Interested in learning more about security? SANS Institute InfoSec Reading Room This paper is from the SANS Institute Reading Room site. Reposting is not permitted without express written permission. Advancing Endpoint Protection and Compliance with Promisec Endpoint Manager A review by SANS analyst and instructor Jake Williams of Promisec Endpoint Manager (PEM). It discusses PEMs effectiveness in detecting and remediating endpoint issues. Copyright SANS Institute Author Retains Full Rights Advancing Endpoint Protection and Compliance with Promisec Endpoint Manager A SANS Product Review Written by Jake Williams December 2015 Sponsored by Promisec ©2015 SANS™ Institute Introduction Managing endpoints on a network of any size is a serious challenge. Organizations must worry about patch management, configuration management, software updates, new software installations and third-party application updates. Often, the tools and techniques for ensuring the performance of these tasks fail in their execution. Such a failure in endpoint management can have devastating impacts for organizations, including falling out of compliance with regulatory standards. In today’s operational environments, security and IT professionals need tools and techniques to ensure they are able to detect deviations from configuration baselines, missing patches, unwanted applications and compromises in their environments. For too long, systems administrators have tried to do this with patchwork collections of scripts and tools that were not built for the job. However, with cyber attacks and regulatory fines increasing, organizations have little room for error when it comes to endpoint management. Simply stated, ensuring endpoints are running the latest patched software that would prevent vulnerabilities that might expose the organization to unwanted headlines and losses due to theft and fines is paramount and a top priority for every executive. Promisec Endpoint Manager (PEM) supports features for ensuring compliance, endpoint inventory management and the investigation of security incidents, all without deploying an agent. PEM has a depth of coverage for many uses cases. Incident responders will appreciate PEM’s ability to assist in endpoint compromise investigations. Auditors will likely be most impressed with PEM’s ability to detect deviations from configuration baselines. IT staff will probably be amazed with PEM’s endpoint inventories, ensuring that the organization pays only for software licenses it uses without risking an audit or unnecessary license costs. We reviewed PEM to evaluate its effectiveness in detecting and remediating endpoint issues. PEM has a multitude of features—more than could be completely covered in a single product review—supporting the core missions of the following: t*OUSVTJPOEFUFDUJPO t*ODJEFOUSFTQPOTF t3FNFEJBUJPO t&OEQPJOUJOWFOUPSZNBOBHFNFOU t$POöHVSBUJPONBOBHFNFOU t$POöHVSBUJPOESJGUEFUFDUJPO t4FDVSJUZBOEDPNQMJBODFDPOUSPMT 4"/4"/"-:45130(3". 1 Advancing Endpoint Protection and Compliance with Promisec Endpoint Manager Introduction (CONTINUED) Our evaluation focused on PEM’s security compliance, cybersecurity and inventory management features, and we found PEM to be a capable tool in all areas tested. A walkthrough of the PEM interface makes it clear that analysts who use the product had influence in the design of PEM’s features and functionality. Navigation is intuitive, and pivoting from one source of information to another is as easy as performing a TJOHMFDMJDL3FQPSUJOHBOEDPOöHVSBUJPOBSFBMTPFBTZBOEJOUVJUJWFXJUIBOVNCFSPG pre-defined reporting formats and templates available. These and other features are discussed in the following report. 4"/4"/"-:45130(3". 