What Is Endpoint Management?

Endpoint management is an IT security process comprising two primary tasks—evaluating, assigning, and overseeing access rights to all endpoints and applying security policies and tools to reduce or prevent attacks.

Given its coverage, several cross-functional teams comprising network administrators and information security (infosec) professionals handle the process. Typically, organizations that employ the process use specialized software that can remotely access all network-connected devices.

Read More about Endpoint Management

So, what is endpoint management? Learn all about the devices the process covers; what it has to do with endpoint security; its components; and how it works here.

What Devices Does Endpoint Management Cover?

To better understand the process, we need to define what an endpoint is. It refers to any device that is connected to an organization’s network from within or outside its firewall. Examples include laptops, desktops, servers, tablets, smartphones, other mobile devices, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, point-of-sale (PoS) systems, switches, printers, and all other devices that communicate with the central network.

The process ensures the security of the entire network and all connected assets that hold corporate data, customer information, intellectual property, and other sensitive information. Note, though, that all these corporate devices need to be screened, authenticated, and monitored through a management solution.

In addition, personal devices like employees’ mobile devices and hard drives that access the network remotely or connected to corporate assets are also scanned and monitored for threats.

What Is the Connection between Endpoint Security and Endpoint Management?

Endpoint security and endpoint management are core components within a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy. As such, they are interrelated and interdependent.

We already defined endpoint management above, now let us tackle endpoint security. Also known as “endpoint protection,” endpoint security is a cybersecurity approach that defends endpoints from external and internal digital threats on-premises and in the cloud.

Each time an endpoint is used while connected to a network, data is created and exchanged. And this activity can serve as attack vectors for cyber attackers.

Endpoint security covers all tools, technologies, processes, procedures, and policies that protect endpoints. They use advanced analytics to gather and monitor all network activity for indicators of compromise (IoCs). It also encompasses attack remediation and threat removal.

In comparison, endpoint management ensures only authenticated and approved devices can connect to a network at the appropriate access level. It also ensures endpoint security policies and tools are consistently used on all devices.

We summed up their differences below.

What Are the Components of Endpoint Management?

The process has two major components—tools and policies.

Endpoint Management Tools

These tools provide device management and support for all endpoints via an endpoint management console.

Device Management and Support Solutions

To oversee overall network activity, protection and management software are typically installed on each device. These applications are responsible for:

• Sending device configurations, commands, and queries
• Managing operating system (OS) and application updates
• Defining Wi-Fi and virtual private network (VPN) configurations
• Changing passwords
• Remotely controlling devices

Given these tasks, the solutions may include mobile device management (MDM), enterprise mobility management (EMM), and unified endpoint management (UEM) systems.

Endpoint Management Console

Since an organization, especially a large enterprise, can have millions of endpoints to manage and oversee, the cybersecurity team needs a centralized view of all these endpoints.

Enter the UEM console, which acts as an endpoint manager that grants the security team visibility into all devices, including their current status and past activity. This dashboard also has reporting and alerting capabilities that provide a holistic view of all activity, allowing the team to prioritize actions.

Endpoint Management Policies

On top of the tools above, the process also encompasses policies that dictate device authentication and network access. Here are examples of the most popular policies organizations enforce.

Bring Your Own Device

Most employees are bound to bring more than just their mobile phones to work. This prompted many organizations to craft bring your own device (BYOD) policies so even if they use less secure devices for work, they will not put the entire corporate network at risk.

Privileged Access Management

Privileged access management (PAM) policies use the principle of least privilege (PoLP) to define and control privileged users and administrative accounts. As a result, it minimizes identity-based malware attacks and prevents unauthorized network or asset access.

Zero Trust

Zero trust refers to a security framework that requires all users in or outside an organization’s network to be authenticated, authorized, and continuously validated for security configuration and posture before being granted access to corporate applications and data.

How Does Endpoint Management Work?

Today, most if not all organizations employ UEM. But what does it entail, exactly?

UEM requires using a solution to manage and authenticate all endpoint devices via a single security platform. As such, central dashboard administrators can perform or automate critical management and security tasks for any device. They can thus:

• Enroll devices and provide security: Monitoring and managing thousands of personal employees devices poses a huge burden to security teams. UEM solutions usually have portals where users can self-enroll their devices for security automatically. They also automatically enforce enrollment for all unknown devices trying to connect to a network.

• Apply and enforce security policies: UEM tools also let network administrators enforce multifactor authentication (MFA), password length and complexity, password renewal, data encryption, and other security policies. And they can do that for all devices from a single dashboard, reducing manual work for security staff.

• Push patches and updates: UEM solutions can also scan all endpoints for software, firmware, or OS vulnerabilities and automatically push patches.

• Remotely control applications: Through the UEM dashboard, organizations can approve or disapprove the use of specific applications and prevent unauthorized ones from accessing corporate data. In some cases, they can create an app store where users can download, install, and periodically update only preapproved applications.

• Isolate corporate from personal data: Data separation further protects business information from unauthorized access by putting up walls between the two.

• Keep endpoint security solutions updated: Managing antimalware solutions, updating web filters, and tweaking firewalls are also easier to do with the help of UEM tools.

• Secure connections: UEM tools allow network administrators to specify connection types. These encompass Wi-Fi and VPN usage by device, user, or application.

• Identify and remediate threats: Aided by user entity and behavior analytics (UEBA), endpoint detection and response (EDR), and other security technologies, UEM solutions can identify abnormal device behaviors that may indicate ongoing attacks. They can then trigger the security tools to respond to threats.

• Wipe and lock lost, stolen, or end-of-life (EoL) devices: Devices can get lost or stolen often, not to mention replaced. As a last line of defense, organizations can remotely erase and lock them via UEM. This capability prevents unauthorized access to the network and ensures sensitive data does not fall into attackers’ hands.

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What you need to know most is that endpoint security starts with endpoint management. Organizations need protection from sophisticated attacks. So, it is of utmost importance to ensure every endpoint is secured. This involves authenticating devices prior to approving connections, defining their access levels, and monitoring risky activities. Even better, however, they require UEM solutions to automate multiple security aspects for their entire networks.

Key Takeaways

• What is endpoint management? It is an IT security process that evaluates, assigns, and oversees access rights to all endpoints. It also applies security policies and tools to reduce or prevent attacks.
• The process covers all endpoints or devices connected to an organization’s network from within or outside its firewall. They include laptops, desktops, servers, tablets, smartphones, other mobile devices, IoT devices, PoS systems, switches, printers, and all other devices that communicate with the central network.
• The process requires tools and security policies. The tools cover security solutions installed on all devices requiring protection controlled via a single console. The policies, meanwhile, can include BYOD, PAM, and zero trust policies.
• UEM is a solution that manages and authenticates all endpoints via a single security platform.
• UEM platforms let central dashboard administrators perform or automate critical management and security tasks for all devices. They can thus enroll devices and provide security, apply and enforce security policies, push patches and updates, and more—all remotely.

Sources

• https://www.cisco.com/site/us/en/learn/topics/security/what-is-endpoint-management.html
• https://www.fortinet.com/resources/cyberglossary/unified-endpoint-management-uem
• https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/business-insights-ideas/resources/what-is-endpoint-management
• https://www.gartner.com/reviews/market/endpoint-management-tools
• https://www.sophos.com/en-us/cybersecurity-explained/endpoint-management