Endpoint Security
Monday, January 18, 2010 21:33I was planning on writing about endpoint security near the end of last month, but with the holidays and numerous other business and personal activities occurring at the end of the year I had to take a little sabbatical from writing posts for our website. It is good to be back into the swing of things again, and I hope everyone has a great and successful year with their business. As always I will be here to help you with any security issues that you may have for your business so feel free to leave comments or contact me using my contact form on my About page.
What is endpoint security? Over the past few years I have heard this term used numerous times, and I even touched on endpoint
security in my article about pod-slurping. Let’s look first at what endpoint security is; then we will look at how it can be used to protect your business and the data that is vital to the survival of so many businesses.
What is Endpoint Security?
Endpoint security can mean a lot of things depending on who you talk to, but in reality it is the measures taken to protect the information or data on an endpoint device. Endpoint devices can include laptops, desktops, handheld devices, point-of-sale terminals, and servers. As technology changes and increases, so will the list of what is considered endpoint devices. Endpoint security is usually set up on a client/server setup where software is installed on the endpoint device but managed by a central server that updates and patches the software as well as performs other management functions. The variety of software that is called or considered endpoint security software allows a business to select endpoint security software based on what management functions a business needs and wants to secure the data stored on an endpoint.
Endpoint security can include one or more applications that are used to secure the endpoint device and can include anti-virus, host-based intrusion detection, anti-spyware, anti-spam, vulnerability 
assessment, network access control, and other types of software applications. Again, the list of software applications will change and increase as the threats to endpoint devices change. The most important point to remember is that the software is installed on an endpoint but is centrally managed instead of having to go to each endpoint device to update or manage the software.
Using Endpoint Security
Endpoint security is usually implemented for a couple different reasons. These include:
- To be able to scan an endpoint device to make sure it complies with the company’s security policy before allowing it access to the company’s network. This includes making sure it has an approved and updated (patched) operating system or that the anti-virus software has the latest virus definitions, etc.
- To scan for and determine that there is no unauthorized software applications on the endpoint such as peer-to-peer software or other types of applications that may cause a security risk.
- To prevent unauthorized devices from connecting to an endpoint. Unauthorized devices can include iPods, mp3 players, USB Flash Drives and other portable devices. Some endpoint security software can also control or prevent certain data from being downloaded from the endpoint, such as not allowing credit card data to be downloaded to a USB Flash Drive, etc.
Most businesses have endpoint devices that need protected, but the type of endpoint security you should implement will depend on a variety of factors including regulatory requirements, the criticality of information to your business, liability-related issues, the threats and risks of your business, and a host of other factors. Look at what you are currently doing to protect your endpoints and see if it would be more effective if it was centrally managed. If so, determine what type of protection your endpoint devices need. After that, it is time to look at what is available and what will fit your requirements. As always, cost will have to be calculated to determine which of the possible solutions make the most economical sense for your business.
If you want a quick overview of endpoint security, watch this Youtube video. The company that made video is trying to sell their endpoint security software, but it is a good overview of endpoint security and should help you understand the main elements of endpoint security.
ENDPOINT SECURITY VIDEO!
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