Endpoint protection solutions protect endpoints, such as PCs, laptops, servers, mobiles, and IoT devices from malware, phishing, malicious applications, and zero-day attacks. They also enable IT teams to triage, investigate, and remediate security incidents, respond to alerts, and configure device policies. They differ from commercial anti-virus solutions as they allow admins to manage all devices from a single admin console and perform complex investigations against threats, with the ability to carry out remediation activities.
Endpoint protection is a fundamental pillar of a cybersecurity plan that will protect users and data. They are crucial to any organization, and one of the most effective ways of protecting devices against harmful web downloads, ransomware, and malicious applications. Endpoint protection solutions should be easy to install across your endpoints. They should be lightweight and provide you with a comprehensive management portal where you can monitor endpoints, deploy updates, and view reports.
However, the endpoint security market today is extremely crowded. There are a dozens of vendors on the market with different technologies and approaches designed to stop threats from reaching your corporate devices. Some of these solutions are designed around specific device fleets (Mac or PC) or different approaches to endpoint protection like machine learning powered extended detection and response (XDR) solutions. These will be designed for particular company types, such as SMBs or large corporate enterprises.
To help you cut through the noise and find the endpoint security solution that works best for your organization, here is our list of the best endpoint security and anti-virus software. To put together this list, we’ve assessed the key features, pricing, user feedback, and our own independent technical analysis of the different vendors on the market.
ESET is a market-leading vendor in endpoint security and antivirus software, known for their powerful yet lightweight cybersecurity solutions. ESET Endpoint Security is their cloud-based endpoint protection solution, designed to protect organization of all sizes against known and zero-day threats such as malware, ransomware and fileless attacks. The solution offers multi-layered protection, which admins can control with a single centralized management console. ESET Endpoint Security protects computers, mobile devices, file servers and virtual environments. It’s available as a standalone product and as a part of a wider enterprise cybersecurity bundle, ESET PROTECT Enterprise, which also includes file server security, disk encryption, a cloud sandbox and EDR.
ESET Endpoint Security combines machine learning technologies and crowdsourced threat intelligence to detect and prevent targeted malware and ransomware attacks. The solution monitors all executed apps for malicious content, based on their known behaviors and reputations. It also scans the behaviors of malicious file processes in each endpoint’s memory to discover and eliminate fileless threats. The combination of technical and human threat intelligence means that ESET’s solution has excellent detection rates before, during and after execution. ESET Endpoint Security also offers web browser protection, preventing users from downloading malicious files and enabling admins to blacklist known malicious URLs, and list URLs that need specific protection.
Security teams can manage their security across all ESET endpoints, including mobiles, via one unified cloud-based management console. This enables them to have a clear overview of their organization’s security posture.
ESET Endpoint Security is praised for being lightweight; it performs as well as any solid anti-malware engine, without the need for extra hardware and without slowing down corporate systems. Cloud-based, the solution is scalable, as well as flexible: ESET Endpoint Security is compatible with Windows, Mac, Linux and Android operating systems, with built-in mobile device management for iOS and AndroidOS. On top of this, the admin console is available in 21 languages, and ESET offers localized support in 38 languages. This makes ESET Endpoint Security a strong solution for organizations with a global workforce, as well as those with a large number of BYOD devices in their fleet.
Headquartered in Copenhagen, Heimdal™ is a leading European provider of cloud-based cybersecurity solutions. Their contribution to our list of endpoint security products is their Threat Prevention Endpoint tool. At a glance, the product is a DNS security solution that blends threat intelligence, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to deliver robust threat prevention on all endpoints within your network. It can be integrated with any other solutions that are already in place and does not interrupt existing workflows. It aims to provide teams with total visibility and extended control into the network and subsequent attached endpoints. All of this is achieved via a single clean and consolidated dashboard.
Heimdal™ Threat Prevention Endpoint provides endpoint security by going beyond antivirus capabilities. It ensures safe browsing for all users, whether they’re working from home, in the office, or both by scanning traffic in real-time and blocking any suspicious or harmful domains and stopping any malicious communication. This is particularly helpful for employees on the move who may need to connect to unprotected or already infected networks, as well as protecting end users from sudden redirects to other web pages when browsing.
The product leverages endpoint DNS threat hunting capabilities, which help it detect and process any malicious URLs before tracing the threat back to the source. It also utilizes DarkLayer Guard™, a traffic filtering engine that works on inbound and outbound traffic. This feature can be customized, with admins able to set listings for the engine to refer to.
Heimdal™’s Threat Prevention Endpoint offers a complex but navigable and easy solution for endpoint security, offering a new approach in the form of AI-driven DNS. We would recommend the product for small to medium sized businesses looking for something different.