2 Advancing Endpoint Protection and Compliance with Promisec Endpoint Manager Assessment and Discovery The compliance features of PEM help organizations meet regulatory guidelines. Being compliant isn’t just a point-in-time operation; instead, it requires ongoing, continuous monitoring of endpoints and configurations. PEM’s out-of-box assessment features include the following: t&BTZFOEQPJOUJEFOUJöDBUJPOXJUIDSPTTQMBUGPSNTVQQPSU t"VUPNBUFEHFOFSBUJPOPGCBTFMJOFDPOöHVSBUJPOEBUB t"VUPNBUFEVQEBUFTPGCMBDLMJTUFETPGUXBSF t'MFYJCMFSFQPSUJOH t"EIPDBVEJUJOHGPSTQFDJöDFOEQPJOUEBUB t1SFCVJMUBVEJUJOHUFNQMBUFTGPSQPQVMBSDPNQMJBODFGSBNFXPSLT t-FWFSBHJOHPG8JOEPXTCVJMUJONBOBHFNFOUGFBUVSFT t/FBSJOöOJUFFYUFOTJCJMJUZVTJOHDVTUPNVTFSEFöOFEDIFDLT Endpoint Identification Being compliant isn’t a point-in-time operation. It requires ongoing, continuous monitoring of endpoints and configurations. Many endpoint tools in the space today have limited ways to identify endpoints. Some only search by IP address range, while others accept only a list of hostnames. PEM solves that problem by adopting a maximum flexibility in its ability to accept endpoint inputs. We were able to identify and group endpoints by IP address lists, by address ranges or VTJOH$MBTTMFTT*OUFS%PNBJO3PVUJOH$*%3 OPUBUJPO1&.BMTPJOUFHSBUFTXJUI.JDSPTPGU Active Directory to allow input based on Organizational Units (OUs). Figure 1 shows PEM’s Inventory Configuration Editor. Figure 1. Inventory Configuration Editor This is especially useful in cases where endpoint policies must be applied to logically identical but network-disparate groups. 4"/4"/"-:45130(3". 3 Advancing Endpoint Protection and Compliance with Promisec Endpoint Manager Assessment and Discovery (CONTINUED) Inventory Features Hardware and software inventory are critical in an organization—so critical, in fact, that they are first and second among the CIS Critical Security Controls (CIS Controls) 1 and 2.1 Inventory is something many organizations do poorly, but it has significant security implications. Organizations with complete inventories typically also realize significant cost savings through reduced software licensing fees. We evaluated PEM’s ability to both collect and display inventory data. Collection couldn’t have been any easier thanks to PEM’s input options for identifying endpoints. Once inventory was completed, our options for analysis are abundant and well thought out. PEM’s support for natural-language queries, instead of requiring SQL, means analysts should have an easier time using the tool. Figure 2 shows PEM’s data inventory list and natural-language query screen. Figure 2. Data Inventory with Natural-Language Query If you can use a search engine, you can query the data with PEM without much new learning or training. 1 4"/4"/"-:45130(3". “CIS Critical Security Controls for Effective Cyber Defense Version 6.0,” Center for Internet Security, www.cisecurity.org/critical-controls.cfm 4 Advancing Endpoint Protection and Compliance with Promisec Endpoint Manager Assessment and Discovery (CONTINUED) Supporting IR with Asset Inventory Inventory of authorized and unauthorized devices (CIS Control 1) is critical to JNQMFNFOUJOHQSPQFSJODJEFOUSFTQPOTF*3 "DPNNPOGBDUPSJOSFNFEJBUJPOGBJMVSF is the belief that all endpoints have been checked for indicators of compromise (IOCs). However, an incomplete inventory may lead incident responders to falsely believe they have checked all endpoints and that the endpoints are clean when they may be spreading the attack. TAKEAWAY: Without careful planning and the right endpoint management tools, organizations may pay licensing fees for software they do not use or underpay and be subject to steep licensing audit fines. If inventory is so critical, why do organizations routinely fail at this task? Admittedly, inventory—particularly of software (CIS Control 2)—is difficult to get right on a small scale, much less a large one. Collecting installed programs, version and patch information from a single endpoint is one thing. Scaling that collection across hundreds or thousands of endpoints is slightly more difficult, but not daunting. The problem DPNFTXIFOJUTUJNFUPNBLFTFOTFPGBMMPGUIFEBUB1&.TTVQQPSUGPS*3DBQBCJMJUJFTJT covered later in this paper. Realizing Savings in Software Licensing Organizations that audit their use of licensed software sometimes find they are paying for licenses they don’t use. (Even if users aren’t requesting special preference for unique tools, they might receive duplicate licenses when receiving a new machine.) Because PEM tracks the last execution time and execution frequency for applications, analysts can easily locate licensed software that is gathering dust, possibly realizing significant cost savings. This alone might be enough to justify the cost of using PEM in many environments. 