The problem is easy: all breaches start with original access, and preliminary access comes down to two main attack vectors – credentials and devices. This is not information; every document you can find on the danger scenery depicts the same picture.
The answer is more difficult. For this article, we’ll focus on the machine risk matrix. The risk they pose is significant, which is why device management tools like Mobile Device Management ( MDM) and Endpoint Detection and Response ( EDR) are essential components of an organization’s security infrastructure.
However, relying solely on these devices to control system risk actually creates a false sense of security. Instead of the harsh tools of machine management, organizations are looking for options that deliver gadget trust. Machine believe provides a complete, risk-based approach to gadget security enforcement, closing the big gaps left behind by traditional device management solutions. Here are 5 of those restrictions and how to beat them with unit trust.
1. Zero presence into uncontrolled products
MDM and EDR remedies are effective for managing and securing products that are enrolled and within the group’s power. However, they cannot provide visibility and control over uncontrolled products, such as personal devices or phones, company devices, and devices used by business partners.
However, these devices are also accessing your corporate resources, and they are a main threat specifically because they are not company-managed. They may not adhere to the organization’s security policies ( no disk encryption, no local biometric, hasn’t been updated in three years, etc ), and you are none the wiser because you have no security footprint there, making them perfect entry points for attackers.
How system believe solves this issue:
System trust provides protection over all devices that are authenticating, including uncontrolled, BYOD, and private devices. The best way to achieve this is via a privacy-preserving, portable password that has no remote clean capabilities nor operational privileges over the device. However, it should be able to get system risk monitoring and assistance fast remediation to provide risk visibility and security compliance enforcement for all devices in your fleet.
2. Insufficient coverage across operating methods
While some MDM and EDR tools offer aid for common operating systems like Windows and macOS, their policy for Linux and ChromeOS devices is often limited in their capabilities or totally non-existent. This gap leaves organizations vulnerable, especially those that rely on diverse operating systems for their operations, such as software engineers and system administrators.
How system believe solves this issue:
Device trust delivers broad-based coverage across all commonly used operating systems, including Linux and ChromeOS. This provides administrators the ability to evaluate device risk in real-time on any device, regardless of operating system, and block access from devices that fail to meet the security threshold.
3. Lack of integration with access policy
MDM and EDR tools typically operate independently of access management systems, leading to a disconnect between device security posture and access controls. That is, even if your MDM or EDR flags a suspicious activity, event, or behavior from an endpoint, the signal is not available to your access management solution to make real-time decisions about the user’s access to resources.
Without a tightly coupled integration, organizations have no ability to enforce access policies based on real-time device risk assessments collected from device management tools.
How system believe solves this issue:
Device trust puts adaptive risk policy into practice by incorporating as many signals as available as part of access decisions. If a device is non-compliant, it can be prevented from accessing company data in the first place. And if a device falls out of compliance, its access should be able to be revoked instantly.
As a bonus, device trust enforced via access policy does not disrupt end-user productivity by forcing automatic updates. Instead, the device risk is contained because it cannot gain access while the user or their admin takes the steps needed for remediation.
4. Risk of device management tool misconfigurations
Configuration drifts happen. But misconfigurations in MDM and EDR solutions can create security blind spots, allowing threats to go undetected. These misconfigurations may result from human error, lack of expertise, or complex system requirements, and they often remain unnoticed until a security incident occurs.
For instance, CrowdStrike requires full disk access to be able to properly execute its detection and response functionality. Being able to evaluate not just the presence of the tool but its correct configuration is crucial to enforcing defense in depth.
How system believe solves this issue:
With a tightly coupled integration with device management solutions, device trust can ensure that not only is the tool present on the device, but all configurations are in place as intended. This provides an additional layer of security to defend against configuration drifts of security tooling.
5. Limited ability to detect advanced threats
MDM and EDR tools are designed to detect known threats. MDMs, in particular, offer coarse risk telemetry, with some variation across vendors. However, they give organizations no ability to identify or do anything about security risks such as:
- Identifying specific processes or sensitive files on a device
- Existence of unencrypted SSH keys
- Third-party MacOS extensions
- Evaluate the existence of applications with known CVEs
How system believe solves this issue:
Device trust delivers fine-grained device posture evaluation. In combination with a tightly coupled integration with access management, it allows organizations to enforce device security compliance beyond the scope of what device management tools allow.
Conclusion
In conclusion, while device management tools are important, they are not sufficient for ensuring device security. Organizations must adopt a device trust approach that provides comprehensive visibility, cross-platform support, integration with access management, vigilant configuration management, and advanced threat detection capabilities.
Beyond Identity is an access management platform that delivers robust device trust capabilities. To see the platform in action, .