cybercriminals have recently shown a high interest in ransomware.
- Regulatory Fines: Laws relating to data breaches are increasing. Large companies often pay upward of hundreds of millions of dollars in fines. Imagine how even a $40,000 fine might impact your SMB?
- Damage to Reputation: If you suffer a hack or ransomware attack, how much customer trust would you lose? Chances are a lot. If this happens, you’ll lose sales and potential partnerships with other businesses because they’ll be hesitant to jeopardize themselves.
As an SMB, you want to identify affordable, yet effective solutions to put strong cybersecurity measures into place to avoid becoming a statistic in the growing number of smaller businesses targeted. Managed IT is a good solution.
Benefits of EDR for SMBs
Antivirus programs are important, but they don’t perform the same function as EDR. EDR adds an additional layer of protection because it handles endpoint management, performs data analysis, actively seeks threats in programs, processes, and files matching known malware parameters. With these capabilities, your administrators, or that of your managed IT partner, can have a singular view of what’s going on.
You probably heavily rely on email on a day-to-day basis. Did you know email is the most common access point cybercriminals use to inject malware? This means every email user is at risk. Unfortunately, many types of malware lie dormant before they attack, leaving users unaware they’ve been infected. Other malware quietly replicates itself and can wreak havoc. EDRs proactively help protect your company by monitoring all events, even those seemingly harmless, but might later show symptoms of being malicious.
Due to its ability to combine data and behavioral analysis, EDR augments other important cybersecurity measures to combat threats. Think of EDR as a recorder that listens and sees everything in a room—basically, EDRs track all events and provide the ability to review them later. If an unidentified threat is found, EDRs highlight it. If it’s a new type of threat, it’ll categorize it as malicious or send an alert to your security experts to confirm. EDRs are a valuable tool for administrators, helping them develop strategies to mitigate significant threats, such as ransomware.
Contact Exact IT Consulting Today
Cybersecurity is costly, no doubt about it. Most SMBs cannot afford to maintain a fully staffed IT department. Fortunately, there is an affordable solution in partnering with a managed IT expert. At Exact IT, we pride ourselves on our ability to provide comprehensive cybersecurity solutions. We use an all-inclusive cybersecurity approach that integrates EDR as one of several layers of protection.
If you have any questions about EDR or want to learn how we can help protect your business, contact Exact IT for a consultation.
