Endpoint Security: Eliminate Threats and Improve Visibility and Protection

Endpoints, from workers’ laptops and mobile devices to virtual desktops, remain a major security risk to your business. Anything that connects to the company network is a potential threat and needs securing to prevent viruses, malware, ransomware and hacking attacks.

Endpoint security takes the lead role in protecting these devices and your business, and while should be part of a layered IT defense, it represents the front line in the battle between hackers and your digital operations.

That frontline is called the perimeter: think of it as the trench between your business and the millions of automated attacks that are launched every day by hackers trying to break into businesses.

In this in-depth guide, we'll explore the following topics:

1. What is endpoint security?
2. Why is endpoint security vital?
3. How does endpoint protection work?
4. The biggest and most persistent endpoint security risks
5. Endpoint security best practices
6. What to look for in an endpoint security solution?
7. The different types of endpoint protection
8. Think beyond the endpoint with threat intelligence
9. Final thoughts

What is endpoint security?

At its simplest, endpoint security is a set of applications or services that protect business networks from whatever threat can be installed on company computers, servers, mobiles or other devices, including printers. In industrial settings, this can also include Internet of Things (IoT) devices, while retailers can find point of sale (PoS) or kiosk terminals are points of risk. 

While traditional antivirus and firewall tools protect the device, endpoint protection is focused on defending the business network and services from whatever threats appear across those devices.

Since an enterprise can have many thousands of notebooks or mobile devices in use at any one time, endpoint security tools need to be always up to date and constantly scanning for malicious internal and external threats.