4"/4"/"-:45130(3". 5 Advancing Endpoint Protection and Compliance with Promisec Endpoint Manager Assessment and Discovery (CONTINUED) Asset Reporting We tested PEM’s support of discovered assets in a number of formats. We were able to input queries into asset ownership databases or other tools to increase the value of the data discovered with PEM. Figure 3 shows a typical asset inquiry. Figure 3. Querying the PEM Asset Database 3FQPSUTDBOCFDVTUPNJ[FECBTFEPOVTFSEFöOFERVFSJFTXIJDIXFSFBMTPFBTZUPVTF 4"/4"/"-:45130(3". 6 Advancing Endpoint Protection and Compliance with Promisec Endpoint Manager Assessment and Discovery (CONTINUED) Configuration Auditing (Whitelisting) Collecting all the information an auditing tool needs can be daunting because that might include: t"MMDPOöHVSFETUBSUVQEBUB t5PPMCBST t3VOOJOHQSPHSBNT t4FSWJDFT t*OTUBMMFEBOEBMMPXFE BQQMJDBUJPOT t-PDBMBENJOJTUSBUPSBDDPVOUT t*OTUBMMFEVQEBUFT Of course, as soon as the configuration is documented, it changes, creating an everlosing battle of updating auditing tool configurations. With PEM, we directed it to a system configured with the “golden image,” and PEM’s audit configurations read the settings. This makes it easy to detect deviations from the golden image across all machines on the corporate network, which is usually a complicated proposition. With PEM, it was a matter of querying systems against the golden image to find deviations. Figure 4 shows such a query. Figure 4. Golden Image Query to Locate Deviations Of course, organizations may have multiple golden images, if only to account for differences between one model of approved hardware and others. 4"/4"/"-:45130(3". 7 Advancing Endpoint Protection and Compliance with Promisec Endpoint Manager Assessment and Discovery (CONTINUED) Detecting Configuration Changes Configuration changes are especially important for Internet-facing servers where a single configuration change can make a server vulnerable. Using PEM, we easily detected changes to critical files, including changes to the files that control security of an IIS web server. Figure 5 shows the detection of one such change. TAKEAWAY: Auditing changes to key website files using an endpoint management solution can detect adversaries who may have bypassed detection by the web application firewall or a security information and event management (SIEM) tool, providing a defense in depth. Figure 5. Detecting Configuration Changes Attackers also modify legitimate websites with active content (e.g., ASP.NET Web Forms or PHP scripts), planting backdoors and web shells.2 Auditing for changes to these website files using file integrity monitoring features of PEM can provide early warning to the organization that an attack is under way, potentially allowing it to respond before critical data is stolen. 2 4"/4"/"-:45130(3". “Closing the Door on Web Shells,” Anuj Soni, https://digital-forensics.sans.org/summit-archives/dfir14/Closing_the_Door_on_Web_Shells_Anuj_Soni.pdf 8 Advancing Endpoint Protection and Compliance with Promisec Endpoint Manager Assessment and Discovery (CONTINUED) Ad Hoc Auditing for Specific Data We evaluated PEM’s ability to check endpoints for user-specified registry items, files, running processes and installed applications. Configuration was point-and-click. PEM’s flexible reporting was also useful. For configuration use cases, we wanted to quickly see only those endpoints that were missing installed applications, such as antivirus, that are part of the gold build. Figure 6 shows the results of such an inquiry. Figure 6. Auditing for Specific Information The same capabilities are useful for cybersecurity. For instance, we also used it to locate all machines with a particular registry key known to be involved with malware. 4"/4"/"-:45130(3". 