With zero-day threats lurking and employees with multiple devices logging on regularly, endpoint management is a critical business priority.
However, understanding which devices are on your network, monitoring network performance, and manually detecting and patching security vulnerabilities is increasingly complex and can monopolize your team’s time. Integrating an automatic solution, like autonomous endpoint management, can keep your systems safe and secure from emerging and future threats.
What Is Endpoint Management?
Endpoint management is the creation of policies and practices that govern which devices are allowed on your network. However, as companies grow and allow more hybrid or remote work, allow personal devices on their network, or add new applications to their suite of tools, endpoint management is more complex than ever. Some examples include:
- Application sprawl — when employees are free to download any software they want to their device — creates security risks when the application is not monitored for vulnerabilities.
- Ensuring all endpoints on your network meet your compliance, patching, and security standards.
- Applying the latest configuration baselines across devices to meet regulatory standards, like SOC2 or PCI.
What Is Autonomous Endpoint Management?
Endpoint management is often a manual process. The IT operations and security teams have to check every device to ensure it complies with current policies, is monitored and accounted for, and install missing patches or critical operating system updates. This is a slow and cumbersome process that takes a lot of time.
And it’s often reactive. While the IT team monitors the network and stays informed about emerging cyber threats, it’s difficult to identify suspicious activity in real time. It’s usually only after something goes wrong that the company realizes its systems were breached.
Autonomous endpoint management (AEM) automates your approach to updating systems, enhancing your vulnerability management lifecycle, and so much more, taking your network security from reactive to proactive.
An AEM solution helps your team:
- Automatically install and configure critical security patches and software updates
- Conduct health checks for every endpoint to remediate issues
- Schedule and push content without disrupting end-users
Maximize Security and Efficiency with Autonomous Endpoint Management
Endpoints are an increasingly popular and vulnerable attack vector, thanks to the rise of cloud and mobile computing. Any time a device connects to your network, it’s vulnerable to an attack. And the more devices you have on your network, the larger the attack surface.
Switching to AEM can help you defend against attacks in real-time and mitigate any issues as they arise.
Flexible and Scalable
Every business takes a personalized approach to endpoint management based on risk tolerance, infrastructure, policies, and compliance requirements. An AEM solution should be flexible to adapt to a business’s unique requirements and scalable as the company grows.
Quick, Efficient, and Reliable
Our survey of IT professionals found that 59% said it takes at least two weeks to deploy a patch once it’s released. Even then, it’s hard to confirm who needs the patch and if it’s been installed. This delay and inability to accurately track things gives hackers more time to invade your system.
Autonomous endpoint management is a quick, efficient, and reliable solution that ensures the patch is delivered in real-time, often with no impact on your network. And it allows you to quickly and easily confirm that everything is secure.
Rapid Response
Autonomous endpoint management platforms also incorporate automated workflows to identify what is and isn’t normal for your network. This helps the system quickly identify and block suspicious activity so you can investigate.
This continual learning also allows your endpoints to rapidly adapt to constant and ongoing cyber threats, like zero-day exploits.
Convenient Scheduling
An automated system can push updates whenever you want. This could be when network use is at its lowest, staff aren’t using their devices, or some combination. Updates and patches can be prioritized based on a business unit’s function, where people log in from, the type of device that’s connecting, or overall risk exposure. You may even let staff schedule the updates at the most convenient time for them.
Added Insights
Finally, an AEM system constantly monitors your network, giving you insight into how your system functions, when it’s used the most, and how it performs under pressure. Because it monitors and secures the entire system, you can feel confident you’re providing the highest level of security and service to your end customers.
The Future of Endpoint Management
As AEM evolves, more companies will adopt automated endpoint management policies and solutions. A recent report predicts that in the near future, the adoption of AEM will improve IT efficiency, reduce risk, and improve the employee experience.
And while AEM will continue evolving, integrating it now will prepare you to defend against the cybersecurity threats of the future. Adaptiva’s OneSite platform will help your IT team automate its approach to endpoint management, improve compliance, reduce risk, and secure your network.
Get in touch today and learn how we can secure your future.
