How to protect endpoints with a multi-layered security strategy

Malware and ransomware infection rates are increasing yearly, with ransomware attacks doubling in 2021 according to the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Story, and 50% to 75% of ransomware wounded are small businesses. It’s more significant than ever for MSPs to adopt a layered security strategy to protect their customers.

Layered defence is about adding layers of security to your environment to ensure you operate as securely as possible. A typical SMB safety stack would look like this:

• Email security and advanced threat guard
• security endpoint
• patch management
• Ransomware Detection
• Network Security – Firewalls
• Multi-Factor Authentication
• Web Content Filtering
• Permissions for standard user accounts
• Backup and Restore

If MSPs want to ensure their partners are completely secure, they must focus on securing endpoints, primarily desktops and laptops. This blog post covers the key components to effectively securing endpoints.

Email security and advanced threat protection

Because email remains a key attack vector, it’s crucial to have Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) on top of your email provider’s basic email security. Adequate email security before delivery prevents malware from even getting into the environment.

Designed to stop attacks beforehand, they reach the end user; Datto SaaS Defense enables MSPs to proactively protect against a variety of malware that boards not only the Microsoft Exchange inbox but also the collaboration tools in Microsoft 365, such as Microsoft OneDrive, Microsoft SharePoint, and Microsoft. Gear

security endpoint

Antivirus (AV)

Antivirus software runs automatically in the contextual endpoints in your environment and scans your system for known malware based on recognized virus definitions. When your AV detects malware, it removes it from the endpoint to protect your business. While it was sufficient to have an AV on every endpoint in the past, today, it is only seen as the first step in endpoint security.

Datto RMM ensures that antivirus protection is installed and updated. MSPs must have precise information about the status of antivirus solutions on all endpoints. Datto RMM’s universal antivirus discovery not only detects the attendance of antivirus solutions on endpoints but also reports the quality of those solutions.

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)

CISA recently identified EDR as a critical component for cybersecurity, but many organizations still lack this competence. EDR alerts you to suspicious activity that could indicate a malware attack. Real-time alerts reduce threat detection time, which can significantly impact your chances of recovery from incidents like ransomware.

Once an EDR tool has warned you of suspicious activity, a security analyst typically analyzes the information and chooses the next steps. Generally, these tools collect and monitor data related to potential cybersecurity threats to the network. Your side can analyze this data to determine the root cause of security issues and use it to support incident management and response strategies.

patch management

Unpatched vulnerabilities are one of the leading reasons for security openings. Patches are updates to operating systems, software requests, and network devices created to fix security vulnerabilities.

They are critical to designing an effective cybersecurity strategy as they often close security gaps that could allow attackers to penetrate endpoints and IT systems. To ensure timely patch deployment, MSPs often use patch management tools that provide detailed information about potentially compromised applications and devices.

Datto RMM’s integrated patch management engine makes patch management simple and scalable for MSPs through flexible policies and automation. Using automated patch management tools, MSPs can simultaneously apply patches to multiple endpoints, maintaining a consistent security posture across all managed endpoints.

Policy-based patch automation also helps MSPs be more efficient by reducing cumbersome manual updates and improves service delivery by minimizing disruption to end users.

Ransomware Detection

Datto RMM’s unique ransomware detection feature monitors endpoints for ransomware infections using proprietary file behaviour analysis and alerts you when a device is diseased. When ransomware is detected, Datto RMM can isolate the machine and attempt to stop suspicious ransomware processes to prevent it from spreading.

It allows MSPs to monitor endpoints for ransomware at scale, take action to prevent ransomware proliferation, and reduce the time to resolution.

Backup

Your customers may have different requirements for their endpoint security strategy. However, an essential component must be the endpoint backup. If other endpoint security measures fail, a current backup of the device ensures that you still have access to the statistics you need, no matter what.

In other words, security starts with recovery. It is crucial to backup endpoints to allow recovery in case of a cyber incident. Datto Cloud Continuousness for PCs enhances endpoint security. It is a preceding line of defence by protecting data during a hardware failure, accidental deletion, ransomware attack, or extra tragedy. Cloud Continuity ensures endpoints can be restored to their pre-disaster state speedily.