9 Advancing Endpoint Protection and Compliance with Promisec Endpoint Manager Assessment and Discovery (CONTINUED) Updating Software Blacklists Promisec updates the blacklist monthly based on questionable-use applications (e.g., computer games) they see proliferating in corporate environments. In this review, we configured PEM to include a custom blacklist for unwanted applications. When PEM queried our test machines, it discovered blacklisted software and gave us options to uninstall it automatically or remove it with a single click if we prefer to do so ourselves. Figure 7 shows the discovery of blacklisted software. Figure 7. Discovering Blacklisted Software Automatic removal of unauthorized software may be wise when the application isn’t recognized whatsoever, while manual uninstallation (after appropriate inquiries) may be more appropriate in cases involving senior management or “skunk works” departments. Infinite Extensibility with WMI When evaluating products, we often try an operation that looks like it should be easy, but the product doesn’t support it. This is especially frustrating when all the building blocks of the operation are already present in the software but the application developer thought nobody would need these features and so didn’t include them specifically. 4"/4"/"-:45130(3". 10 Advancing Endpoint Protection and Compliance with Promisec Endpoint Manager Assessment and Discovery (CONTINUED) PEM includes very extensible filtering to which we could add features. We were able to write filters and detection patterns using Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)— effectively a skeleton key for the Windows OS. Figure 8 shows a custom WMI filter. Figure 8. Custom Filter for WMI With WMI, you can unlock every conceivable bit of information from an endpoint and answer questions you never thought to ask, but its Achilles’ heel is kludgy reporting. PEM’s easy-to-navigate reporting interface that taps into WMI does away with this awkwardness and extends the scope of endpoint reporting even beyond native WMI capabilities. 4"/4"/"-:45130(3". 11 Advancing Endpoint Protection and Compliance with Promisec Endpoint Manager Assessment and Discovery (CONTINUED) Auditing Templates—Don’t Build from Scratch 1&.TVQQPSUTJNQPSUTPG"DUJWF%JSFDUPSZ(SPVQ1PMJDZöMFTGPSBVEJUTUIPVHIXFEJEOU test this). PEM also supports auditing against the CIS CSC benchmarks and National Institute of Standards (NIST) audit and assessment standards out of the box. Figure 9 shows typical templates for auditing AD group policies. Figure 9. Auditing Templates for AD Group Policy If your organization must comply with NIST cybersecurity standards, PEM can audit endpoints for these standards right out of the box with no tedious configuration needed—just what you’d expect (but don’t often get) from an endpoint management solution. 4"/4"/"-:45130(3". 12 Advancing Endpoint Protection and Compliance with Promisec Endpoint Manager Cybersecurity Features PEM has several features useful for supporting common cybersecurity functions, such as identifying missing security software, removing unwanted software, using filesystem analysis for deep investigations, retrieving network data automatically and remediating endpoint threats by killing malicious processes and/or uninstalling unwanted software packages. Installing Missing Software Packages When auditing an endpoint, PEM may identify software it should have but doesn’t— possibly because the user uninstalled it. For example, we reviewed a case frequently seen in organizations where users with local admin privileges disable antivirus software. Sometimes this is the malicious act of an external threat, but more likely the user simply thinks the machine runs faster without antivirus software, so they remove it to get it out of their way. No matter the cause, PEM enabled us to quickly identify all endpoints that are missing a particular antivirus software package and install it remotely with a single click. Figure 10 shows this feature in action. Figure 10. Detecting Disabled Antivirus Software 3FNFEJBUJPOPQUJPOTBQQFBSJOUIFMPXFSSJHIUDPSOFS 4"/4"/"-:45130(3". 