The Difference Between Antivirus And EDR (Key Insights)

Which One Keeps Your Business Safer: Antivirus Or EDR?

Having the right cybersecurity technology is just a part of doing business in today’s world. In fact, cybersecurity solutions like antivirus software accounted for $23 billion in annual revenue last year – it’s likely that you contributed to that in some small way.

But are you sure antivirus software is enough to keep your organization secure? Or do modern threats require more advanced protection?

Is Antivirus Enough On Its Own?

Antivirus is installed to protect at the user level, known as endpoint protection, and is designed to detect and block a virus or malware from taking root on a user’s computer, or worse, accessing a network to which the user is connected.

Because of antivirus’ limited capabilities, it’s unprepared to deal with a range of modern cybercrime threats:

• Advanced Threats: An antivirus’s ability to spot threats is dependant on prior knowledge of those threats. As cybercriminals evolve their attack methods, they can easily circumvent basic antivirus defenses.
• Polymorphic Malware: Again, the signature-based tools that antivirus software relies on can be negated by employing malware that avoids known signatures.
• Malicious Documents: Antivirus programs can’t spot a threat when it’s disguised as a harmless document.
• Fileless Malware: By executing its processes in-memory, malware can avoid being spotted by antivirus programs that only scan files.
• Encrypted Traffic: Cybercriminals can also hide their activity in encrypted traffic, preventing your antivirus from ever noticing them.

The job of antivirus software is to spot, block, and isolate intrusive, malicious applications so they can’t do damage to your data and legitimate software. Ideally, antivirus software is used in conjunction with other security technology to provide defense against malware, adware, and spyware. Each of these cybercriminal tactics has the potential to do immense damage to internal processes and a company’s reputation.

The point is that on its own, antivirus software is not enough to defend you. On the other hand, SentinelOne’s ActiveEndpoint Detection and Response (EDR) is a cyber technology that continually monitors and responds to mitigate cyber threats.

What Is SentinelOne ActiveEDR?

Developed to provide advanced cybersecurity defenses, SentinelOne ActiveEDR protects systems before, during, and after a malware attack, employing different technologies and methodologies where necessary:

• Passive Protection: SentinelOne uses a static AI engine to monitor systems for signs of malware, eliminating the need for ongoing scans.
• Active Defense: The Behavioral AI engine watches for malicious activity, flagging and eliminating a range of threats, from file-based malware to zero-day exploits.
• After The Attack: Using an Automated Endpoint Detection and Response system, SentinelOne gathers forensic data and takes the necessary steps to prevent damage – network isolation, and endpoint restoration.

SentinelOne ActiveEDR will protect you from a range of threats, including:

• Malware: Whether it’s conventional malware such as trojans, ransomware, worms, backdoors, or memory-only, SentinelOne will keep it off your systems.
• Exploits: Cybercriminals can hide exploits in Office documents, Adobe files, automated macros, and spear-phishing emails, as well as penetrate your systems while you browse the web. SentinelOne keeps you safe from both.
• Live/Insider: You also have to protect yourself from insider and active threats – Powershell, WMI, PowerSploit, VBS, Mimikatz… the list goes on and on. SentinelOne actively detects and eliminates these threats before they cause any damage.

What Will SentinelOne ActiveEDR Do That Your Antivirus Software Can’t?

EDR Capabilities:

• Mitigate ransomware threats by rolling back devices to a pre-infection state.
• Detect and prevent both current and emerging threats with continually updated and improving artificial intelligence (AI).
• Monitor your network in real-time and keep an eye on any ongoing processes to prevent new threats from slipping in.

Antivirus Vulnerabilities:

• No capability to roll back devices to a pre-infection state.
• Has no capability to identify new threats, leaving you unprepared to mitigate cybercriminals’ latest strategies.
• Presents an entry point for new threats from active cybercriminals.
• Requires daily or weekly scans to be effective, both increasing your risks and potentially slowing down your device performance in the process.

Defend Your Data With SentinelOne ActiveEDR

Standard, free trial, consumer-grade cybersecurity solutions won’t cut it anymore. Not when it comes up against the types of malware that cybercriminals are using today.

If you want to stay safe, you need to invest in something more advanced. If you’re unsure of where to begin with SentinelOne ActiveEDR, don’t worry, you don’t have to handle it alone. CSP will help you assess your security needs, consider your IT budget, and develop a robust cybersecurity defense including EDR.

Click here to get started or call us at (919) 424-2000 .

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