EDR vs XDR - What is the difference?
Stop adversaries faster with Trend Micro advanced detection and response.
EDR and XDR explained
XDR (Extended Detection and Response)
XDR (Extended Detection and Response) security is a holistic approach that integrates data from various sources like endpoints, networks, and cloud environments into a unified platform. This comprehensive integration enhances threat detection by correlating data across different layers, utilizing advanced analytics and machine learning. XDR Security allows for faster detection of threats and improved investigation and response times through security analysis.
Stealthy threats evade detection. They hide between security silos and disconnected solution alerts, propagating as time passes. In the meantime, overwhelmed security analysts try to triage and investigate with narrow, disconnected attack viewpoints.
XDR breaks down these silos using a holistic approach to detection and response. XDR collects and correlates detections and deep activity data across multiple security layers – email, endpoint, server, cloud workloads, and network. Automated analysis of this superset of rich data detects threats faster. As a result, security analysts are equipped to do more and take quicker action through investigations.
EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response)
EDR security solutions records all the activities and events taking place from an endpoint. Some vendors may also extend this service to any workloads connected to your network as well. These records, or event logs, can then be used to uncover incidents that may otherwise remain undetected. Real-time monitoring detects threats much faster, before they can spread beyond the user endpoint.
The benefits of endpoint detection and response include the ability to speed up investigations, rapidly identify vulnerabilities, and respond quicker using manual and automatic options to any malicious activity.
Differences Between EDR and XDR
While both Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) and Extended Detection and Response (XDR) offer solutions the can enhance an organization’s cybersecurity posture, they have some key differences that you should consider, such as:
Scope of Detection
EDR focuses on endpoint security, detecting threats on individual devices like laptops and servers. XDR extends detection across multiple layers, including networks, email, cloud, and applications, identifying complex, multi-stage attacks.
Scope of Data Collection
EDR collects and analyzes endpoint-specific data, such as system logs and execution patterns. XDR aggregates data from various sources, including SIEM, firewalls, and cloud services, providing a broader security perspective.
Automated Incident Response
EDR automates endpoint-based responses like isolating infected devices but often requires manual intervention. XDR automates response across multiple security layers, blocking malicious traffic, revoking credentials, and adjusting firewall rules for a more coordinated defense.
Scalability and Adaptability
EDR is ideal for endpoint-focused security, but as IT environments grow, XDR offers a more scalable, integrated approach. It unifies security tools and intelligence, making it better suited for organizations with complex infrastructures.
Similarities Between EDR and XDR
Despite their differences, EDR and XDR share key similarities in how they detect, analyze, and respond to threats, such as:
Proactive Threat Detection and Response
Both EDR and XDR take a proactive approach to cybersecurity, continuously monitoring for malicious activity. By analyzing behavior patterns and identifying potential threats before they escalate, they help organizations stay ahead of cyberattacks rather than reacting after a breach occurs.
Real-Time Monitoring and Incident Response
EDR and XDR provide continuous real-time monitoring to detect suspicious activity and automate response actions. When a security event is detected, both solutions facilitate rapid response measures such as isolating compromised devices, blocking malicious activity, and alerting security teams to take further action.
Threat Hunting and Investigation
Both EDR and XDR support advanced threat hunting, enabling security analysts to investigate potential risks before they cause harm. They provide deep forensic capabilities, allowing teams to analyze historical data, uncover hidden threats, and track attacker behavior to prevent future incidents.
AI-Driven Detection and Automation
EDR and XDR leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to enhance threat detection and automate security processes. These technologies help reduce false positives, identify complex attack patterns, and accelerate decision-making, making security operations more efficient.
Why EDR is not enough? Real Use Case
EDR is a function that supports incident response by collecting, analyzing, and visualizing information confirmed on endpoint devices (PCs, servers, etc.) as telemetry. Specifically, it collects behavior such as file creation and deletion, application launch, and file sending and receiving, regardless of whether it is legitimate or malicious, and compares it with cyber-attack methods confirmed in the past by security vendors to prioritize suspicious behavior, present events that should be dealt with, and visually display the threat intrusion process in an easy-to-understand manner.
Let's consider a case where EDR detects later stages of an attack that starts with email, such as the execution of a suspicious file or access to a suspicious URL. By using EDR to trace the process chain that visualizes the series of intrusion processes within an endpoint, it is possible to confirm that the attack started with email.
However, because EDR only visualizes the endpoint where the sensor is installed, it does not provide detailed information about the email, such as the sender/recipient, email subject, links contained within the email, etc. Therefore, security personnel must investigate suspicious emails by comparing the results of EDR investigations with the email server's sending and receiving logs, which ultimately requires personnel effort to find the root cause.
That's where XDR comes in handy. As the name suggests, XDR (Extended Detection Response) is a concept that extends EDR to other security products to detect and respond. XDR collects telemetry, which is activity data for files and processes, regardless of whether they are legitimate or malicious, from multiple security layers, including email, servers, cloud workloads, and networks in addition to endpoints and then correlates and visualizes the data to automatically detect whether there has been a cyber-attack and what actions need to be taken. In terms of this topic, "email security products" are included in the sensor range of XDR, so if there is an email-related product that can be integrated with XDR, correlation analysis of the logs is also possible.
XDR, which can correlate and analyze endpoint and email telemetry, correlates and visualizes endpoint information and email information, so security personnel do not need to carry out the tedious and time-consuming task of investigating and analyzing suspicious emails based on EDR information and email sending and receiving logs to identify the root cause. In addition, countermeasures can be developed based on the items discovered in XDR investigations, making investigations and responses more efficient.
Trend Micro XDR Solution
Native XDR is in. Open XDR is out.
Using XDR, hunt, detect, investigate, and respond to threats from a single security platform.