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EPP, EDR, MDR and XDR are next-generation endpoint security technologies that are both established and evolving, created to provide greater visibility, threat detection and response across all enterprise endpoints. Looking at today’s cybersecurity incidents, we can see that 70% of breaches originate from endpoints. Gartner states that by 2023, the majority of organisations will need to replace their legacy security software with one of the new generation of advanced solutions.
Of course, IT departments and cybersecurity teams must enhance their remote remediation/response capabilities for endpoints. The biggest challenge at this point is the confusion surrounding EPP, MDR, XDR and EDR technologies, whose capabilities vary from vendor to vendor.
We share with you the points to consider when procuring this type of cybersecurity service or product for your organisation, and the differences between these products. Before getting into the pros and cons, however, we need to identify the common ground and have a basic understanding of their differences.
The terminology around endpoints does not stop there. Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR), Network Detection and Response (NDR), Extended Detection and Response (XDR), Managed Detection and Response (MDR), Managed Extended Detection and Response (MXDR)…
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR), Network Detection and Response (NDR), Extended Detection and Response (XDR), Managed Detection and Response (MDR), Managed Extended Detection and Response (MXDR). Yes, it is quite understandable that confusion arises when faced with so many terms and technologies.
The threat detection and response (D&R) landscape continues to be developed by vendors. At the same time, cyber attackers will continue to come at us using technology in many different ways. This causes how we must fight security threats to play out like a chess match from recent history. Sometimes attackers are ahead, and sometimes the defensive world can close in on them. While this process continues, technology is generally in favour of attackers — they start the chess match playing white.
Gartner introduced us to the term “EDR” to describe new security solutions that detect and investigate suspicious activity on hosts and endpoints, using a high degree of automation, to enable security teams to quickly identify threats and respond to them.
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) enables robust monitoring of endpoints without the assistance of an external managed service. The organisation’s security team gains greater visibility and monitoring of endpoints through this technology. EDR offers stronger protection compared to legacy security solutions.
Traditional antivirus software detected malware through an attacker’s signature. However, advanced persistent threats now also use malware-free actions and technologies. This means we cannot detect cyber threats with legacy-type applications. EDR enables these threats to be detected. It records queries, behaviours and events to help identify underlying vulnerabilities and their root causes. Some EDR products also offer advanced behavioural analysis and machine learning that may go beyond the knowledge of the in-house security team.
EDR reflects the focus on the endpoint (rather than the network), threats (rather than only malware and formally reported incidents), and the primary use of tools for both detection and incident response. It is defined as real-time continuous monitoring and collection of endpoint data (such as networked computing devices like workstations, mobile phones and servers) with rules-based automated response and analysis capabilities.
If we were to list the core functions of an EDR platform: it starts with continuously monitoring and collecting activity data from endpoints that could indicate a threat. It then has the ability to analyse this data to identify threat patterns. It automatically responds to identified threats to eliminate or contain them. It then notifies the security team or SOC team when a threat is detected. It also acts as a forensic analysis tool to investigate identified threats and search for suspicious activity.
In short, EDR provides greater visibility compared to traditional cybersecurity solutions and has the capability to respond to advanced forms of cyber threats such as the following.
EDR is also recognised as a “foundational component” for transitioning to a zero trust architecture. Organisations have had to use EDR so that there are “no blind spots” in their internal networks and so that activities executed within workloads can be monitored.
EDR focuses solely on endpoint environments. On the other hand, new research capabilities in EDR solutions show that they leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate steps in an investigation process. They can be used alongside various other cyber threat intelligence sources to interpret this information and its findings.
MDR has emerged as a 7/24 D&R service from MSSPs (or MDR-specific providers using proprietary technology). In fact, unlike the other terms, MDR is a managed service. The MDR service reduces the rate of alerts and false positives. By providing greater visibility against emerging threats, it allows red teams to prioritise and investigate. It helps contain and remediate threats in both proactive and reactive services.
At this point, we wish to note that what sets MDR apart is the cybersecurity experience and knowledge of the individuals, organisations or providers delivering this service. MDR presents itself as a managed cybersecurity service backed by new technologies, focused on providing various threat detection and response capabilities to reduce the damage caused by cyber attacks that evade prevention controls. The layers of technology used, and the experience and expertise of the personnel, determine how truly effective an MDR provider can be.
NDR was developed to detect threats focused on bypassing traditional firewalls, UTM devices and next-generation firewall (NGFW) devices. Internet and LAN traffic is supported by NDR. However, due to the nature of capturing this type of traffic effectively and at a reasonable cost, EDR is more commonly preferred depending on the use case. NDR offers a range of advantages including a comprehensive rule set that identifies threats based on network communications and SOC services, along with rapid incident response and mitigation/remediation assistance. However, the remote working policies resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic have altered the traditional network perimeter. Organisations with a large remote workforce may not have substantial traffic on their defined corporate networks, which means NDR will have minimal visibility into what is happening.
XDR, a new technology, emerged in 2019 as a SecOps platform that aggregates and analyses data from multi-point products. While these capabilities accelerate D&R features, many platforms may not be supported by vendors.
