EDR vs Antivirus: What Is the Difference?

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What is EDR?

What is Antivirus?

Endpoint detection and response (EDR) collects data from endpoints, and provides advanced measures for detecting threats, with the ability to identify where an attack originated from and how it is spreading. It is often a component of an endpoint protection platform (EPP)

EDR helps security analysts understand that attackers have already breached an endpoint, and help them stop attacks by performing automated or manual actions, such as isolating an endpoint from the network, wiping and reimaging it, or identifying and stopping malicious processes.

While an EPP provides security measures to prevent attacks, EDR can proactively address threats after they have penetrated an organization’s endpoints, before they cause damage.

Antivirus software, also known as legacy AV, is the “lowest common denominator” of endpoint security. Antivirus scans an operating system and file system for known malware such as trojans, worms, and ransomware, and upon detecting them, removes them from the system.

Legacy AV typically detects malware by comparing binaries to known signatures, performing heuristic analysis to see if running processes or installed software have suspicious properties, and integrity checking, which checks if malware has tampered with existing files on a machine.

The evolution of legacy AV is next generation antivirus (NGAV), which provides more advanced detection based on machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). This makes it possible to detect unknown and zero-day malware, and advanced threats like fileless attacks.

EDR vs. Antivirus: 6 Key Differences

Security Approaches

Antivirus software primarily focuses on preventing and removing known threats. It relies on a signature-based approach, where it compares files and applications against a database of known malware signatures. If a match is found, the antivirus software takes action to quarantine or delete the infected file.

On the other hand, EDR takes a proactive approach by monitoring the behavior of endpoints and identifying potential threats based on anomalies and suspicious activities. It uses advanced techniques like machine learning and behavioral analysis to detect and respond to both known and unknown threats. EDR solutions provide real-time visibility into endpoint activities and help security teams quickly respond and mitigate potential risks.

Scope

While antivirus software traditionally focuses on protecting against known malware, EDR solutions provide a broader scope of protection. Antivirus software primarily targets malware, such as viruses, worms, Trojans, and ransomware. It scans files and applications to identify these malicious entities and prevent them from infecting the system.

EDR solutions go beyond just malware detection. They monitor and analyze various endpoint activities, including network traffic, process execution, and file behavior. This allows EDR solutions to detect a wide range of threats, including fileless attacks, zero-day exploits, and advanced persistent threats (APTs). EDR solutions provide a more holistic view of the system’s security posture, enabling organizations to identify and respond to both known and unknown threats.

Detection

Traditional antivirus software detects malware using known threat signatures. Advanced solutions known as next-generation antivirus (NGAV) additionally use behavioral analysis, based on machine learning, to identify suspicious files and software that might be malware, even if they don’t match a known attack signature.

EDR solutions use these and additional techniques to detect threats. They employ behavior-based analysis, machine learning algorithms, and anomaly detection to identify potential threats based on the behavior of endpoints and network activities. More importantly, EDR does not rely only on automated means; it notifies security professionals about threats on endpoints and gives them the data they need to investigate, contain, and eradicate the threat.

Automation

Antivirus software can automate only one aspect of threat prevention: detecting malware and quarantining or removing it from the user’s system.

EDR solutions automate many other aspects of threat detection and response. They continuously monitor and analyze endpoint data, providing security teams with a comprehensive view of potential threats. EDR solutions can automatically identify and respond to suspicious activities, for example by isolating an endpoint from the network or wiping and reinstalling it from a safe image. This allows organizations to respond quickly to severe threats, reducing the risk of damage or data loss.

Response time

One of the critical factors in effective threat response is the time it takes to detect and respond to an incident. Antivirus software relies on signature updates to detect new threats. This dependency on updates can result in a delay between the emergence of a new threat and its detection by the antivirus software.

EDR solutions, on the other hand, provide near real-time visibility into endpoint activities and automate the detection and response process. They continuously monitor endpoints for suspicious activities, even if the threats are unknown, enabling organizations to respond quickly to emerging threats. The proactive nature of EDR solutions, coupled with their ability to automatically respond to threats, significantly reduces the response time.

