Differences Between Virus Protection and EDR Security

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) provides enterprises with comprehensive cyber threat protection. This is something that needs to be taken seriously in today’s age. It doesn’t matter if you’re a massive corporation or a small business, someone somewhere is interested in your sensitive data. Any weaknesses in your defense provide a potential vulnerability to be exploited by dark actors.

The prevalence of data breaches has been on the rise. Our digital world is still in its relative infancy. Due to this, we’re forced to live in a sort of Wild West era where innocent parties are inherently susceptible due to the quickly changing landscape. Major corporations and government entities often fall victim to coordinated cyber-attacks. There’s a huge interest in protecting the sensitive data held by these institutions. There’s also, however, an endless line of criminals looking to exploit it.

Virus protection tools like antivirus software have been around for decades now. Yet, the presence of these programs isn’t always enough to stop online intrusion. It’s incredibly difficult to defend against the most sophisticated threats, as hackers are always looking for a new way to steal information. Fortunately, options like EDR are proving novel cyber threat protection approaches for keeping devices and networks safer. Here are some differences between virus protection and EDR security.

How Is EDR Different from Virus Protection?

There are some pretty significant points that need to be addressed when discussing the differences between EDR security and virus protection. At its most basic level, you can distinguish between these two types of security protocols by their functionality. Antivirus software can’t do much beyond detect and block incoming threats. While this is essential, it’s not nearly enough to protect valuable digital assets in today’s age.

EDR goes beyond antivirus software by taking a far more holistic approach. There’s a lot more to monitoring endpoints than just filtering access and detecting threats as they try to gain access. By utilizing EDR, enterprises can harness a whole new arena of cyber threat protection. These are some of the top benefits EDR holds over antivirus software:

• Go Beyond Endpoint Monitoring – While endpoint is right in the name of EDR, this doesn’t fully describe the functionality of these tools. This is because while endpoints are a major focus of EDR, it goes beyond this. One of the most important ways EDR exceeds its title is by monitoring data stored on endpoints. Data comes and goes and is often being transferred between endpoints. Most security tools can’t differentiate between normal flow and a potential threat. With EDR, enterprise data is monitored as it flows to and from endpoints, which protects against data loss in ways that can’t be done with antivirus software.
• Identify More Dangerous Programs Faster – Antivirus software is good for catching certain kinds of threats as they arise. But it isn’t great for identifying malicious programs that don’t neatly fall into a well-know virus category. EDR solves this by allowing enterprises to run programs in a secure network overlay that’s separate from the backend. With this, enterprises can be more confident programs aren’t going to create security issues before full implementation.
• Superior Security Features – EDR is a lot more than just detection. That response element is what puts EDR in a class above antivirus software. When you employ EDR solutions, alerts and triage are built into the platform. This means threats can be met before they cause damage. This is an invaluable resource in today’s world where exploited networks and endpoints can lead to massive losses.

EDR enables organizations to feel much better about their cyber security tools. By adopting EDR as an element of their cyber threat protection, enterprises move toward a vastly safer environment for endpoints.