13 Advancing Endpoint Protection and Compliance with Promisec Endpoint Manager Cybersecurity Features (CONTINUED) Removing Unwanted Software 3PHVFTPGUXBSFJOTUBMMBUJPOTBMTPQSFTFOUCPUITFDVSJUZBOEDPNQMJBODFSJTLTUPBO PSHBOJ[BUJPO(JWFOUIBUXFVTFE1&.UPJEFOUJGZVOBVUIPSJ[FETPGUXBSFPOPVSTBNQMF endpoints. Although this is especially common in environments where users have local admin permissions, increasing numbers of applications enable users to install software in their own user directories without admin privileges. PEM can automatically uninstall unwanted applications without requiring administrator intervention, thereby supporting operations and compliance policies. For example, peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing software is a recognized threat to organizations, and PEM both detected and removed these applications automatically when we configured it to do so. We also used PEM to discover and remediate these unwanted software installs. Figure 11 shows PEM removing unauthorized applications. Figure 11. Removing Unauthorized Applications Other file sharing applications (e.g., Dropbox) are harder to detect on the network because they use standard web protocols, but they still pose data exfiltration, compliance and e-discovery risks when users install them without corporate oversight and security controls. 4"/4"/"-:45130(3". 14 Advancing Endpoint Protection and Compliance with Promisec Endpoint Manager Cybersecurity Features (CONTINUED) Managing Exceptions 3FQPSUJOHDBOCFBEJóDVMUXIFONBOZFOEQPJOUTEFWJBUFGSPNUIFCBTFMJOF5IFSFBSF many unusual cases where a software package may be authorized for one endpoint but not others. Such exceptions can clutter a report, making it more difficult to find reportable items of value. We evaluated PEM’s ability to acknowledge outliers on the report and remove them from future reporting using a single click. A typical PEM exception listing appears in Figure 12. Figure 12. Exception Listing Naturally, analysts should document such exceptions when needed for audit purposes or future reference. 4"/4"/"-:45130(3". 15 Advancing Endpoint Protection and Compliance with Promisec Endpoint Manager Cybersecurity Features (CONTINUED) Investigating More Deeply When endpoint scans show anomalous data, analysts often require more information to determine if the endpoint has been compromised or if the result can be explained by other data. We emulated this through PEM, which enabled us to easily pivot to the specific endpoint to obtain such data, including running processes and all installed applications. Figure 13 shows details of a typical endpoint. Figure 13. Viewing Detailed Endpoint Information Such under-the-hood views are invaluable when correlated with outside threat information, as discussed later under “Integrating Threat Intelligence Data.” 4"/4"/"-:45130(3". 16 Advancing Endpoint Protection and Compliance with Promisec Endpoint Manager Cybersecurity Features (CONTINUED) Remote Visibility We enacted one of the most useful support features of PEM for forensic investigations— the ability to acquire the contents of the master file table (MFT) from a remote endpoint with a single click. A typical MFT listing appears in Figure 14. Figure 14. Typical MFT Listing The MFT interface processed records for all files and directories on our targeted machine, including creation, modification and access times. Timeline analysis has long been a valuable technique for investigating compromises and following intrusions to their point of origin.3 Time records are also critical for compliance. 3 4"/4"/"-:45130(3". “Timeline Analysis – A One Page Guide,” Forensic Focus, www.forensicfocus.com/timeline-analysis-one-page-guide 17 Advancing Endpoint Protection and Compliance with Promisec Endpoint Manager Cybersecurity Features (CONTINUED) Cleaning Artifacts By emulating an unwanted or malicious program installed on an endpoint, we were able to review PEM’s ability to understand how it got there and to see if any related artifacts remained that may need cleaning. Figure 15 shows unwanted artifacts. Figure 15. Unwanted Artifacts PEM acquires the MFT and parses it into “body file” format, a standard for forensic tools.4 Importing to Forensics Tools Importing this data into other tools facilitates reconstruction of activity around the time of the compromise without asking forensics investigators to learn new products. 