Bitdefender GravityZone Business Security Enterprise is an all-in-one endpoint protection solution monitors your endpoints, provides effective response, and advanced risk analytics. Bitdefender uses advanced, cross-endpoint correlation technologies to deploy protection across your entire organization, enabling it to identify emerging threats faster and more efficiently if multiple endpoints are compromised. Bitdefender is a trusted endpoint protection provider, protecting millions of consumer and business endpoints worldwide.
Key strengths of this solution include its highly effective threat protection engines, extended detection and response capabilities, its ease-of-management, and highly configurable deployment. The solution leverages 30 layers of threat scanning techniques to detect advanced endpoint threats. The data collected extends across all of the endpoints in your organization, allowing your team to more effectively track and respond to multi-device compromise. The platform will then provide comprehensive risk visualizations and analytics to keep relevant users informed of developments.
The platform is easy to manage and deploy, with support for endpoints running Windows, Linux, and Mac. It can easily integrate with third-party security tools, allowing teams to manage endpoints and track threats more effectively. In addition, GravityZone also contentiously assess and logs security misconfigurations and user behaviors, helping you to create baseline profiles and identify anomalies more easily.
Users praise Bitfedender GravityZone for its ease of use, strong threat protection, and lightweight endpoint client. We recommend the solution for small, mid-sized, and enterprise organizations looking for a dedicated all-in-one endpoint protection and EDR solution with powerful threat protection and seamless user management.
Check Point is a leading cybersecurity solution provider, used by more than 100,000 organizations globally. Check Point Harmony is their unified security platform, which provides comprehensive protection against advanced endpoint attacks. The platform comprises a secure web gateway, email security and phishing protection, secure access service edge (SASE), intrusion prevention, and endpoint security in a single, unified security bundle.
Check Point Harmony Endpoint is delivered as part of a comprehensive suite, (Formerly Check Point Sandblast Agent) it has a number of key features in its own right to make it a strong endpoint option to consider. The platform delivers powerful protection against advanced endpoint threats, including ransomware, bots, phishing websites, with features including password theft detection, browser protection, and full media disk encryption. The solution supports all major operating systems, including PC, servers, mobile, cloud and on-premises devices, Mac, Windows, Linux, and VDI.
The Check Point Harmony platform is delivered and managed through a single unified admin console, which supports easy integration with other security tools via API integration. Check Points anti-malware solutions are consistently highly rated in independent AV test scores, and we have found the solution to be very effective in our internal testing of the system. Check Point Harmony is an ideal choice for organizations looking to implement a consolidated security stack, with a powerful endpoint security tool to protect against advanced endpoint threats.
Crowdstrike is a market leader in the endpoint security space. They offer a comprehensive suite of endpoint protection solutions under the “Falcon” name; this also includes integrations with Crowdstrike’s other enterprise security tools like cloud security, endpoint detection and response, managed detection and response, vulnerability management, and identity protection. Crowdstrike are one of the leading vendors for endpoint protection, operating in over 176 countries and continue to grow rapidly.
Crowdstrike provides powerful protection against both known and unknown endpoint threats. The platform is powered by Crowdstrike’s leading threat intelligence platform – this utilizes AL & ML models to detect fileless and zero-day malware attacks. This results in faster remediation of threats. The solution delivers detailed, customizable alerting, and automated workflows for improving admin efficiency and reducing management overheads. Crowdstrike Falcon also gives admin the ability to implement device control policies, such as configuring controls on external USB drive usage.
Crowdstrike’s agent is lightweight, quick to deploy, and works across all major operating systems. The solution is praised by customers for its powerful threat detection and real-time alerting. Crowdstrike offers multiple packages for their Falcon endpoint protection suite, with configurations optimized for SMBs, right up to large enterprise use-cases. As a cloud-based endpoint security solution, we recommend Crowdstrike as a strong option for organizations looking for endpoint security delivered as a service, with powerful antivirus protection, flexible pricing options, and fast deployment.
Trellix (formerly McAfee Enterprise) is a global cybersecurity provider protecting more than 40,000 business and government customers worldwide. Trellix offers an integrated, centrally managed endpoint protection suite, which includes endpoint security with threat hunting and device security controls. It also provides EDR tools with threat insights and continuous threat monitoring.
Trellix Endpoint Security uses machine learning to power advanced detection capabilities such as credential theft monitoring and extended detection and response capabilities (XDR). This provides proactive threat hunting and dynamic protection against emerging threats. Trellix’s key strengths include advanced threat investigation and remediation, enhanced visibility into endpoint devices and automated device controls. From the admin portal, policies can be configured and adapted to suit organization’s specific needs. Trellix also provides actionable threat intelligence data and predictive assessments of your endpoint environment.
