What Is Next-Generation Endpoint Security?

The evolution to next-gen endpoint security

As the number, type, and sophistication of threats evolve, organizations require more intelligence and insight than traditional endpoint security provides. More threat actors are shifting their aim to weaknesses created by user behavior, poor cybersecurity hygiene, and shadow IT.

The dramatic increase in the types of endpoint devices—including smartphones, tablets, wearable devices, and more—has overpowered first-generation endpoint security. The increasing number of potentially vulnerable endpoints can also exhaust security team resources that are relying on traditional cybersecurity defenses.

Depending on separate software processes to handle the security and security management of endpoints can result in potential disconnects. And maintaining and updating denylists of malicious code requires more and more resources. Legacy products leave organizations susceptible to zero-day exploits, with data theft threatening to slip through among too many false positives.

Next-generation, automated technologies that examine every process on every device to counter potential attacks have become necessary to better lock down endpoint security. Using AI and ML, next-generation endpoint protection software can deliver the following capabilities that traditional endpoint protection cannot provide:

• Detecting unauthorized behaviors of users, applications, and network services
• Blocking suspicious actions before execution
• Processing data through ML and AI to identify malicious files or processes
• Stopping unauthorized data movement
• Analyzing suspicious app data in isolated "sandboxes"
• Rolling back endpoints and data to a previous state in the event of a ransomware attack
• Isolating suspect endpoints and processes
• Delivering endpoint detection and response (EDR) that can continuously monitor systems and networks to mitigate advanced threats

Next-generation endpoint protection through AI and machine learning

Blocking known threats remains an important part of endpoint and network protection. But the volume of threats and information that must be processed is greater than humans can manage alone.

Advanced detection capabilities involve humans teaming with machines to defend against the ingenuity of human attackers also using machines to carry out their criminal campaigns.

Modern threat actors study the strategies enterprises use to try to block attacks. They then increase the sophistication of their targeted malware to counter these defenses. The best organizational cybersecurity strategy against emerging threats combines denylisting with the speed of machines to process, adapt, and scale.

AI and ML can weed out known threats and focus ML algorithms on just the unknown threats while still ensuring minimal false positives. Integrating endpoint security and protection with AI and ML technology creates a system environment that not only protects against all stages of an attack but also improves as each new threat is detected. AI can then act in a prescribed manner to these new and learned threats.

By incorporating centralized management and control, this approach can move organizations beyond reactive, denylist-centric controls to a much more proactive approach. Next-gen enterprise cybersecurity combines machine processing speed and AI pattern-recognition capabilities with human judgement and intuition.

Behavioral analysis requires next-generation endpoint protection technology powered by AI and ML to deliver ongoing, continually evolving security. Protecting against fileless and other advanced attacks requires an integrated approach that provides a multilayered defense while investigating every phase of an attack campaign.

Trellix next-generation endpoint protection

Next-generation endpoint security featuring AI and ML enhance an integrated, centrally managed approach to network and device security as part of a comprehensive system security. Trellix believes in-depth defense is the most appropriate strategy for next-generation endpoint protection.

Trellix endpoint protection learns and evolves using analytics and AI to protect your organization in a dynamic threat landscape. Our security solutions interweave threat intelligence to protect data and stop even the most advanced threats using an open and proactive approach. This allows your security team to make better-informed decisions while getting the most out of human and technological resources.

The Trellix Endpoint Security Suite provides comprehensive endpoint protection, including:

• Antivirus
• Firewall
• Exploit prevention
• Connectivity protection

Trellix Endpoint Security delivers ML technology for detecting zero-day exploits and suspicious code and behavior.

AI-driven Trellix software stops malicious actions before they affect systems or data. Its integrated and automated endpoint detection and response capabilities include one-click, centralized incident investigation and proactive response. This defense-in-depth approach provides a highly integrated continuum of protection.

ML applications in Trellix solutions consider:

• Where the data will be gathered and computed
• What raw data is needed and if sampling can be applied
• The cost of bandwidth and latency to the customer
• Where the periodic or continuous learning will occur
• Where, how, and when data will be stored
• How often the model should be recalculated due to changing customer processes, metadata, or governance policies

Next-Generation Endpoint Security FAQ

What is next-generation endpoint security?

Next-generation endpoint security uses modern artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and tighter integration of network and device security to provide more comprehensive and adaptive protection than traditional endpoint security solutions.

How does next-generation endpoint security work?

It incorporates real-time analysis of user and system behavior to analyze executables. This allows for the detection of fileless "zero-day" threats and advanced technologies before and during execution, enabling immediate action to block, contain, and roll back threats. It also proactively learns from threats and continuously adapts methods to combat them.

Why is next-generation endpoint security important?

Enterprises face an increasing number and sophistication of cyberattacks. Next-generation endpoint security helps organizations better defend against modern threats and evolving attack campaigns by leveraging AI and ML to keep pace with this evolution. It also provides automation to assist security teams overwhelmed by manual workflows.

What capabilities does next-gen endpoint security offer that traditional solutions don't?

It provides capabilities such as detecting unauthorized behaviors, blocking suspicious actions pre-execution, processing data with ML and AI to identify malicious activity and stopping unauthorized data movement. It also analyzes suspicious apps in sandboxes, rolls back endpoints after ransomware attacks, isolates suspect endpoints, and delivers endpoint detection and response (EDR) for continuous threat mitigation.

How do AI and machine learning enhance next-generation endpoint protection?

AI and ML can filter out known threats, focus algorithms on unknown threats while minimizing false positives, and create a system that learns from each new threat. This enables a more proactive approach to cybersecurity by combining machine speed and pattern recognition with human expertise.

What is behavioral analysis in the context of next-generation endpoint protection?

Behavioral analysis, powered by AI and ML, provides ongoing and evolving security by examining the actions of users, applications, and network services to identify and block suspicious behavior, including fileless and advanced attacks.