XDR offers a more advanced, holistic and cross-platform approach to endpoint detection and response. While EDR aggregates and correlates events across multiple endpoints, XDR technologies extend the detection scope beyond endpoints and analyse data across endpoints, networks, servers, cloud workloads, SIEM and much more. At this point it is unified across multiple tools and attack vectors and provides a single-pane-of-glass view. Ready-made integrations and pre-tuned detection mechanisms across multiple different products and platforms help improve productivity, threat detection and forensic analysis processes.
XDR platforms, which are most commonly encountered as cloud platforms, go far beyond the data collection function of a SIEM. XDR platforms have pre-built integrations to work alongside and capture telemetry from servers, endpoints, networks, emails and SIEM/SOAR.
XDR provides greater visibility than MDR. Operating around the clock, XDR uses machine learning and data analytics to correlate events, normalise information, identify threats and reduce alert fatigue. XDR solutions reduce complexity through integration, automate responses and significantly reduce response times compared to MDR. However, XDR products can create vendor/compatibility issues. While XDR offers many features, many providers specialise in only a few areas. Some XDR solutions are compatible with a limited number of vendors, and you may need to decide between the best purpose-built solution and general-purpose functionality.
The shortcomings in MDR and EDR help explain why Extended Detection and Response (XDR) products generate so many alerts. XDR extends the capabilities of EDR beyond endpoints. It aims to extend across an organisation’s cloud workloads, application suites and user personas to provide comprehensive protection.
XDR correlates security telemetry from all these different assets and presents a unified security solution with the necessary context to give security teams full visibility into potential threats. It stands out with automated or single-click response options. XDR also provides cyber intelligence gathering and orchestrated response in a single, complete platform, eliminating the need for separate SIEM and SOAR solutions.
MXDR refers to XDR platforms delivered as a managed service. It works by integrating with existing technology. It offers the advantages of real-time threat detection and incident validation. The provision of additional technology and security skills makes MXDR simpler than XDR. MXDR also ensures constant activity and rapid action at all times through its automated response and remediation capabilities at endpoints.
MXDR is a powerful technology that combines log capture data not seen by EDR and NDR services (such as Active Directory or VPN sessions), while also allowing correlation and validation from other rich log sources to validate threats.
MXDR leverages your existing technology investments and environment. This naturally provides a cost advantage. It offers the benefit of rapid IR and mitigation/remediation assistance by allowing you to know which threats are most important.
In summary, Managed Extended Detection and Response is necessary for detecting and responding to today’s threats. If we were to position D&R products with the attacks of the last 20 years in mind, we can safely say that MXDR will emerge within the next few years and will provide a proactive posture in our future battles against constantly evolving threat actors.
EPP stands for Endpoint Protection Platform. While EDR products focus on detecting and responding to endpoint “threats”, EPP products focus on the endpoint “environment” and are more advantageous in that they cover four cybersecurity functions: prediction, prevention, detection and response.
For this reason, in various respects, EPP solutions may encompass EDR products. However, an important point to remember is that since no EPP is one hundred percent effective, we are left asking what detection and response mechanism you have in place for attacks that evade prevention controls.
EPP solutions, which serve as the first line of defence against threats directed at the endpoint, identify file-based and fileless malware, malicious scripts and malware running in memory. They also prevent these threats from executing on a system.
EPP has increasingly begun to replace fundamental prevention solutions such as antivirus and anti-malware, which are effective against known threats to varying degrees. More advanced EPP solutions use artificial intelligence to enhance the ability to block unknown or zero-day attacks, and even fileless attacks that leave no signature-based footprint.
Endpoint protection platforms aim to prevent traditional threats such as known malware, as well as advanced threats like fileless attacks, ransomware and zero-day vulnerabilities. An EPP can detect malicious activity using several techniques.
EPPs typically provide endpoint protection using data protection capabilities with potential data loss prevention, detection systems known as antivirus and next-generation antivirus, and host-based firewall tools that harden the endpoint.
Looking at the Gartner definition, EPP solutions are primarily cloud-managed solutions that allow continuous monitoring and collection of operational data. While performing remote remediation actions to secure the endpoint, they must be able to understand whether it is in an office environment or outside of one. In other words, the endpoint agent does not need to maintain a local database of all known IOCs, but should check a cloud resource to find information about objects it cannot classify.
EPP is a more comprehensive protection that covers the lifecycle of a threat from prediction and prevention to detection and response. However, how effective it is in each of these four functions varies from vendor to vendor. While traditional EPP tools provide basic security features such as anti-malware scanning, EDR tools implement more advanced security event detection and investigation capabilities.
However, EDR requires active investigation and analysis by security professionals to be able to respond appropriately to threats. In contrast, EPP operates with minimal supervision after initial setup and configuration.
While people tend to think EDR is more powerful, EDR does not make EPP a redundant tool. Instead, organisations that require strong endpoint security measures should adopt a holistic approach covering both traditional and advanced security threats.
Managed Detection and Response services are often compared with Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) services. While they share similarities, they also differ in terms of technology, expertise and the relationship model. MDR services are typically proactive and threat-focused. MSSPs are designed to be reactive and vulnerability-focused. Unlike MSSPs, MDR services focus on detection, response and threat hunting rather than security alert monitoring. MSSPs manage firewalls but do not provide the same level of threat investigation, analytics and forensic analysis as MDR services. MSSPs recognise security issues but will struggle to uncover the threat detail that MDR services provide.
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