McAfee: Changing Business Models Create Endpoint Security Gaps
…will remain a critical element of your overall security landscape inside of an environment.
CF: What impact is BYOD having on endpoint security? Are other trends impacting it?
NJ: One that’s very familiar and we’ve certainly seen is not only BYOD, but just new models of how enterprises are enabling end users to access their business applications and data. The primary piece that’s really driving that is the transition to cloud-based services and cloud applications, which enable a lot broader set of devices to be able to access those cloud-based applications. People have moved to Office 365 or the Google productivity suite. The services can be technically accessed from any device as long as those end users authenticate in securely. So that is what I see is the predominant challenge.
Certainly BYOD is another challenge if users are using their own devices, and it presents an operational challenge for enterprises to be able to ensure that they have the right level of security on those devices and that they’re able to ensure primarily that their corporate data is protected.
CF: Is endpoint security becoming more complicated?
NJ: Endpoint security is not necessarily becoming more complicated. It’s always been an evolution since the beginning and the first endpoint security product … and continuing to try to provide the protection that you need. What I see is one of the bigger challenges that enterprises are having, especially in certain industries, is the broad array of the types of devices and operating systems that they have to support inside of their environments. That tail of computing is getting longer and longer, and providing protection across all of that consistently is a challenge for many organizations.
CF: When building an effective cybersecurity strategy that includes endpoint protection, what are some of the most effective steps to take? Are there common mistakes to be avoided?
NJ: As you’re building out an endpoint security strategy, you certainly need to start with the core fundamentals of how are you going to operationally keep those devices up to date and current with the latest software updates, ensuring that you minimize the threat landscape that can attack that device from a vulnerabilities perspective or the threat tactics.
The second piece is ensuring that you’ve got a comprehensive view of the threat life cycle on these devices and building out your piece that does your core protection, that gets the bulk of the threats out of the environment, but also recognizing that no protection product in the world is perfect. You still have to also have the piece on there to provide detection and visibility to threats that may fly under the radar … whether it’s to your dedicated security operations…