You probably have antivirus on your computers. Most businesses do. It catches viruses and malware it recognises – threats it has seen before or that match a known signature. And for years, that was enough.
But the threats have changed. Ransomware does not always look like the ransomware that was seen last week. A phishing attack might download something that has never existed before – custom-written for your business. Traditional antivirus, working from a list of known bad things, misses these.
Endpoint protection goes further. It does not just check files against a list. It watches what programs are doing on your machines and responds automatically when something starts behaving like a threat – even if it has never been seen before.
What antivirus actually does (and what it misses)
Traditional antivirus works by signature matching. Every known virus, piece of malware, or ransomware variant has a signature – a unique pattern that identifies it. Antivirus software scans files, compares them against a database of these signatures, and blocks anything that matches.
This works well for known threats. If ransomware appeared last month and infected 10,000 machines, your antivirus will recognise it. The signature is in the database. The threat gets blocked.
But here is the problem: attackers know how signature detection works. So they modify their code. They create new variants. They use tools that automatically rewrite malware so each version has a different signature. And because your antivirus has never seen this specific version before, it lets it through.
We see this in support tickets. A client reports “anti-virus detection” – which usually means the antivirus flagged something after the fact. Sometimes it catches the threat in time. Sometimes we are cleaning up the damage.
Antivirus is still useful. It is a layer. But it is not the whole solution anymore.
What endpoint protection actually does
Endpoint protection – also called EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) – does not rely on signature matching alone. It monitors behaviour.
Instead of asking “have I seen this file before?”, it asks “what is this file doing?”
Here is a practical example. Ransomware works by encrypting files. A typical ransomware attack might encrypt thousands of files in minutes – renaming them, locking them, making them unreadable. That behaviour is distinctive. Even if the ransomware itself is brand new and has no signature in any database, the behaviour is recognisable.
Endpoint protection watches for that pattern. When a program starts encrypting files rapidly across a machine or network, EDR responds automatically. It can:
- Isolate the infected device from the network so the ransomware cannot spread
- Stop the process that is encrypting files
- Alert your IT team (or our monitoring team) immediately
- Quarantine the threat for analysis
This happens in minutes, often before anyone in your office notices there is a problem. Compare that to traditional antivirus, which might only flag the issue after hundreds or thousands of files have already been encrypted.
Endpoint protection does not replace antivirus. It adds a second layer – one that catches threats based on what they do, not what they look like.
Antivirus vs EDR vs managed EDR
There are three levels here, and the difference between them matters.
Antivirus
This is what most people install on their computers. It scans files, checks signatures, catches known threats. You install it, keep it updated (hopefully), and hope it works. If it flags something, you see a pop-up notification. Then you need to decide what to do about it. For most small businesses, nobody is watching these alerts systematically.
EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response)
This is behaviour-based threat detection. It watches what programs are doing and responds automatically to suspicious activity. EDR generates alerts when it detects something – but someone needs to watch those alerts and act on them. If your EDR detects ransomware behaviour at 2am on a Sunday, it can isolate the machine automatically. But someone still needs to investigate, clean up, and restore normal operations. If nobody is monitoring, the alert sits in a dashboard until Monday morning.
Managed EDR
Same technology as EDR, but a team is monitoring the alerts. When something triggers, someone responds – day or night, weekend or weekday. This is what “managed” means. The software is deployed properly, kept updated, monitored around the clock, and responded to when needed. Regular reports show you what was detected and what was done about it.
For small businesses, managed EDR is the practical option. You get the protection without needing someone in your office who knows how to interpret security alerts and respond to incidents.
What “managed” means in practice
Most security tools are not useful unless someone is managing them. Endpoint protection is a good example.
Unmanaged endpoint protection means:
- The software is installed (maybe)
- It might be configured correctly (maybe)
- Updates happen (maybe)
- Alerts get generated, but nobody is watching them
- When something triggers, nobody responds until someone in your office notices there is a problem
Managed endpoint protection means:
- Software deployed and configured correctly across all devices
- Kept updated automatically
- Alerts monitored by a team 24/7
- Response when something triggers – not next business day, but when it happens
- Regular reporting showing what was detected, what was blocked, and what needed attention
The difference is significant. A fire alarm is useful. A fire alarm connected to a response team is far more useful.
This is why we include managed endpoint protection in our Plus and Enhanced plans. The technology matters, but the management is what makes it work for small businesses that do not have dedicated IT security staff.
What endpoint protection stops (and what it does not)
It is important to be honest about what endpoint protection can and cannot do.
What it stops:
- Ransomware that encrypts your files
- Malware that has never been seen before (zero-day threats)
- Suspicious processes that start behaving like threats
- Threats that traditional antivirus misses
- Attacks that try to spread from one machine to others on your network
What it does not stop:
- Phishing emails (those are caught by email security before they reach your inbox)
- Someone clicking a phishing link and entering their password on a fake site (that is where multi-factor authentication protects you)
- Attacks that come through unpatched software vulnerabilities (that is where patch management matters)
- Insider threats (someone with legitimate access misusing it)
Endpoint protection is one layer in a security approach that should also include email filtering, multi-factor authentication, backup, and monitoring. It is a critical layer – particularly against ransomware – but it works best alongside other measures.
Our security solutions page covers how these layers work together.
Is endpoint protection part of your IT security?
If you are not sure whether your business has proper endpoint protection – or whether anyone is actually monitoring it – we can check. A quick review of your current security setup shows what is in place and what gaps need attention.
Or get in touch directly:
Call: 087 820 5005
WhatsApp: 081 526 1626
Endpoint protection is included in our Plus and Enhanced plans. Both include managed monitoring, so when something triggers, someone responds. If you want advanced threat detection beyond standard endpoint protection, EDR is available as an add-on.
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