Trellix delivers a unified endpoint security suite, combining endpoint security features with extended detection and response capabilities. The platform can also be integrated with your wider security stack to unify threat intelligence data. Trellix is a strong option for large enterprise environments with hundreds of remote or on-prem endpoints – the platform is highly scalable and provides automated workflows that enable you to manage all devices with minimal friction.
Trend Micro are a global enterprise cybersecurity leader, protecting hundreds of thousands of organizations globally, and stopping hundreds of millions of threats daily. Cloud One Endpoint Security is Trend Micro’s cloud-based endpoint security solution and is delivered as a single SaaS service with visibility and management in a single integrated admin console. The solution is deployed to endpoints as a lightweight agent, which provides protection against malware and ransomware. Additional admin controls (such as device management and application control) are also provided.
Trend Micro has a leading global threat intelligence platform, which assesses over 2.5 trillion data points every day to power fast, automated, and effective protection against new and emerging malware threats. Cloud One Endpoint Security leverages this data to reduce security gaps, ensuring that advanced threats are blocked quickly and efficiently with minimal device performance impact. As well as device threat protection, admins can also configure device policies, run health checks, manage applications, and run automated compliance reports.
Cloud One Endpoint Security is a fully cloud-based solution that also enables integrations with Trend Micro’s XDR and attack surface risk management platforms. The platform can integrate with additional security solutions tools such as SIEM, SOAR, and other threat intelligence feeds. The solution supports a range of deployment options and works well on cloud-workloads, servers, VMs, and containers. Users praise the service for its ease of deployment and lightweight agent that has a minimal effect on devices when installed. We recommend Trend Micro for mid-market to larger enterprise customers, looking for powerful threat protection. Trend also operates a strong partner network for MSPs and MSSPs.
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a cloud-based enterprise endpoint security solution developed by Microsoft and integrates closely with the Microsoft 365 eco-system. The solution protects endpoint devices against malware, device compromise, and emerging endpoint threats. The solution is powered by threat detection engines to carry out vulnerability management, endpoint detection, and investigation capabilities. Supported endpoint include laptops, smartphones, tablets, PCs, access points, firewalls, and routers.
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint includes multiple threat protection technologies to protect against known and emerging endpoint threats. This includes vulnerability and misconfiguration management, network and web protection, endpoint detection and response, and automated investigation and remediation. The solution leverages native behavioral data gathered from Windows 10 to detect malicious activity. Admins can view contextual cloud security analytics, including actionable responses and intelligence on threat remediation. Management and incident response is directly integrated across Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Intune, and Active Directory.
Microsoft Defender is one the most popular enterprise endpoint protection platforms due to its strong feature set and native integrations with Microsoft’s existing eco-system. Users praise the solution for its efficiency and additional security controls. We recommend Microsoft Defender For Endpoint for Microsoft 365 and Windows-based organizations looking to deploy an effective endpoint security solution, that is easy to manage and deploy.
SentinelOne is a leading provider of AI-powered security solutions and is best known for their ‘Autonomous AI’ platform which defends against advanced and emerging endpoint threats. Singularity Complete is SentinelOne’s fully AI powered SaaS platform for endpoint protection, detection, and response solution. The platform provides powerful protection, comprehensive visibility, and automated remediation across your entire endpoint, cloud, and identity ecosystem. All these areas can be managed from a single unified admin console.
Singularity Complete brings together all SentinelOne’s highly automated, AI powered endpoint protection and EDR capabilities into a single platform, deployed via one agent installed on the endpoint. The platform delivers powerful, automated threat protection and automated remediation, fully triaged incident analysis, with comprehensive threat reporting and visibility. Admins can also configure device policies, such as network control, USB control and Bluetooth control. This feature helps to identify rogue devices already on the network using the Ranger feature, helping to prevent insider risks.
Singularity Complete is the most advanced platform package offered by SentinelOne and is designed for enterprise use cases. As such, the platform includes a fully customizable management console supporting multi-site, multi-group architecture, and customizable role-based access with wide support for data integrations. SentinelOne’s powerful endpoint security platform for Windows (including legacy devices) and MacOS is also available in other bundles, more suited to mid-market and SMB use cases.
Sophos is a leading endpoint protection provider that covers more than 500,000 enterprises and more than 100 million users globally. Intercept X Endpoint is a comprehensive endpoint protection suite, unifying endpoint protection, XDR, EDR, Zero Trust Network Access, and managed detection and response services. In 2019 Sophos was acquired by Thoma Bravo, who have continued operating Sophos as a standalone security company. Intercept X supports desktops, laptops, servers, tablets, and mobile devices, across all major operating systems.
