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7 best practices for endpoint security
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SECURITY


7 BEST PRACTICES FOR ENDPOINT SECURITY

Post author:Written By Ken Galvin Post published:February 8, 2022

Endpoints are always the entry point for data breaches. Given the impact a
breach can have on your organization, applying best practices for endpoint
security is of paramount importance. The risks to your organization are growing
higher every year. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), the
number of data breaches grew by 17% in 2021 versus 2020 with 1,291 breaches
through the first three quarters of the year.

And the average cost of a data breach is escalating as well. Based on research
from IBM and the Ponemon Institute, the average cost of a data breach reached
$4.24 million USD in 2021, the highest it has been in the last 17 years. They
also found that the average cost was $1.07 million USD higher in breaches where
remote work was a factor in causing the breach, which shows just how vulnerable
endpoints can be to cybersecurity threats with our current remote and hybrid
working models in place.


THE IMPORTANCE OF ENDPOINT SECURITY

Endpoint security is crucial because every device connected to your business
could be a possible attack vector. Therefore, identifying and safeguarding every
device that accesses your network, regardless of where they are is critical.



Employees are no longer relying on just their desktop PCs at the office. The
explosion of remote work in the last few years has increased the use of laptops,
iPads, iPhones, smartwatches, you name it, to access essential company
information 24 hours a day, seven days a week – hopefully encrypted – from
wherever and whenever they want to work. It’s also not confined to user devices.
Printers, fax machines, point-of-sale systems, and an ever-growing list of
Internet of Things (IoT) devices now accessing your network are all examples of
endpoints and possible areas of entry for bad actors. That’s where policies and
processes come in to play. Here is a list of best practices for endpoint
security your organization can implement to increase protection.


APPLYING BEST PRACTICES FOR ENDPOINT SECURITY

The good news is that safeguarding your endpoints with a well-thought-out
strategy isn’t difficult. A lot of it boils down to some essential IT practices.
The idea is to automate as much as possible to stay ahead of it. Below are seven
fundamental best practices for endpoint security every organization should
follow.


1.    EDUCATE YOUR USERS

Proper endpoint security starts with educating the users of the endpoints that
access your network and data. You can make your IT and endpoint environment as
safe and strong as possible, but if a user reads an email and clicks on an
attachment they shouldn’t have opened and clicked, it can create an opening in
your perimeter for hackers to attack your company.

Making sure your organization provides security and compliance training to your
users and confirming that they finish it successfully on a regular basis is a
critical but partial answer. Another action the IT or security staff should do
is send out alerts to users whenever a questionable email is circulated, with
advice on how to properly delete or quarantine it.


2.    FIND AND TRACK ALL DEVICES THAT CONNECT TO YOUR NETWORK

Regardless of platform, operating system, or location, you must be aware of and
able to track and monitor every device that connects to your network. This
includes company-owned computers, printers, and IoT devices, as well as laptops,
tablets, and phones used by your employees as part of your BYOD program.

Go beyond making sure that unauthorized individuals do not gain access to any of
these devices and also determine what is not meant to be accessing your network,
such as who has more access permissions than they require, and which devices
have become infected. Even if you don’t have a unified endpoint management
system in place and are forced to manage several, disparate management systems,
this degree of visibility and control is critical to guaranteeing the security
of your endpoints.


3.    INSTALL AND MAINTAIN THE LATEST OPERATING SYSTEMS, SECURITY SOFTWARE AND
PATCHES

After gaining visibility into every device connecting to your network, now you
need to identify the endpoints that require updates and patches made to the
operating systems, applications, and security software they have installed or
need to have installed.

Having the most up-to-date security software installed on all your devices will
aid in the blocking and removal of malware from your endpoints. In addition to
the security software, the makers of the operating systems and apps your company
relies on regularly invest a pretty penny to patch vulnerabilities in their
software, but those updates and patches are only effective if your endpoints are
kept up-to-date on a regular basis.


4.    EMPLOY A ZERO TRUST SECURITY APPROACH TO USER PRIVILEGES

A zero trust security approach to user privileges aims to prohibit unauthorized
users from accessing sensitive data and from spreading malware that could infect
it. As referenced above, this approach is proven to be effective for
significantly lowering the cost of a data breach at organizations with a mature
zero trust approach.

Administrators must keep track of which systems the users access from their
endpoints and whether the access rights granted to each user are acceptable for
their role. Users should only have access to business systems and data that they
require to perform their duties. Users should have least-privilege access to the
systems they need by default, with administrator privileges reserved for
specialized users.


5.    REGULATE USB PORT ACCESS

Unattended workstation USB ports, as well as devices such as printers, cameras,
and external drives, could be used to steal company data or introduce malware
into the network. Administrators should use a least-privilege strategy to
granularly limit who has access to which USB ports and where in order to prevent
malware, avoid data theft, and maintain your zero trust security standards.


6.    DISCOVER AND FIX VULNERABILITIES

You must identify software versions, settings, or device configurations that may
expose your system to vulnerabilities. Conduct frequent IT security audits by
scanning all Windows, Mac, and Linux systems with the Open Vulnerability
Assessment Language (OVAL). This will enable you to identify and fix
vulnerabilities in your environment as well as systems that do not adhere to
your security and configuration policies.


7.    RAPIDLY REMEDIATE MISSING AND INFECTED DEVICES

Track and monitor your traditional and mobile devices at all times. Remotely
lock, wipe, or factory reset a mobile device or its password if it goes missing
to prevent company data from being accessed, corrupted, or stolen. If you
believe an endpoint has been infected with malware, reimage the device
immediately using a gold master image.




SUMMARY

The risks and costs of data breaches are rising, and endpoints are frequently
the entry point for these attacks. Having a fundamentally sound approach to
endpoint security is essential to protecting your organization from
cybercriminals and it can be implemented by following the seven best practices
for endpoint security outlined above.

Tags: Cybersecurity, Endpoint Security, Unified endpoint management, Zero Trust


ABOUT THE AUTHOR


KEN GALVIN


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ken Galvin is the Senior Product Manager for KACE Unified Endpoint Management
solutions at Quest. He has been with KACE for seven of his fifteen years at
Quest where he previously managed the Quest Management Xtensions (QMX) product
line which extended Microsoft System Center to non-Windows platforms. Ken lives
with his wife in Virginia 1.5 hours west of Washington, DC where they raised
their four adult children.


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