Network Detection and Response (NDR) vs. Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR): A Comparison
As the rate of cybersecurity incidents increases and cybercriminals are more creative in deploying highly sophisticated malware, you need new ways to keep your business safe.
You have several intelligent and efficient ways to fight against threats and hackers, but you may be wondering what the wisest solution is, as the traditional antivirus is no longer enough.
NDR (Network Detection and Response) and EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) are two approaches to cyber security that are similar but distinct and that address several common problems. NDR and EDR use machine learning and artificial intelligence to defend against a newer and deadly wave of cyberthreats.
But utilizing each of them at its best and understanding which solution is tailored for your business, needs some research and documentation.
That is why this article will give you information about the characteristics and key features of NDR vs. EDR, what each can do, how your business can benefit from using it, and how they meet your organization’s needs.
What Is NDR?
NDR stands for Network Detection and Response, and it is a cybersecurity solution designed for your network that can detect any suspicious or unusual traffic.
NDR can continuously monitor and record network traffic to identify a pattern. Using this pattern, NDR analysis packet data to detect any anomalies or threats within a network, working to mitigate them automatically or alerting the security team.
This solution employs a toolkit of advanced automated programs to avert cyber incidents, mitigate current threats, resolve potential breaches, and notify the security team of network findings.
NDR can be cloud-based, on-premises, or virtual. It employs machine learning to detect unknown and known network threats as soon as possible. The capability of detecting unknown threats is enhanced by the fact that, unlike traditional security tools, NDR is not a signature-based solution.
Using it increases visibility into network blind spots and allows the security team to conduct quick threat investigations throughout the environment, while the analytic and behavioral capabilities of this cyber solution result in high-fidelity alerts for more accurate threat detection.
More advanced NDR solutions can provide dependable forensics as well as long-term data storage. It enables a retrospective view of network traffic to investigate threat behavior before, during, and after attacks. If an indicator of compromise (IOC) is detected, security teams can examine compromised host communication, determine lateral movement, and determine whether a data breach has occurred.
Network Detection and Response Benefits
Using NDR will greatly benefit your company and make your cybersecurity system more efficient by hunting the cybermenaces within the network.
NDR has to be compatible with all other cybersecurity software that your company has in place and all should work smoothly together, like one compact organism, to fight cybercrime.
Here are the main key benefits of NDR:
- Newer and more evolved malware (like polymorphic malware), is more likely to be stopped by the NDR solution.
- ‘Weaponized AI’ used by cybercriminals can be matched with the AI solution incorporated in NDR.
- Using forensics provided by NDR you can determine how malware breached the network in the first place and mitigate that problem so your network will be safe in the future.
- Incident response and threat-hunting processes become faster and more efficient with the help of NDR.
What Is EDR?
EDR stands for Endpoint Detection and Response, and it is a cybersecurity solution designed to monitor all endpoints connected to your networks – such as computers, phones, and servers – for suspicious behavior.
EDR is not one software or an application, is a cybersecurity suit that can include: antivirus software, automated analysis, and forensic solutions, endpoint monitoring and management, and security team alert systems.
Using these tools, an EDR is capable of effectively preventing incidents, mitigating immediate cybersecurity threats, and rapidly resolving attacks. That is why EDR is critical for the overall cybersecurity posture of a company.
This security solution is capable to collect data from monitoring endpoints and then analyzing it to determine a “normal” behavior pattern on those devices. If EDR identifies a thread using this pattern, will proceed to mitigate it or will notify the security team.
Practically, EDR functions by installing a software agent on each endpoint. The agents can identify tangible changes such as registry changes and key file tampering, this way it assists in detecting malicious activity that a firewall may have missed.
More advanced EDR systems may use machine learning or artificial intelligence to analyze endpoint data and identify potential points of compromise.
EDR provides a more comprehensive approach to detecting security breaches as they occur.
Endpoint Detection and Response Benefits
EDR is a solution for many companies as the number of endpoints connected to a network is endless nowadays.
