Too many organizations are fighting a losing battle by employing overly complex endpoint security strategies. The cybersecurity industry has long advocated Defense-in-Depth thinking and multi-layered cyber defenses as the optimal approach for securing infrastructure.
This philosophy teaches that each new attack type requires adding a tailored response (a.k.a. another layer) on top of existing security processes. The drawbacks to this approach are seldom mentioned, but include:
- Each additional security layer requires system resources, inevitably slowing down machine performance and worker productivity
- In-house IT staff can be quickly overwhelmed by alert fatigue as multiple security layers bombard them with notifications of suspicious activity
- Attackers only need to break the weakest link of the security chain and each additional layer may contain unique vulnerabilities
- Layering security is often a reactive process, meaning attackers will successfully compromise someone before new solution layers are crafted in response
- Multiple security layers may require the hiring of additional staff for management and monitoring
- Using multiple security layers can create isolated information silos that delay response times or obfuscate critical information from analysts
Arming security analysts with dozens of individual tools and hoping they can monitor and repel countless cyber threats is a losing strategy. If it worked, the headlines would not feature stories about major security breaches on a weekly basis. Successfully protecting endpoints is a complex problem, but ultimately solvable by rethinking the conventional approach to cybersecurity.
Several Security Controls, One Integrated Solution
The first step for effectively protecting endpoints is simplifying processes and consolidating tools. Analysts should focus on security strategies and known issues, not dividing their time among dozens of programs or sifting through thousands of alerts.
A Unified Endpoint Security (UES) solution saves analysts time by allowing them to focus their efforts through a single security interface. This approach allows IT teams to easily address multiple devices and platforms including Windows®, Mac®, Linux®, iOS®, and Android™ systems through one console.
The BlackBerry Spark® Suites family of solutions are a comprehensive offering based upon six key pillars of cybersecurity. Each pillar is focused on a specific security goal but works in harmony with the others. The six pillars of security are:
- Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
- Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
- Mobile Threat Defense (MTD)
- User and Entity Behavior Analysis (UEBA)
- Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
- Secure Web Gateway
Placing these six aspects of cybersecurity under a single umbrella greatly simplifies cybersecurity operations. Streamlining security processes allow IT teams to spend more time solving known issues and less time deciphering alert data and system logs.
Harness AI for Automating Tasks – the UES Advantage
BlackBerry uses highly trained artificial intelligence (AI) to power many of its security solutions. By offloading repetitive and data-intensive detection operations on AI, security analysts are free to focus on issues requiring human intelligence. The BlackBerry Spark® UES Suite uses AI in the following ways:
- Endpoint Protection (EPP) – BlackBerry® Protect delivers AI-driven threat prevention, combined with application and script control, memory protection, and device policy enforcement. BlackBerry’s AI security agents are trained on millions of safe and unsafe files to identify and block threats before they can cause harm.
- Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) – BlackBerry® Optics deploys mathematical threat detection models directly on the endpoint. These agents monitor the endpoint for suspicious activity and perform root cause analysis, smart threat hunting, and automated detection and response.
- User and Entity Behavior Analysis (UEBA) – BlackBerry® Persona uses machine learning and predictive AI to dynamically adapt a security policy based on user location, device, and other factors. By improving the user experience, it protects against human mistakes and well-intentioned workarounds.
- Mobile Threat Defense (MTD) – BlackBerry® Protect for mobile deploys AI-driven security agents to mobile devices, offering predictive threat prevention to a sizeable cross-section of portable technology.
Organizations can maximize security resources by dividing security tasks between human analysts and highly trained AI. BlackBerry Spark UES Suite makes the separation of security tasks easy and accessible through a single administrative console.
Also available is the BlackBerry Spark® UEM Suite, which provides a full set of endpoint management capabilities including Digital Rights Management, Identity and Access Management, SDK/custom apps, multi-channel notifications and regulated controls, and provides a highly secure way to manage and secure devices and applications, including secure interoperability with Microsoft® Office 365® mobile apps.
For the most comprehensive solution that brings together all BlackBerry Spark UEM and BlackBerry Spark UES capabilities, BlackBerry Spark® Suite is a one-stop-shop and the gold standard for managing and securing all device types and ownership models.
The Road To Zero Trust
BlackBerry Spark UES Suite is a fundamental component in our quest to migrate organizations to a Zero Trust, Zero Touch security model. It uses AI to quickly perform the heavy analysis required for threat detection and execute response actions or to alert IT teams as necessary.
The BlackBerry model emphasizes a unified and proactive approach to security, rather than reacting to new threats with additional security layers and rushed updates. BlackBerry Spark UES Suite gives security analysts a single console for managing every device that touches organizational resources.
The longstanding approach to cybersecurity is unsustainable in today’s interconnected world of IoT devices, BYOD policies, and sprawling network inter-connectivity. Trying to keep pace with new technologies and the exponentially expanding threat landscape by introducing new security layers or hiring personnel only exhausts organizational resources. The time has come for a new approach to security. BlackBerry UES Suite offers a unified system for addressing current and future threats to the enterprise.
For more information on how BlackBerry Spark Suites can put your organization on a winning path, please contact us.