Intercept X is highly rated by both users and industry analysts for highly effective threat protection capabilities. The solution provides powerful protection against advanced malware threats (including ransomware) and leverages advanced deep learning technologies with AI. This allows the platform to identify never-before-seen endpoint threats which would be missed by signature-based detection models. In addition, the platform provides EDR capabilities which can instantly detect threats and highlight risky endpoints. The platform also includes integrated ZTNA and XDR capabilities, enabling remote workers to securely access the corporate network.
Users praise Sophos for its advanced security features and the ease of use within the management console. Sophos is consistently highly ranked in independent endpoint protection for percentage of threats blocked. We recommend Sophos as a strong endpoint security choice for mid-market to enterprise sized organizations, looking for powerful endpoint protection with integrated EDR, XDR, and remote access capabilities. A managed version of this service is also available, including proactive 24/7 threat hunting and actionable advice for improving security efficacy.
Broadcom Symantec Endpoint Security includes endpoint security, sever security, and endpoint management capabilities. The suite is powered by Symantec’s Global Intelligence Networks – one of the largest threat intelligence networks globally. This single agent solution provides powerful protection for enterprise workforces, with flexible deployment options and comprehensive management capabilities. Broadcom is a global technology company that acquired Symantec Enterprise Security in 2019 and have positioned the service to focus primarily on the Global 2000 market.
Symantec offer a fully featured endpoint protection solution with strong threat prevention capabilities, including fileless attack protection, credential-theft protection, enhanced mobile application security, protection for cloud-connected users, and the ability to monitor then block unauthorized access. Symantec also provides intelligent AI-guided policy management to provide comprehensive automation and help SOC teams more effectively remediate against threats and manage endpoint devices.
Overall, Broadcom offer a comprehensive endpoint security solution. This service is a strong choice to consider for global enterprise customers, who can also take advantage of Broadcom’s server, data centre infrastructure, and cloud workload protection capabilities. These features operate alongside the core endpoint protection and device management functionality.
Endpoint Protection: Everything You Need To Know
What Is Endpoint Protection Software?
Endpoint protection (EPP) software is a cybersecurity solution that protects your endpoint devices (PCs, mobiles, laptops, tablets, routers, etc.,) against malware, phishing, harmful files, and suspicious activity.
EPP solutions are typically deployed via a software agent, which is installed directly onto the end user’s device and managed by admins from a central dashboard. From here the admins can configure policies, respond to incidents, and track endpoints connected to the network.
What Is An Endpoint In Cybersecurity?
Any physical device connected to your network is described as an ‘endpoint’ in cybersecurity. This can include PCs, laptops, mobile devices, virtual machines, servers, and routers. Internet-of-things (IoT) devices are also endpoints – this includes cameras, smart speakers, lights, security hardware, smart refrigerators, toys, and even smart televisions.
Essentially, any device that can connect to your network and transfer or receive data is considered an endpoint device. Any of these devices has the potential to become compromised and pose a risk to the wider network. However, most endpoint protection solutions for the enterprise focus on protecting end-user devices, such as laptops, PCs, and mobile devices, rather than IoT devices. This is because these web browsing workstations are the most targeted vectors in most organizations when it comes to malware and ransomware.
How Does Endpoint Protection Work?
Endpoint protection solutions are deployed directly onto every individual endpoint on the network. This enables them to scan the device locally for malware and suspicious activity. Endpoint protection tools can also encrypt files and ensure only approved applications are installed on the device. There are a range of other policies That admins can configure and deploy. For this reason, it’s important to consider what operating systems an endpoint security solution supports when selecting one for your organization.
Traditionally, endpoint security tools would use a signature-based system to detect malware and prevent it from being installed. Signature-based detection systems compare files and URLs with known malware examples to prevent users from downloading malicious documents or visiting harmful webpages. While this provides fast and effective protection against known risks, there is the risk that unknown and emerging malware strains can slip through.
For this reason, many leading endpoint security tools today use a heuristic system based on ML engines, alongside (or in place of) signature-based detection. Heuristic endpoint protection systems use a confidence-based philosophy to assess files and judge whether it is likely to be malicious, even if the code has never been seen before. As many cybersecurity companies operate massive threat intelligence platforms with hundreds of millions of data points collected every day, week, or month, it does not take long for these AI systems to become effective at catching highly advanced malware strains, with very low false positive rates.