We don’t think of endpoints only as stationary devices from the office – like computers and printers –, but also as every laptop, smartphone, smartwatch, IoT, and BYOD owned by your employees and helping them in their work.
Simply put: more endpoint means more vulnerabilities. Every endpoint is a potential entry for malware and other threats.
Here are the main key benefits of EDR:
- Antivirus software can’t stop every threat, so EDR is your second line of defense against malware that bypassed security and entered your endpoints.
- It’s an intelligent solution, using AI to learn about the types of threats that it is against and improve defense day after day.
- EDR can contain malware in the endpoints, preventing it to spread through the whole network.
NDR vs. EDR: Differences
Although both EDR and NDR protect your organization by recording, monitoring and analyzing data, both alert the security team if they register something suspicious, and both can put an end to a cyberincident, but they serve different purposes in the end.
NDR targets intrinsic communications, offering real-time visibility of the network, while EDR focuses on computers, servers, and other endpoints that it keeps safe from attacks.
Because of this Network Detection and Response solution are considered more comprehensive compared to Endpoint Detection and Response, the last being a ground-level view and the first an aerial overview.
And when it comes to more sophisticated cyberattacks, they can be missed by EDR solutions, but NDR will stop them.
To summarize NDR vs. EDR differences:
Area
NDR – Network traffic and traffic between devices.
EDR – Every endpoint and host.
Purpose
NDR – Visibility and/or transparency of network traffic, identification of known and unknown threats and lateral movements, notifying, and responding
EDR – Endpoint and access area protection by monitoring and mitigation, vulnerability assessment, alerting, and responding.
Procedures
NDR – Indicator of Attack (IoA), anomaly detection, user behavior, and machine learning.
EDR – Malicious behavior detection, tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP) examination, Indicator of Compromise (IoC), signatures learning, and machine learning.
Why Do You Need NDR and EDR?
The bad news is that both these cybersecurity solutions have limitations, the good news is that you don’t have to choose between them, and they work perfectly together.
Each solution alone is of great value for the security of your business but for a truly holistic cybersecurity strategy, and if you want to build a cyber resilience strategy, you should incorporate not just one but both EDR and NDR solutions.
The reason for this is the wide range of malware that populates the Internet and the continuously changing tactics of cybercriminals that make just one single solution not enough for strong protection. The financial loss caused by cybersecurity incidents reached $6.9 Billion in 2021, acording to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center report.
EDR and NDR will give you:
- 24/7 prevention
- immediate, and after-incident cyber security
- the automated features save time and money
- provides real-time analytics for patching
- prevents blind spots in your cybersecurity strategy
How Can Heimdal® Help?
Heimdal Endpoint Detection and Response is a complex cybersecurity technology designed to protect endpoints and continuously monitor and respond to mitigate cybersecurity threats. When threats arise, Heimdal’s EDR provides greater visibility into corporate endpoints and allows for faster response times.
Heimdal Threat Prevention Network is a solution we developed to assure network security at the online perimeter. As a result, your business will be able to stop account takeover fraud before it’s too late. It will hunt, prevent, detect and respond to any network and IoT threat, allowing you to confidently own your BYOD governance and secure all your users’ devices.
Heimdal® Threat Prevention - Endpoint
- Machine learning powered scans for all incoming online traffic;
- Stops data breaches before sensitive info can be exposed to the outside;
- Advanced DNS, HTTP and HTTPS filtering for all your endpoints;
- Protection against data leakage, APTs, ransomware and exploits;
Wrapping Up…
You should look at your decisions regarding the cybersecurity of your organization as an ever-building wall that will surround all your important information and devices. Every new acquisition has to make that wall stronger and has to fit perfectly with other “bricks”.
Most large businesses today need a more inclusive solution that combines network and endpoint data security. The goal is to have a robust, up-to-date security suite that offers you a quick response in the case of an attack and context and information.
There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach to security technology. To advance to the next level of maturity, you can build on the foundation of current tools, processes, and security controls.
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