4 4"/4"/"-:45130(3". “Body file” (entry), SleuthKitWiki, http://wiki.sleuthkit.org/index.php?title=Body_file 18 Advancing Endpoint Protection and Compliance with Promisec Endpoint Manager Cybersecurity Features (CONTINUED) Integrative Function We also viewed multiple options to continue the investigation using other specialized endpoint investigation tools. Figure 16 shows the options for investigative tools. From there, we could open a remote desktop session to the endpoint, supporting further investigation on the machine. If the analyst needs even more information and prefers not to use a (6*BSFBMMJBCJMJUZPOMPXCBOEXJEUI connections to remote offices), PEM enables users to open a command prompt on the workstation in question. Such features help PEM stand out as an analyst’s best friend. Promisec offers analysts maximum flexibility to choose their investigative methods. Working with the Network Figure 16. Investigative Tool Options As telling as endpoint data can be, analysts often need to confirm findings by analyzing network traffic. Network traffic can answer questions such as these: t8JUIXIJDISFNPUFTJUFTIBTUIFJNQBDUFEIPTUDPNNVOJDBUFE t8IBUEBUBIBTUIFBUUBDLFSUSBOTNJUUFEPVUPGUIFOFUXPSL t8IBUDPNNVOJDBUJPOTUPPLQMBDFCFUXFFOQPUFOUJBMMZDPNQSPNJTFEFOEQPJOUT 4"/4"/"-:45130(3". 19 Advancing Endpoint Protection and Compliance with Promisec Endpoint Manager Cybersecurity Features (CONTINUED) PEM supports easy integration with network monitoring tools. In our example, we connected to BlueCoat network monitoring software to obtain packet data sent from our target endpoint under investigation. This took only a single click. Figure 17 shows captured packet data. TAKEAWAY: Seamlessly integrating endpoints to network data is key in quickly identifying and remediating cyberthreats. Figure 17. Captured Packet Data The BlueCoat network sensor also supports SSL decryption, allowing investigators to see full packet contents and detect the most common data exfiltration against malware intelligence. Even if SSL decryption is not enabled, we can still use data from third-party network monitoring tools to quickly discover malware command and control servers and other IOCs in the network data. These IOCs feed other portions of the overall investigation, which begins when PEM identifies an anomaly (e.g., a deviation from the configuration baseline) on an endpoint. 4"/4"/"-:45130(3". 20 Advancing Endpoint Protection and Compliance with Promisec Endpoint Manager Cybersecurity Features (CONTINUED) Finding Other Compromised Hosts Once we used PEM to identify file- or registry-based IOCs on our infected endpoint, we needed to see if that malicious registry key resided on any other endpoints in our sample OFUXPSL3JHIUDMJDLJOHPOUIFJUFNBOETFMFDUJOHi2VJDLöMUFSCZUIJTPCKFDUwFOBCMFE us to pivot quickly and identify all endpoints with that particular file or registry key. This allowed us to quickly determine whether a particular endpoint threat targeted a single endpoint or affected multiple endpoints on the network. Figure 18 shows endpoints with a malicious key. Figure 18. Endpoints with a Malicious Key Most important, PEM performs this function without any agents installed on the endpoints. This is helpful because in complex enterprises, endpoint agents may not be practical. In addition, relying solely on endpoint agents may pose a false sense of security; malware wanting to hide itself—or a user who feels the agents impede his work—will typically remove or disable agents. 4"/4"/"-:45130(3". 21 Advancing Endpoint Protection and Compliance with Promisec Endpoint Manager Cybersecurity Features (CONTINUED) Integrating Threat Intelligence Data More than half of organizations are devoting at least some resources to CTI, according to the 2015 SANS survey on cyberthreat intelligence (CTI). Nevertheless, only 36 percent of these same organizations had integrated their threat intelligence feeds into their forensics platforms, which was the largest category of response they’re integrating intelligence feeds into.5 Integrating threat data (often provided as lists of domains, IP addresses, file hashes, registry keys or registry values) on the network is relatively simple, but checking all TAKEAWAY: If your organization can’t effectively leverage CTI feeds across all of your endpoint data, including file hashes and registry keys, you’re not getting everything you’re paying for. hosts in the enterprise for the presence of files matching a particular hash is challenging