Many endpoint security vendors now combine endpoint security with endpoint detection and response (EDR) and extended detection and response (XDR) capabilities. These services provide greater remediation and investigation features, often utilizing machine learning to enable faster identification and resolution of detected threats. They also often integrate with third party tools for more in-depth reporting across your security stack. You can view our guide to the top XDR solutions here.
What Is Endpoint Detection And Response (EDR)?
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) solutions are an evolution of endpoint security that continuously monitors end user devices to detect and respond to advanced threats. While endpoint protection solutions would traditionally scan user devices periodically (as well as scanning new files and web downloads), EDR solutions will continuously scan for suspicious activity, recording, and analysing endpoint behaviours at the system level. EDR solutions can automatically block malicious endpoint activity and provide high levels of contextual data and remediation actions for IT admins.
Many endpoint vendors now offer EDR capabilities built into their core endpoint solutions, or offer these features as additional, tightly integrated products. EDR solutions provide extensive data, helping to uncover incidents that could otherwise be undetected. Analytics are typically shown in the admin console, including real-time threat tracking data, threat hunting, and alerting. These solutions are ideal for admins looking to get greater insight and context into endpoint threats. We’ve put together a separate list of the top endpoint detection and response solutions here.
What Is Extended Detection And Response (XDR)?
Extended detection and response (XDR) tools are an evolution of the EDR solutions detailed. They are SaaS-based solutions that provide threat detection and incident response across multiple security products, including your endpoint protection and EDR solutions.
The main benefit of implementing an XDR solution is consolidating your security operations, enabling you to manage all endpoints, networks, and cloud solutions in a single admin console, with unified visibility and controls. XDR tools help to improve threat detection and response times, allowing teams to respond to incidents and implement policy automations effectively.
Many enterprise endpoint protection leaders now offer XDR solutions which extend across your networks. We’ve put together a separate guide to choosing the best XDR solutions here.
What Is Managed Detection And Response (MDR)?
Managed Detection and Response (MDR) covers EDR solutions that are managed by a security vendor directly on behalf of the organization. Security tasks such as incident investigation, alert triaging, threat hunting, and remediation are outsourced to the EDR vendor, saving valuable time for IT admins and SOC teams. There are many benefits to going with the MDR approach – it can help teams with a lack of resources internally and bolster in-house talent with external expertise. You can read our guide to the top 10 managed detection and response solutions here.
How Is Endpoint Security Deployed?
Endpoint security is typically deployed as a software agent which is downloaded to end user-devices. These work on the device locally, so scanning and malware protection can take place even when the device is offline.
A key component of endpoint security is the management console, which allows admins to monitor, control, and track all the endpoint devices with the software agent installed. This admin console can be deployed in the cloud, on-premises, or a hybrid approach, depending on your organization’s preferences.
How To Choose The Right Endpoint Protection Solution?
There are many considerations to make when choosing an endpoint protection solution, including factors such as price, features, and compatibility with the devices your workforce uses. Some important factors to consider when choosing the right solution include:
- Features: How developed is the solution’s feature-set, and does it meet the challenges facing your organization?
- Scalability: What is the cost for your organization, and can it scale with your teams’ growth?
- Performance: Does the solution impact on the performance of machines? Is it easy to manage for end users?
- Integrations: Does it integrate with the devices your workforce is already using? What about other security tools?
- Support: Is the solution regularly updated? Does it have an in-depth knowledge base?
Planning out your organization’s requirements around these questions can be a strong way to identify the best endpoint protection solution for your organization.
What Features To Look For In An Endpoint Protection Solution?
To protect endpoint devices against malware, there are many key features enterprise endpoint protection solutions provide for teams. This includes:
- Anti-virus and anti-malware detection engines to prevent harmful malware
- Analysis of inbound and outbound traffic to prevent malicious downloads
- Data loss prevention (DLP) features, such as data encryption and file upload prevention
- Application and device control policies, to prevent users installing certain apps and services
- Reporting and alerting so admins can quickly identify compromised devices
What To Look For In An Endpoint Protection Solution For Small Business?
The best endpoint protection for a small business is dependent on several factors, not least your organizations budget, the type of endpoint devices you are running (Mac vs PC), your industry, the level of security you need, and the number of users.
There are a wealth of endpoint security providers that offer powerful, easy-to-install, and cost-effective endpoint security solutions for small-and-midsized organizations. ESET, Avast, and Bitdefender, for example, are all known for their small-business and consumer focused endpoint security solutions. There is more detail on each of these providers featured on our list of the top endpoint security solutions for business.
For more from Expert Insights on the best endpoint protection for small businesses, read our guide to the Top 10 Antivirus Software For Small Businesses.
