The Evolution Towards Endpoint Security - Twenty-Four Seven Security

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September 19, 2007
The Evolution Towards Endpoint Security

The birth of the security industry (and many of the largest security companies) came with the onset of the first virus, as I covered in my blog yesterday, but what's interesting is that in a recent survey, only 52 percent of respondents said they had even caught a computer virus in the past year.

As we all know, with all the electronic ink spilled over big and bigger security breaches, our computer insecurity is through the roof. So what's an Antivirus company to do? As with my last podcast with Symantec, evolve into a complete security solution, also known as an endpoint protection platform (EPP).

According to Amrit's blog, Gartner defines EPP as "the convergence of desktop security functionality into a single product that delivers antivirus, antispyware, personal firewall and other styles of host intrusion prevention (for example, behavioral blocking) capabilities into a single and cohesive policy-managed solution."

Just imagine if, when anything went wrong with your car, you had to go to that specific part manufacturer to get it fixed. For example, say your cup holder cracked, so you've got to go to Just Cup Holder Repairs to get it fixed. Well that's ridiculous, I know, because we simply buy one car from one car maker.

But the evolution of security pretty much defines putting the card in front of the horse, as it is the threats that drive our security protection purchases, creating a fractured protection profile at best. So where is it all going?

Essentially, Amrit sees security and operation converging on the desktop which will provide stronger systems management and more centralized admin of the whole system. But we all know that cybercriminals like nothing more than to run and end-around, or in the case of security, and endpoint around, which means that many of these security behemoths that are now touting endpoint security will have to remain quick and agile, or almost exactly what a corporate behemoth is not.