Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR), also referred to as endpoint detection and threat response (EDTR), is an endpoint security solution that continuously monitors end-user devices to detect and respond to cyber threats like ransomware and malware. Coined by Gartner’s Anton Chuvakin, EDR is defined as a solution that “records and stores endpoint-system-level behaviors, uses various data analytics techniques to detect suspicious system behavior, provides contextual information, blocks malicious activity, and provides remediation suggestions to restore affected systems.”
What is EDR and how does EDR work?
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR), also referred to as endpoint detection and threat response (EDTR), is an endpoint security solution that continuously monitors end-user devices to detect and respond to cyber threats like ransomware and malware. Coined by Gartner’s Anton Chuvakin, EDR is defined as a solution that “records and stores endpoint-system-level behaviors, uses various data analytics techniques to detect suspicious system behavior, provides contextual information, blocks malicious activity, and provides remediation suggestions to restore affected systems.”
EDR security solutions record the activities and events taking place on endpoints and all workloads, providing security teams with the visibility they need to uncover incidents that would otherwise remain invisible. An EDR solution needs to provide continuous and comprehensive visibility into what is happening on endpoints in real-time.
An EDR tool should offer advanced threat detection, investigation and response capabilities—including incident data search and investigation alert triage, suspicious activity validation, threat hunting, and malicious activity detection and containment.
Why is EDR important?
Understanding the key aspects of EDR security and why they are important will help you better discern what to look for in a solution. It’s important to find EDR security solutions that can provide the highest level of protection while requiring the least amount of effort and investment—adding value to your security team without draining resources. Here are the six key aspects of EDR you should look for:
- Endpoint visibility: Real-time visibility across all your endpoints allows you to view adversary activities, even as they attempt to breach your environment, and stop them immediately.
- Threat database: Effective EDR requires massive amounts of telemetry collected from endpoints and enriched with context so it can be mined for signs of attack with a variety of analytic techniques.
- Behavioral protection: Relying solely on signature-based methods or indicators of compromise (IOCs) leads to the “silent failure” that allows data breaches to occur. Effective endpoint detection and response requires behavioral approaches that search for indicators of attack (IOAs), so you are alerted to suspicious activities before a compromise can occur.
- Fast response: EDR that enables a fast and accurate response to incidents can stop an attack before it becomes a breach and allow your organization to get back to business quickly.
- Cloud-based solution: Having a cloud-based endpoint detection and response solution is the only way to ensure zero impact on endpoints, while making sure capabilities such as search, analysis and investigation can be done accurately and in real-time.