Because endpoint device threats have grown significantly over the past ten years, the requirement for protecting corporate endpoints has expanded substantially in today's business environment. The time when malware and viruses were your only concerns is long past. The introduction of a unified endpoint management platform has changed the game completely.
Today, protecting endpoint devices and data requires dealing with various new threats, such as credential theft, unauthorized usage of USB drives, out-of-date patches, dangerous viruses and malware that may contain rootkits, unapproved and malicious programs, and more.
What is Endpoint Management?
To safeguard an IT environment, endpoint management involves deploying, monitoring, securing, resolving, and updating endpoints. The IT department of an organization carries out this procedure to guarantee the safety of all endpoints. As a result, protecting your network from security issues is essential to maintaining uptime and productivity.
An endpoint is a remote unit connected to a computer network or applications. Examples of endpoints include:
- Laptops
- Desktops
- Tablets
- Smartphones
- Smartwatches
- Workstations
- Servers
- Internet of things (IoT) devices
What is Endpoint Management Software?
The tasks associated with endpoint management are carried out using endpoint management software. It regularly examines the state of your endpoints and the devices in your IT environment. As a result, you can effectively manage your IT infrastructure and handle issues before they become more serious.
The Importance of a Unified Endpoint Management Platform
Organizations need a unified endpoint management platform because it provides a comprehensive overview of the condition and security of their devices. It enables you to keep track of every endpoint, be aware of them, and take preventative steps to protect them. A safe IT environment and more secure devices result from staying up to date with software updates and fixing problems.
Security risks have increased, making it difficult for IT staff to defend networks as more individuals bring their devices to work. Because of the increasing complexity of these attacks, measures must be put in place to guarantee endpoint security for a remote workforce.
The number of endpoint security applications and the software used to stop them has significantly expanded along with security threats. For example, many business PCs use anti-virus, desktop firewall, anti-spyware, and file encryption programs. Although a single console serves as the central management point for all of these security components, the multi-agent method makes it expensive and difficult to maintain, for instance, when you have multiple PCs in your office. This emphasizes the need for technology that offers total endpoint protection through a single, unified approach so that you can permanently secure your company's data.
Why is Endpoint Management Necessary?
The majority of these businesses and industries would benefit from a unified endpoint management platform as the usage of technology and digital data spread across a range of sectors. Every firm with endpoint devices connected to its network or apps needs endpoint management.
The following are significant sectors that profit from endpoint management use:
Information Technology (IT)
Since the IT sector relies on technology and digital resources for its daily operations, it is imperative to take the appropriate safeguards to guarantee that access to digital data is current, corrected, and secured. Additionally, one hacked endpoint can impact the entire organization, so taking precautions in advance could stop security threats from affecting customer data or operational procedures.
Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI)
Banks and other financial institutions keep confidential customer and business-related financial and personal information on file. If this information is not adequately protected, it could be misused and lead to significant losses. As a result, customers may suffer greatly, and banking and financial organizations may suffer devastating effects. As a result, they ensure that BFSI endpoints are monitored, remedied, updated, and secured, aiding in preventing or minimizing losses.
Healthcare
In the healthcare sector, an extensive database contains patients' confidential health information. This data is accessible to physicians and other healthcare professionals via various endpoints. Patient information is endangered if the security of just one endpoint is jeopardized. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which was put in place to safeguard patient privacy while enabling the proper flow of information so that patients might obtain the highest possible quality of care, is being breached by this. To ensure that this information is always accessible and made available to those who need it, endpoint management also provides updates and remediations for these endpoints.
Education
Because these organizations collect so much safe data, the education sector is alluring to hackers. Schools can run continuously with sensitive information about current and former students, employees, grades, and grade point averages. Academic institutions are accountable for their integrity and security. Endpoint management is vital to a successful cybersecurity plan for the educational sector.
Secure Devices and Software With the HCL BigFix Unified Endpoint Management Platform
The HCL BigFix endpoint management platform gives IT operations teams the power of continuous compliance and intelligent automation to manage nearly 100 operating system versions, enabling streamlined management processes, tool consolidation, and reduced operating costs.
BigFix automates the detection, administration, and remediation of all endpoints, whether mobile, remote, or in the cloud, regardless of the operating system, location, or connectivity. Every endpoint can be managed with HCL BigFix.
BigFix's unified design can effectively manage and maintain compliance of all your servers, desktops, and mobile devices, whether in the office, at home, or in the cloud, in contrast to complex tools that only cover a small percentage of your endpoints. In addition, BigFix offers first-pass patch success rates of more than 98% and can locate and repair endpoints faster than any other solution.
Due to BigFix's integration with top security management programs like Tenable and Qualys, the time required to fix vulnerabilities is severely reduced. Any order of importance severely reduces the time needed to fix vulnerabilities. Additionally, it expands its well-known endpoint management features to the AWS, Azure, and Google clouds, allowing businesses to consistently utilize a single tool to manage several clouds and on-premises resources.
Conclusion
Endpoint management software helps to secure and protect your organization’s digital assets and information. It allows you to monitor, manage proactively, and remediate all your endpoints simultaneously, preventing losses due to downtime and serving as a cornerstone to an effective cybersecurity strategy.
HCL BigFix is the best cloud-based endpoint management solution that helps you secure your digital data. With an intuitive user experience and a centralized console, you can easily manage and support your organization’s endpoints in a single location.