As technology continues to evolve, so do the cybercriminals that seek any weaknesses they can exploit. Cybersecurity must continue to advance to ensure that organizations can protect sensitive data, but the path forward isn’t always clear when battling advanced cyber-attacks. To help us understand cybersecurity’s future, we must first understand its development up to this point.
One of the best defenses against cyberattacks is proactivity. Thus, the shift from traditional AV to endpoint detection and response (EDR) was a necessary step. With continuous monitoring at each endpoint (laptops, cellphones, etc.), EDR solutions can identify potentially malicious activity, acting as a line of defense against zero-day threats where traditional AV was lacking. EDR solutions also provide a more dynamic approach to cybersecurity by analyzing users’ typical behaviors to identify any pattern deviations. With ongoing surveillance keeping track of behaviors and identifying suspicious activity, EDR solutions automatically respond to them and notify the cybersecurity team, vastly shortening the response time that would normally be present with traditional AV. It’s this quick response time that led the institution Boston University (BU) to implement EDRs when they began facing threats that were too advanced for the cybersecurity solution they were originally implementing at the time. Malware can spread rapidly through systems, so EDR’s ability to automatically isolate systems from their network was an asset for an institution with various technological endpoints connected to their network. This is a case for cybersecurity leaders to remember as it shows how valuable solutions don’t just rely on how fast the threat can be identified but also how fast the proper response can be implemented.
Since threats continue to advance and become more complex, so should cybersecurity solutions. While EDR is a valuable approach, the institutions that require a more comprehensive strategy will benefit from EDR’s next evolution: extended detection and response (XDR). While EDR can isolate threats and monitor each endpoint, XDR goes even further by monitoring an organization’s entire digital ecosystem, protecting cloud servers, emails, and other work-related applications. Offering a broader scope for round-the-clock monitoring, XDR represents an advancement for those seeking a more integrated security approach, aggregating and analyzing data across the entire digital environment to swiftly identify and mitigate threats that might surpass the detection capabilities of EDR systems.
Since threats continue to advance and become more complex, so should cybersecurity solutions. While EDR is a valuable approach, the institutions that require a more comprehensive strategy will benefit from EDR’s next evolution: extended detection and response (XDR). While EDR can isolate threats and monitor each endpoint, XDR goes even further by monitoring an organization’s entire digital ecosystem, protecting cloud servers, emails, and other work-related applications. Offering a broader scope for round-the-clock monitoring, XDR represents an advancement for those seeking a more integrated security approach, aggregating and analyzing data across the entire digital environment to swiftly identify and mitigate threats that might surpass the detection capabilities of EDR systems.
As cybersecurity has transformed from AV software to XDR the more that technology progresses, we should expect to see even more robust solutions enter the sector in the coming years. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) algorithms are more capable than ever at analyzing extensive amounts of data in shorter periods of time, and cybercriminals are not above using these systems to support their digital attacks. However, cybersecurity will continue to evolve as it has in the past, and the current rise of AI and ML systems may likely be a factor in the next generation of cyber defense solutions combatting the next level of cyber threats.
