An endpoint is any device connected to a network. While the number of endpoints necessarily proliferate as a business grows, each endpoint represents an additional cybersecurity risk. Discover how endpoint security works, why network endpoints are vulnerable, and how you can help protect your business endpoints against advanced threats with powerful cybersecurity like AVG AntiVirus Business Edition.
Endpoint security protects devices like desktops, laptops, and mobile phones that can act as entry points — or targets — for hackers and malicious software. Unlike other network security features, endpoint security provides individual devices with comprehensive protection against malware attacks and other threats.
Devices connected to a network that require endpoint security include:
Desktop computers
Laptops
Mobile phones
Tablets
Printers
Servers
Internet of Things (IoT) devices
In short, any device that can connect to the internet is an endpoint that needs to be secured.
Endpoint security protects network devices against hackers and malicious software.
Endpoint security is vital because each end-user device is a doorway into a business' network that’s potentially vulnerable to hacking or malicious software. Endpoint security helps protect your entire network by fortifying these individual entry points against possible cyberattacks.
As a business grows, so will the number of endpoints, translating to a larger attack surface. Endpoint security helps you keep pace with this increased risk by providing a central means of protecting endpoints against security threats.
Any device that can connect to the internet is an endpoint that needs to be secured.
These threats come in many forms, and sophisticated hackers can exploit software vulnerabilities to gain access to devices or networks. From there, they can insert malware like ransomware or spyware — or access sensitive files and trigger a data breach.
Hacks can devastate an organization’s operations, reputation, and finances. According to IBM, the global average cost of a data breach in 2022 was $4.35 million, while the average ransomware payout was $4.54 million.
Given the magnitude of these risks, it’s critical that businesses invest in advanced endpoint security services to help detect, prevent, and eliminate security threats.
Endpoint security works by monitoring files, applications, and systems in real time for evidence of suspicious activity. Most endpoint security systems are delivered through a client-server mode, where a central host oversees all business endpoints to identify and address potential threats. That allows admins to coordinate software updates across all devices, ensuring business-wide compliance.
Endpoint security systems oversee all business endpoints to identify and block threats.
Traditionally, endpoint security revolved around a static, on-site console to manage a fleet of local devices. But increasingly endpoint security systems operate via the cloud. That development tracks with the post-pandemic shift to remote and hybrid work, with employers swapping out desktops for laptops and allowing their employees to work from home.
In a cloud-based approach, the management console lives in the cloud and connects to endpoints through a corresponding agent on each device. A cloud-first approach lets administrators log in from anywhere, maximizing a business’s agility and helping it scale operations. The result is a flexible system where administrators aren’t tied to one location and neither are the endpoints they are managing.
AVG’s Cloud Management Console allows you to manage all your network-connected devices from a central dashboard, helping you monitor threats and boost efficiency across your business. Paired with AVG Antivirus Business Edition, Cloud Management Console helps deliver speedy responses to potential security issues, reduce downtime, and keep your business devices online.
An endpoint security solution, also known as an endpoint protection platform (EPP), comprises a range of tools and services that work together to offer advanced protection against malicious activity.
Endpoint security protection provides many benefits beyond just detecting malware, viruses, spyware, and adware — it also helps to boost productivity and efficiency, and can also prevent financial and reputational losses by reducing the risk of serious data breaches.
Endpoint protection comes in various forms, combining different features and technologies. Here are some of the most common examples of endpoint protection and how they work:
Firewalls: Monitor traffic that enters and exits a network.
Advanced antivirus: Anti-malware protection against malicious software.
Machine learning: The use of algorithms to “learn” how to identify malicious activity.
Network Access Control (NAC): Keeps unauthorized users out of a private network.
Sandboxing: Creates a duplicate end-user environment to “quarantine” unknown programs.
Insider threat protection: Monitors internal threats and flags suspicious activity.
Endpoint, email, and disk encryption: Secures against unauthorized data exfiltration.
Email gateway: Scans inbound and outbound emails, protecting employees from phishing emails and social engineering attacks.
Online browsing security: Protects endpoints from online threats accessed via web browsers.
AVG AntiVirus Business Edition helps to identify, detect, respond to, and block threats to your network. It features a suite of security solutions, such as antivirus endpoint security, an integrated firewall, network protection, and remote management capabilities. Get AVG AntiVirus Business Edition to help secure your business endpoints from malware, ransomware, hackers, and more.
Firewalls can contribute to endpoint protection by monitoring traffic that enters and leaves a network, identifying threats, and blocking malicious requests. But while a firewall is an integral aspect of any robust endpoint security system, a firewall isn’t the same as endpoint security.
Endpoint security is not the same as a VPN, which is a tool that encrypts web traffic and routes it through an intermediate server. However, VPNs contribute to endpoint security by securing the communications and data sent and received over a network.
Advanced endpoint security integrates next-gen tech such as AI, machine learning (ML), and behavioral analysis to proactively protect business endpoints from increasingly sophisticated threats.
Endpoint Protection Platforms (EPPs) allow administrators to passively monitor, identify, and isolate threats to a business network through a centralized console. In contrast, endpoint detection and response (EDR) security actively responds to threats in real-time.
While antivirus software protects a single endpoint against threats, endpoint security can secure multiple endpoints simultaneously and automatically update them when needed. Endpoint security typically includes antivirus but provides a more holistic view, helping to guard against complex threats such as fileless malware.
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