According to an IDC and HP study, 70% of successful breaches started at the endpoint. With the large-scale shift to remote working due to COVID 19, and the accompanying increase in BYOD and endpoints working outside the network, the endpoint will continue to be the focus of attacks.
Threats to endpoints can come in the form of external attacks (malware, ransomware, hackers, etc.) as well as insider threats, which may be either malicious or unintentional in nature. A compromised endpoint can give an attacker a foothold within an environment, enabling them to launch further attacks on systems to access data and compromise additional endpoints via lateral movement.
A strong endpoint security posture will confer a number of benefits including a condensed threat surface, a reduction in malware and other negative security incidents, a boost in endpoint performance, a clear path to auditability, and improved operations across the IT infrastructure.