EDR & XDR – Security Solutions for Hybrid & Remote SMB Ecosystems

Organizations, including small and midsized businesses (SMBs), should be on the lookout for any tools and techniques they can find to stop cyber criminals and other bad actors in their tracks. Endpoint detection and response (EDR) systems should be high on the list of possible solutions to consider.

EDR, also referred to as endpoint threat detection and response (ETDR), continually monitors endpoints such as smartphones, laptops, Internet of Things (IoT) devices and others to find and mitigate cyber threats that can lead to significant damage to organizations.

Security teams use the technology to identify suspicious behavior and advanced persistent threats (APT) on endpoint devices, and alert them as needed. EDR systems collect and aggregate data from the devices and other sources, and the data can then be analyzed by security teams.

Hybrid/remote work

In a business ecosystem in which many people are still working remotely—at least part of the time with the hybrid work model—and with the use of personal mobile devices for work purposes now extremely common, a tool such as EDR can be especially valuable for companies.

Indeed, the significant rise in hybrid and remote work activities has brought companies in the EDR market under the spotlight for providing secure and reliable endpoint software, according to a market report by research firm MWR. “Work from home policies have exposed the vulnerabilities of an organization’s network, owing to a shared environment, thus triggering the demand for an EDR software,” the report said.

Growing market

MWR’s latest research on the global EDR market predicts it will expand at a compound annual growth rate of 21% between 2020 and 2030, reaching a value of $13.8 billion by the end of the forecast period.

The main drivers of market growth include the ongoing trend of implementing bring-your-own-device (BYOD) programs, the increasing number of endpoints in use at organizations, rising endpoint attacks and breaches, and the modification of IT risks. North America is expected to emerge as the leading EDR market, followed by Europe and Asia Pacific, according to the research.

Among the recent technology developments in the market are the addition of artificial intelligence (AI) and behavioral analytics capabilities. Companies in the EDR market “are gaining popularity for their software platforms that facilitate detection and response to targeted attacks and offer comprehensive analysis of malicious activities,” the MWR report said. “Behavior analysis is becoming a fast-growing phenomenon” to trace attacks on shared corporate networks, it said.

A solution for SMBs

SMBs, like their larger enterprise counterparts, are facing the same daunting endpoint security challenges: increased hybrid and remote work and a growing variety of cyber threats aimed at end users’ systems. That’s why they should be aware of EDR options in the market.

In a November 2021 study by International Data Corp. (IDC), research vice president for security and trust Michael Suby stated that "modern endpoint security products, the combination of deterministic protections and post-compromise detection and response, are rapidly becoming an essential component to small and midsize businesses' cyber security arsenals."

Reliance on a basic endpoint security product is a risky proposition with today's advanced threats and the business harm that can inflict, Suby said. “Favorably for SMBs, there are many vendors with capable modern endpoint security products.”

Choosing the right cybersecurity product

However, selecting a modern endpoint security product and optimizing its use can be a challenge for SMBs, due to their budget, time, and talent constraints, Suby said. To alleviate these constraints, IDC recommends that SMBs first focus on the fundamentals of what an endpoint security product is designed to accomplish. And then they should assess ease of use, integration, and collaboration with other security technologies that strengthen security posture and consider the option of using managed services.

“Modern endpoint security products are continuing to advance in their capabilities,” Suby said. While deployments can be a time-consuming effort, SMBs should conduct proofs of concept routinely to ensure their limited security budgets are well spent, he said.

Bitdefender’s EDR security solution monitors a company’s network to uncover suspicious activity early on, and provides the tools needed to fight off cyber-attacks. It extends EDR analytics and event correlation capabilities beyond the boundaries of a single endpoint, enabling security teams to deal more effectively with complex cyber-attacks that involve multiple endpoints.

Granularity and security

This cross-endpoint correlation technology combines the granularity and security context of EDR with the infrastructure-wide analytics of XDR (eXtended Detection and Response). By providing threat visualizations at the organizational level, XDR helps companies focus their investigations and respond more effectively to threats.

The product is cloud-based and built on the Bitdefender GravityZone XDR platform. Each EDR agent deployed on a company’s endpoints has an event recorder that continuously monitors the endpoint device and securely sends insights and suspicious event details to a centralized GravityZone Control Center. 

In this Control Center, a cross-endpoint correlation engine collects and distills endpoint events and generates prioritized, organizational-level views of security incidents, allowing security administrators to quickly investigate and respond effectively to threats.

Given the rising level of cyber risk and the still-evolving hybrid work model, SMBs need to step up their endpoint security strategies. EDR platforms offer a way to ensure that endpoints do not provide cyber criminals with a means to carry out their attacks.

Learn more about how XDR solutions can bolster an SMBs cybersecurity posture.