Response Methods

Antivirus software typically follows a predefined set of rules and actions when it detects a threat. It may quarantine the infected file, delete it, or prompt the user for further action. The response is limited to the actions specified by the antivirus software.

In contrast, EDR solutions provide more advanced response capabilities. They not only detect threats but also allow security teams to investigate and respond to incidents in real-time. EDR solutions enable security teams to isolate compromised endpoints, block malicious network connections, and initiate remediation actions remotely on the affected devices. This helps organizations contain and mitigate potential threats before they can cause significant damage.

How Can EDR and Antivirus Work Together?

While EDR and antivirus have distinct functionalities, they can work together to provide improved security. Antivirus software is effective in detecting and eliminating known threats, while EDR can detect unknown and advanced threats.

Integrating EDR with antivirus allows for a multi-layered defense approach. Antivirus software can act as the first line of defense, scanning files and preventing known threats from entering the system. EDR can then provide continuous monitoring, detecting any suspicious activities that may bypass the antivirus software.

Another benefit of using EDR and antivirus together is improved containment. Having antivirus software deployed on all endpoints can prevent threats from spreading to the entire environment, and makes it more difficult for threat actors to gain a foothold in the network. When security incidents do happen, EDR provides detailed forensic data and analysis, allowing organizations to understand the scope and impact of the incident, and provides tools incident response teams can use to contain and remediate the threat.

What is the Relation Between Endpoint Protection Platforms (EPP) and Antivirus?

An EPP is designed to prevent attacks from conventional threats such as malware, zero-day vulnerabilities and memory-based attacks. A core component of an EPP solution is antivirus. Most EPPs provide advanced NGAV to ensure they can block known and unknown malware on the endpoint.

What Additional Protection Does EPP Provide Beyond Antivirus?

Blacklisting and whitelisting applications
Hardening devices by closing unused ports and applying secure configurations
Filtering traffic to and from the endpoint using a firewall
Providing a sandbox to test suspicious executables in a safe environment
Encrypting data to make it useless to an attacker
Performing website and email filtering to protect the user from malicious content

What is The Difference Between EPP And EDR?

Endpoint Protection Platforms (EPP) deal with traditional antimalware detection and other controls that can prevent attacks on endpoints. Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) is an active security solution that can help detect and investigate security incidents, and restore endpoints to their pre-infection state.

Related content: read our guide to EPP vs. EDR.

Endpoint Protection with Cynet 360

Cynet 360 is an autonomous breach protection platform that works in three levels, providing XDR, Response Automation, and 24/7 MDR in one unified solution. Cynet natively integrates these three services into an end to end, fully-automated breach protection platform.

Cynet 360 is a holistic security solution that protects against threats to endpoint security and across your network. Cynet provides tools you can use to centrally manage endpoint security across the enterprise.

Cynet 360 provides cutting edge XDR capabilities:

Advanced endpoint threat detection—full visibility and predicts how an attacker might operate, based on continuous monitoring of endpoints and behavioral analysis.
Investigation and validation—search and review historic or current incident data on endpoints, investigate threats, and validate alerts. This allows you to confirm the threat before responding to it, reducing dwell-time and performing faster remediation.
Rapid deployment and response—deploy across thousands of endpoints within two hours. You can then use it to perform automatic or manual remediation of threats on the endpoints, disrupt malicious activity and minimize damage caused by attacks.

In addition, Cynet 360 provides the following endpoint protection capabilities:

NGAV—providing automated prevention and termination of malware, exploits, Macros, LOLBins, and malicious scripts with machine learning based analysis.
User Behavioral Analytics (UBA)—detecting and preventing attacks using compromised credentials through the use of behavioral baselines and signatures.
Deception technology—planting fake credentials, files and connections to lure and trap attackers, mitigating damage and providing the opportunity to learn from attacker activity.
Monitoring and control—providing asset management, vulnerability assessments and application control with continuous monitoring and log collection.
Response orchestration—providing manual and automated remediation for files, users, hosts and networks customized with user-created scripts.

Learn more about the Cynet 360 security platform.