Top 5 Endpoint Security Solutions of 2021

The Short:

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint – AKA Microsoft Defender ATP – offers good protection against breaches or cyber-attacks. It can investigate breaches and respond automatically as well. However, it is only available for Microsoft Windows systems.

The Long:

Microsoft Defender takes advantage of the protections built into Microsoft’s cloud services and the Windows 10 OS itself. It tracks the behavior of your endpoints and reports back to a cloud-based implementation of the software for monitoring. It has some of the best machine learning analytics in the game right now. There is a healthy ecosystem of Microsoft’s hunters and their security partners providing constant updates.

On the other hand, we’d like to see more customization options for implementation and improved integration with other security solutions. It would also be nice if it worked on Macs.

The Short:

CrowdStrike is a big name in the endpoint protection market, and for a good reason. Falcon Prevent is an excellent anti-virus platform, and Falcon Insight excels at threat detection and response. It works on Windows, Mac and Linux as well. However, it is a tiered offering, and many smaller firms won’t be able to afford their high-end protection.

The Long:

CrowdStrike’s protection comes in four different tiers. The lowest level is simple (though capable) virus protection. In contrast, their top-tier ‘Complete Endpoint Protection Solution’ includes all the endpoint protection and threat response capability a large and widely-dispersed company would need. It is lightweight and won’t slow your systems, and it is very easy to use.

That said, CrowdStrike Falcon Premium is currently priced at around $18.99 per endpoint per month, with a minimum of five endpoints. This will put it out of the reach of many small businesses and more than a few which are not quite large enough to negotiate a discount.

The short:

Trend Micro is available for Windows, Android, iOS and macOS platforms and provides excellent protection for your email, capable anti-virus protection and easy to use privacy scanning. However, it is not available for Linux users, and some of its best features only work on its Windows implementations.

The Long:

We like Trend Micro for all the reasons above and because it works on both desktops/endpoints and server installations. It offers everything most organizations need to secure their Windows or macOS endpoints, as well as their Android and iOS mobiles. It can also protect your connection through cloud-based services like Dropbox and G Suite.

We don’t like the fact that it simply doesn’t have a Linux version at this time. The interface is not very intuitive either. Finally, the Windows version has many more features than the macOS version, and many of the missing pieces aren’t minor.

The Short:

SentinelOne’s EDR service includes top-level endpoint protection. It extends to your cloud services and even your IoT active devices. They even have a dedicated research division to keep SentinelOne responsive to the latest threats.

The Long:

Like any of the services on this list, SentinelOne combines AI, machine learning, and endpoint behavioral analysis to automatically detect and shut down suspicious operations. Their analytics capacity has improved markedly after acquiring the Scalyr log management, server monitoring and event data analytics provider.

One of the best features of SentinelOne is one you might never notice – it rarely slows down your users at all, and it neutralizes most threats without your end users ever becoming aware of them.

On the negative side, the product’s reporting could be more flexible, and a more intuitive dashboard wouldn’t do them any harm either.