for many organizations. Organizations should ensure they are receiving maximum value from their investments in CTI feeds by deploying tools that can easily search for endpoint data, including file hashes and registry keys. PEM helps to solve the challenge of integrating CTI feeds. We input a list of file hashes from a CTI feed and searched all the endpoints in our sample organization for the file. We also tested the automated form of this feature by configuring PEM to obtain the list of known bad hashes on the filesystem. Figure 19 shows PEM’s configuration for CTI feeds. Figure 19. Configuring CTI Feeds Once configured, we only needed to update the configuration file to add new hashes and then PEM automatically searches them out on our endpoints. 5 4"/4"/"-:45130(3". “Who’s Using Cyberthreat Intelligence and How?” Table 2, p. 15, www.sans.org/reading-room/whitepapers/analyst/who-039-s-cyberthreat-intelligence-how-35767 22 Advancing Endpoint Protection and Compliance with Promisec Endpoint Manager Cybersecurity Features (CONTINUED) Remediating a Cyberthreat If investigation into an anomaly reported on the endpoint confirms that a threat exists, PEM can be used to remediate the threat. SANS tested the ability to terminate processes running on the impacted endpoint with a single click. Easy access to terminating processes from the endpoint management system can prove to be quite useful during an incident, particularly when combined with the ability to remotely uninstall unwanted applications, as discussed earlier. We further reviewed the remediation operations by opening a remote command prompt on the impacted machine. From this vantage point, we could easily perform virtually any action required to remediate the threat. Figure 20 shows the remediation options. This degree of remote access is all the more impressive, given PEM’s agentless design. Figure 20. Remediation Options 4"/4"/"-:45130(3". 23 Advancing Endpoint Protection and Compliance with Promisec Endpoint Manager Conclusion Today’s operational environment requires the ability to easily view and manage endpoints. Organizations that don’t have this capability will find themselves struggling to remain compliant with increasingly strict compliance frameworks. Holistic endpoint management is about more than just compliance; it includes inventory management and the management of endpoint threats. It also needs to include robust support for forensics and remediation. Promisec Endpoint Manager supports all of these features without deploying any agents to the endpoints, helping organizations ensure a more secure and compliant environment, while also providing a range of customizable options for discovery, reporting and incident response and lowering operational management overhead. One of the biggest benefits is its native support for incident response and intelligence, DPVQMFEXJUIUIFBCJMJUZUPUJFJOUPNPTUNBKPS*3WFOEPSUPPMTUPDPNQMFUFBDUJPOTBUUIF endpoint. If that weren’t enough, PEM also works directly with network tools, bypassing the need for agents on each endpoint to examine traffic, application calls, data and other indicators of compromise. By automating many of the inventory and assessment processes that have plagued IT departments and linking them to incident response and remediation, Promisec helps organizations achieve the visibility they need to maintain security and remove threats in the enterprise. 4"/4"/"-:45130(3". 24 Advancing Endpoint Protection and Compliance with Promisec Endpoint Manager About the Author Jake Williams is a SANS analyst, certified SANS instructor, course author and designer of several NetWars challenges for use in SANS’ popular, “gamified” information security training suite. Jake spent more than a decade in information security roles at several government agencies, developing specialties in offensive forensics, malware development and digital counterespionage. Jake is the GPVOEFSPG3FOEJUJPO*OGP4FDXIJDIQSPWJEFTQFOFUSBUJPOUFTUJOHEJHJUBMGPSFOTJDTBOEJODJEFOU response, expertise in cloud data exfiltration, and the tools and guidance to secure client data against sophisticated, persistent attack on-premises and in the cloud. 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