The digital perimeter of a business has dissolved. With a dispersed workforce and an ever-growing number of connected devices, the endpoint has become the new frontier of cyber defence. While traditional antivirus (AV) has long been the cornerstone of endpoint security, it is fundamentally a preventative measure, designed to block “known bad” threats. However, modern attackers are sophisticated and persistent, using techniques that easily bypass these static, signature-based defences.
A staggering 70% of all breaches are now attributable to compromised endpoints, and a significant portion of these attacks—such as phishing (84%), malware (84%), and ransomware (63%)—exploit weaknesses in endpoint security. This reality demands a strategic shift for technically-led organisations and those with compliance obligations. Relying solely on standard antivirus is a dangerous miscalculation; the necessity for a dynamic, proactive security posture, specifically Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR), is now a strategic mandate.
Through our managed EDR service, PrimaryTech provides the technical capabilities and human expertise needed to find and stop attackers. Our approach leverages enterprise-grade technology and combines it with our team of elite threat experts, ensuring that your business receives comprehensive protection.
Technical Deep Dive: The Flaws of Legacy AV vs. EDR’s Proactive Defence
Traditional antivirus, while a necessary baseline, operates on a reactive model. It primarily uses signature matching to identify and block files based on a database of known threats. This leaves a critical gap for novel attacks and “living-off-the-land” techniques that use legitimate tools to carry out malicious activity.
Modern EDR, by contrast, operates on a principle of continuous monitoring and behavioural analysis.
The EDR Difference:
- Behavioural Analysis over Signatures: EDR platforms use advanced analytics to identify anomalous and malicious behaviour, such as a legitimate application executing an unusual command or a process attempting to modify critical system files. This is often powered by a human-led SOC team that actively hunts for threats that have bypassed other security measures.
- Persistent Foothold Detection: Our Managed EDR service focuses on eliminating persistent threats that are hiding in plain sight on both Windows and macOS endpoints.
- Threat Containment and Elimination: When a threat is identified, we provide immediate threat containment to “stop the spread”. Our team then assists with remediation by automating the execution of actions needed to address the incident and providing guidance for recovery.
- Managed Antivirus: Our service makes the most of your existing security investments, such as Microsoft Defender Antivirus. We provide a centralised, multi-tenant interface to manage and monitor Defender AV on all protected endpoints, offering fleet-wide visibility and streamlined policy management.
Strategic Framework: Aligning EDR with Cyber Essentials Plus
For UK businesses, implementing an EDR solution is not just a technical improvement—it is a critical step towards achieving and maintaining robust security frameworks, such as Cyber Essentials Plus. This certification requires organisations to demonstrate that they have robust technical controls in place to protect against common cyber threats.
- Malware Protection (Requirement 4): Our managed EDR service directly addresses the need for advanced malware protection, detecting and blocking threats like ransomware and fileless malware by analysing their behaviour. This is a control far superior to basic, signature-based protection.
- Access Control (Requirement 3): By continuously monitoring endpoint activity, our service helps to enforce and validate access controls. It can detect and flag unauthorised activity or the misuse of legitimate credentials, a common tactic in phishing and malware campaigns.
- Secure Configuration (Requirement 2): The centralized policy management feature of our service ensures that endpoints remain in a secure configuration. Any deviation or attempt to tamper with security settings can be immediately flagged and investigated by our SOC team.
Our Managed EDR service simplifies this process by providing a unified platform with centralised visibility and policy management, enabling IT managers to maintain a consistent, certified security posture across their entire fleet.
Implementation Best Practices & Common Pitfalls
Deploying a modern EDR solution requires more than just installing an agent; it demands a strategic approach to configuration and management.
Best Practices:
- Prioritise a Managed Service: A primary pitfall is the assumption that an EDR platform can be managed in-house. EDR generates a high volume of data and alerts, and without a dedicated, 24/7 SOC team, organisations risk alert fatigue, where genuine threats are missed in a sea of false positives. PrimaryTech’s managed service, with our human-led SOC, ensures that only high-confidence, validated threats are flagged, drastically reducing noise and allowing your internal teams to focus on core business tasks.
- Integrate with Existing Security Tools: Our service is designed to be purpose-built, not bolted together with other tools. We enhance the capabilities of built-in OS tools like Microsoft Defender Antivirus, providing more protection at a lower cost.
- Ensure Rapid Response: The best EDR platforms not only detect but also provide rapid containment and response. Our service boasts an industry-leading 8-minute mean-time-to-respond (MTTR) and provides active remediation to remove hacker footholds.
Common Pitfalls:
- Ignoring Alert Fatigue: An unmanaged EDR solution can be a double-edged sword, overwhelming staff with alerts and leading to complacency.
- Assuming EDR is a “Set and Forget” Solution: EDR requires continuous monitoring and expert analysis to be effective. It is not a one-time deployment but an ongoing service that needs skilled personnel to interpret its findings and respond appropriately.
- Neglecting Endpoint Policy: Without a clear policy framework for endpoint configuration and access, the EDR system’s effectiveness is reduced. Our Managed Defender Antivirus feature provides centralised policy management to combat this.
Conclusion
Modern businesses operate in a landscape where endpoint compromise is a near-certainty. Our Managed EDR service offers the deep visibility and rapid response capabilities needed to meet these threats head-on. By partnering with us, UK organisations can leverage enterprise-grade security without the overhead of building an internal SOC. This approach provides superior protection against sophisticated threats and aligns with the stringent requirements of frameworks like Cyber Essentials Plus, establishing a robust and verifiable security posture.
A robust security posture requires deep technical expertise and a strategic understanding of verifiable frameworks. If your team needs a partner who can architect, implement, and validate these controls to achieve Cyber Essentials Plus, let’s connect.
Published: August 11