Endpoint Security Solutions for Businesses

What is Endpoint Security?

Endpoint Security is the practice of which protecting the various network-connected devices that are used within your organisation.

Cyber attacks in the UK are on the rise and recent figures highlight that cyber crime can happen to any organisation, regardless of size, sector, or how big their cyber security budget is, with most attacks occurring due to a lack of training, or human error.

Firms are being urged to prioritise device security in their annual IT plans, but the government’s Cyber Security Breaches Survey claims that organisations are failing to protect their physical assets and devices with 26% of medium businesses and 37% of large businesses experiencing cyber crime in the last 12 months.

With flexible working becoming the norm within many organisations, you need to ensure a high level of cyber security protection and monitoring across all your endpoints. Cyber threats are evolving rapidly with cyber criminals adapting to and taking advantage of the new ways in which, we’re working. From phishing emails to malware, we are seeing criminals take advantage of the fact we are not all in the office and cannot turn to our colleagues or IT team for advice or to confirm an email or link is safe.

With Endpoint Security Solutions from Sharp, you have peace of mind that your devices are monitored and secure no matter where your teams are working.

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Complete Endpoint Security Solutions

Our Complete Endpoint Security solutions provide tried-and-tested Anti-virus & Web Protection products to suit every business. These solutions can be seamlessly applied across all your devices, eliminating the need for a standalone alternative, and saving you on cost and complications.

Managed Anti-virus & Web Protection deliver best-in-class security against the growing risks of both local and web-based viruses and malware and these options can be easily integrated into our comprehensive Endpoint Security Solutions.

While safeguarding your servers is crucial, it's equally important to protect the PCs and laptops used by your team to access vital business data. With our Endpoint Security software, we can effectively monitor and secure critical aspects of your end-user devices, ensuring the safety of your valuable company data against potential threats.

Endpoint Security - Features and benefits

Monitoring:
Endpoint Security oversees the Anti-Virus protection on each endpoint device.

IT Asset Tracking:
Keep tabs on the age, specifications, serial numbers, and model details of all your IT assets.

Automated Updates:
Execute updates for Windows and selected third-party applications on a pre-scheduled, automatic basis (patch management).

Cyber Security Risk Assessment:
Collaborate with your Technical Consultant to generate a comprehensive Cyber Security Risk Assessment report. This report empowers your business to showcase it’s compliance efforts and strategise on future cyber security initiatives.

Compliance and Security Measures:
Our Compliance and Security module automatically implements recommended security configurations. We can further customise settings, such as disabling USB storage device usage, across all endpoints while ensuring protection is reinforced every 5 minutes.

Endpoint History Analysis:
The reporting feature illustrates the performance history of all endpoints, allowing your business to demonstrate its dedication to securing data. It's crucial to showcase commitment, not just action, especially concerning GDPR compliance.

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What is an endpoint?

An endpoint is any device used to access or communicate with your IT network. Our Endpoint Security Solutions aim to prevent and mitigate cyber security risks by safeguarding these entry points into your network. Common types of endpoints within organisations are:

Laptops
PC’s and Macs
Smartphones
Printer devices that store data
Servers
Virtual environments
IoT (Internet-of-Things) devices

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How does Endpoint Security work?

Diverse Device Landscape

With the rise of mobile devices, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and remote work, the number and diversity of endpoints in a business environment have increased significantly. Each of these devices represents a potential entry point for cyber threats, making endpoint security essential to protect against attacks.

Remote workforce

The adoption of remote work policies has blurred the traditional network boundaries. Employees now access sensitive business data from various locations and devices. Endpoint Security ensures that these endpoints are secure and adhere to security policies, even when outside the corporate network perimeter.

Protection against Malware

Malware, including viruses, ransomware, and spyware, continues to be a prevalent threat to businesses. Endpoint security solutions deploy antivirus and anti-malware tools to detect and neutralise such threats before they can cause harm.

Insider threat mitigation

Not all security threats come from external threat actors. Insider threats, whether unintentional or malicious, pose a significant risk to businesses. Endpoint security solutions help you monitor user behaviour and identify potential anomalies or suspicious activities.

Zero-day exploits

Cyber criminals often discover and exploit software vulnerabilities before developers can release patches. Endpoint security solutions can detect and block zero-day exploits and prevent attackers from exploiting these vulnerabilities.

GDPR Compliance

Many industries are subject to specific data protection regulations. Endpoint security aids businesses in maintaining compliance with GDPR standards.

Real time monitoring

Endpoint security solutions provide continuous monitoring of devices, enabling the early detection of potential threats and immediate response to security incidents.

Why is endpoint security solutions important?

Cyber threats are increasing year on year with the government estimating that across all UK businesses, there were 2.39 million instances of cybercrime in 2023 alone. From phishing emails to intrusive malware, criminals are taking advantage of remote working environments and unsuspecting staff members. The phenomenon is not limited to large enterprises - small and medium-sized organisations are also in the firing line, where the consequences of business downtime, fines, or reputational damage are markedly worse with fewer capital resources to rely upon.

