Kaspersky warns against endpoint risks

Kaspersky is calling on its channel to discuss endpoint security with customers that might be making the wrong decisions with their technology choices.

With the pandemic causing a shift to home working, the demand in endpoint detection response (EDR) products has risen sharply, and this has seen some users choose cheap and inadequate products, according to Kaspersky.

The vendor is highlighting the move by some next-generation and firewall vendors to present themselves as the answer when it comes to EDR as a result of acquisitions they have made, often of born-in-the-cloud endpoint specialists.

Kaspersky is warning that some of the products on the market from those vendors do not provide the full depth of endpoint protection platform offerings, with features including device and application hardening, and could leave the customers exposed to risks.

Kaspersky is calling on its partners to step up their education of users and re-engage around the debate of endpoint protection, which continues to be important and will be on the agenda again thanks to the announcement of the third national lockdown.

According to recent figures from Technavio, the endpoint security market is expected to grow by $8.9bn between 2020 and 2024, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17%. The firm commented that the market was already fragmented with numerous vendors, and expects it to become even more so over the next few years.

“Just because some vendors are shouting loudest, doesn’t mean they’re looking after a business’ best interests, and that’s why it’s critical that businesses enter into a conversation that begins with discussing what [the business] needs,” said Andy Bogdan, head of UK channel at Kaspersky.

"More often than not, what they’ll find they need is a solution built around, or integrated with, training and skills development. What companies should be investing in first and foremost is instilling that knowledge culture across the business. That will then go hand in hand with EDR being a tool that can become part of your armoury, providing greater visibility and investigation in the growing cyber threat landscape,” he added.

The channel is also likely to find that a conversation around EDR leads onto discussions about other security technologies because, despite the hype from some vendors, it is not a “silver bullet” on its own.

“EDR systems are not the only solution to an organisation’s security. However, they do form a valuable and indispensable layer of security to ward off the most dangerous capabilities that cyber criminals can throw at an organisation. But to be most effective, EDR solutions must be deployed into a managed, licensed and hardened IT environment,” said Ian Thornton-Trump, chief information security officer (CISO) at Cyjax.

“Businesses must also realise that technology from three or five years ago is not advanced enough to deal with modern malware. Investment in security technologies like EDR is required, because in technology, good becomes poor very quickly as cyber criminals sprint to innovate new capabilities monthly,” he added.