As security threats continue to evolve, our approaches to security must evolve as well. Legacy signature-based antivirus solutions are no longer enough to prevent the highly targeted attacks of today, making traditional solutions an inadequate defense. The ongoing shift to XDR and the rise of MXDR services for prevention that leverages machine learning for behavioral detections early in the attack progression.

Read 'The ESG Endpoint Security Megatrends' Report to Learn:

• How endpoint security requirements are changing in support of current security megatrends, such as zero trust and XDR
• How much of the attack surface buyers expect endpoint security solutions to cover, spanning desktop, mobile, IoT, and cloud workloads
• How security teams are separating detection and response from endpoint security in favor of XDR and more comprehensive MDR services
• Priorities and plans associated with endpoint security in the coming 12-18 months

The endpoint security landscape continues to evolve with buyers pursuing a vendor and agent consolidation strategy and moving away from best-of-breed solutions. Vendors are leveraging buyer sentiment by expanding portfolios and bundling offerings, while adding new offerings in EDR, XDR and MDR.

Read 'The Gartner XDR Market Guide' for Key Findings:

• Cloud-native endpoint protection platform (EPP) solutions continue to witness an uptick in adoption as they shift the administration burden from product maintenance to more productive risk-reduction activities. Vendors are thus incentivizing internal sales teams and channel partners for selling cloudbased solutions.
• End users are pursuing vendor and agent consolidation strategies. Full-featured prevention and detection and response solutions are preferred over best-of-breed anti-malware and endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions.
• Managed solutions are critical to reducing the entry barrier and enticing late-mainstream buyers to adopt EDR.
• Extended detection and response (XDR) as a concept is gaining traction. Vendors with broad product portfolios have already launched XDR offerings, while many others have included XDR as part of their 2021 roadmaps.

To compete with Microsoft, vendors will need to offer vulnerability and configuration management guidance and eventually breach and attack simulation (BAS) to provide more guidance on hardening. This will be particularly true for the mainstream small and midsize business (SMB) market.

Ransomware attacks continue to dominate the headlines, and for good reason: there is a ransomware attack on a business every 11 seconds, and the FBI reported an increase of more than 225% in total losses from ransomware attacks in 2020, while global ransomware losses are projected to reach $20 billion this year.

Cybereason's latest global research report, RANSOMWARE: THE TRUE COST TO BUSINESS, provides quantitative data and analysis on the impact to organizations who have fallen victim to ransomware attacks, and provides expert guidance to drive better ransomware defense strategies.

Read the 'Ransomware: The True Cost To Business' Report for These Key Findings:

• Data on loss of revenue and recovery costs
• Risks to brand and reputation
• Loss of executive talent and staff layoffs and potential for business closure as the result of a ransomware attack and more

There is no shortage of options for security teams undergoing an evaluation of EDR and EPP solutions. The endpoint layer is arguably the most critical layer to secure in enterprise defenses, and EDR technology is ultimately the failsafe component responsible for avoiding a data breach.

A conversation many teams have when evaluating EPP and EDR is whether Microsoft is a viable option. Activating Microsoft Defender through an E5 license is often a financial decision, not a security risk decision - an attempt at stretching a less-than-ideal budget allotment in consolidating for a bundled deal. In a rapidly evolving threat landscape with higher stakes than ever, good enough security just isn't good enough.

Read The 'EDR Buyer's Guide: Microsoft E5 Licenses And Security Risks' Guide to Learn:

• Why the endpoint is the most critical layer in a defense-in-depth strategy
• Documented lapses in security in the Microsoft product ecosystem
• Technical differences and considerations between Cybereason and Microsoft for prevention, detection and response
• The importance of prioritizing security over tool consolidation