There are two main reasons for prioritising endpoint security solutions and physical devices:

Companies want people to work smarter, and faster, to increase their productivity. This has led to an exponential rise in BYOD (bring your own device) workplace policies, each with its own levels of protection. Ensuring those endpoints are secure has never been so important.

An unprecedented increase in the number of people working from home, remotely in cafés or hotels, or on the go means that business data is being accessed from a diverse array of networks and Wi-Fi connections. Without the benefit of on-premise endpoint security solutions (such as routers and firewalls), remote working is naturally less secure than a centralised workplace environment.

Sharp's Endpoint Security Solutions

Devices are monitored and protected 24/7 by award-winning Cyber Security experts. Malicious activity is detected before malware can be deployed, giving you peace of mind that your endpoints are monitored and secure, no matter where your teams are working.

What is Endpoint Security best practise?

Endpoint security best practice involves a comprehensive and proactive approach to protecting endpoints from potential security threats. Implementing these practices helps organisations strengthen their security posture and reduce the risk of cyber attacks.

Utilising a Multi-Layered approach to Endpoint Security

In this day and age, relying on a single security measure is simply not sufficient. To stay ahead of hackers, implement a multi-layered security approach that includes a combination of antivirus, firewall, intrusion detection and prevention systems, data encryption, and other security tools. This layered defence strategy ensures that if one layer is breached, there are additional layers of protection in place.

Keep software updated

Regularly update operating systems, applications, and security software on all endpoints. Software updates often include patches for known vulnerabilities and keeping everything up to date reduces the risk of exploitation by cyber criminals.

Use multi-factor authentication

Enforce strong password policies and consider using multi-factor authentication (MFA) for user logins within your organisation. MFA adds an extra layer of security by requiring users to provide additional verification, such as a one-time code sent to their mobile device, in addition to their password.

Implement device control

Use device control mechanisms to manage and restrict the use of USB drives, external storage, and other peripherals. This prevents unauthorised data transfers and helps control potential sources of malware.

Educate your team

Human error remains the most significant factor in cyber security breaches. To help foster a cyber security aware culture within your organisation, conduct regular security awareness training to educate your teams about potential threats, including phishing attacks, and safe computing practices. Conducting periodic security assessments, such as phishing simulation and penetration tests helps to identify potential vulnerabilities and weaknesses in Endpoint Security. These findings help you to continually improve security measures and will help encourage a security-conscious culture throughout the organisation.

Monitor Endpoint activity

Implement real-time monitoring and behaviour analysis on endpoints to detect suspicious activities or deviations from normal behaviour. This can help identify potential threats and respond to security incidents promptly.

Employ Endpoint detection and response

Endpoint Detection Response solutions provide advanced threat detection and response capabilities. They can automatically investigate, contain, and remediate potential threats on endpoints, enhancing overall cyber security.

Backup and recovery

Regularly back up critical data from endpoints to secure locations. In the event of a successful cyber attack, having backups can significantly reduce the impact and help mitigate business downtime.

Segment Networks

Separate endpoints based on their roles and functions and restrict access between segments. Network segmentation helps contain threats and prevents lateral movement within the network if one endpoint's security is compromised.

Develop an incident response plan

Have a well-defined incident response plan in place, outlining the steps to take in case of a security breach. Practice and update the plan regularly to ensure an efficient response to security incidents.

Endpoint Security - Explained

Endpoint Detect & Response EDR vs anti-virus. What’s the difference?

Traditional anti-virus solutions operate on the premise of “scans, detects and removes.” EDR goes one step further by tracking, monitoring, and analysing data on endpoints to provide a more sophisticated set of countermeasures.

What is a SOC?

The SOC (Security Operations Centre) is a team of information security specialists who are responsible for monitoring and analysing security information.

Monitoring is a key component and needs a human element to analyse threats when they are identified. With a Security Operations Centre (SOC) monitoring your endpoint security 24/7, malicious behaviour is detected, stopped, and quarantined and you can be assured that your systems are safe, and action will be taken should any suspicious activity be detected.

What is a zero-day attack?

A zero-day attack is an unknown security vulnerability that cyber criminals exploit to gain access to systems and data. Such attacks will not be picked up by anti-virus alone and usually require specialist preventative measures.

Endpoint Security vs Network Security

Endpoint Security and network security are two essential components of a comprehensive cyber security strategy for businesses, but they address distinct aspects of security. Essentially, endpoint security solutions target individual devices, while network security covers the broader protection of the entire network infrastructure and the data it carries.

Endpoint Security focuses on protecting individual devices (endpoints) and involves implementing measures such as antivirus, firewall, encryption, and device control to secure these endpoints and prevent unauthorised access, data breaches, and malware infections.

On the other hand, network security is concerned with safeguarding the entire network infrastructure and the data flowing between devices. It involves measures like firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and virtual private networks (VPNs) to monitor and control network traffic, detect, and respond to suspicious activities, and prevent unauthorised access to the network.