October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and it’s a good reminder that we all play a role in keeping the digital space safer. All month long, Sherweb is sharing practical ways to reduce risk, from recognizing threats to building better everyday habits.
The office perimeter doesn’t exist anymore. Your clients’ employees are working from kitchen tables, coffee shops and airport lounges, accessing company data on devices that may never see the inside of a corporate building.
For MSPs, this change in work habits comes with a fundamental shift in security strategy. Traditional network defenses assumed threats came from outside a defined perimeter. But when your clients’ workforce is everywhere, the devices themselves become the security perimeter.
The good news? A modern MSP endpoint protection strategy can be more effective than traditional perimeter defenses, but it requires a layered approach that goes well beyond the basics.
Securing every device with mobile device management (MDM)
Bring-your-own-device (BYOD) is now standard practice in most organizations. Employees prefer using familiar devices, and businesses save money by not purchasing equipment. But for MSPs, BYOD creates a critical question: how do you protect corporate data on devices you don’t own?
Mobile device management (MDM) is a foundational component of any MSP endpoint protection strategy. These solutions provide the answer by separating personal and business data on the same device. Think of it as creating a secure work container within an employee’s personal phone or tablet. The employee keeps full control of their personal apps and data, while the business maintains control over work-related information.
Key MDM capabilities for MSPs
With an MDM solution, you can:
- Enforce security policies like requiring screen locks or PINs.
- Encrypt all business-related data within the secure container.
- Remotely wipe only corporate information if a device is lost or stolen, leaving personal data untouched.
This capability is often built into the tools MSPs already use. For example, Microsoft 365 includes MDM features for securing corporate email access on personal devices. For more comprehensive control, Microsoft Intune extends that security to other corporate applications and data on BYOD endpoints.
The key for MSPs is choosing solutions that scale efficiently. Whether you’re managing 50 devices or 5,000, the platform should handle increased complexity without requiring you to completely rebuild your management processes.
Modern threat protection with EDR
Traditional antivirus software relies on signature-based detection, meaning it can only identify threats that have already been discovered and cataloged. It scans files for matches against a database of known malware signatures. The problem is that modern cyberattacks are often designed specifically to have no known signature, using legitimate tools and processes to carry out their objectives. This makes purely signature-based protection insufficient.
How EDR provides deeper protection
Endpoint detection and response (EDR) represents the evolution of MSP endpoint protection. Instead of just looking for known malware, EDR platforms monitor endpoint behavior to detect suspicious activity patterns. This behavioral approach means EDR can spot threats that traditional antivirus software would miss, including:
- A legitimate process that starts behaving unusually.
- Files being encrypted in patterns consistent with ransomware.
- Network connections that suggest data is being exfiltrated.
Modern EDR platforms automatically respond to detected threats, containing attacks before they spread. Solutions like SentinelOne and ThreatDown by Malwarebytes offer these advanced capabilities through cloud-based platforms designed for MSP environments, providing centralized management and automated response to help you scale your security services.
Protecting remote access with SASE
A distributed workforce needs secure ways to access company resources, but traditional VPNs weren’t designed for today’s cloud-first business environment. The issue is that they route all traffic, even traffic destined for the cloud, back through the corporate network. This adds unnecessary latency that can slow down cloud applications and congest the main network’s bandwidth.
A security layer that travels with the user
Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) takes a different approach by securing the connection between users and applications, regardless of where either is located. Think of it as an intelligent security layer that travels with your users, providing consistent protection whether they’re accessing Microsoft 365, connecting to an on-prem server or using a cloud-based CRM.
SASE platforms inspect traffic in real time, blocking threats and enforcing access policies based on user identity and device posture. Solutions like Check Point Harmony SASE provide the flexibility remote workers need while giving MSPs the visibility and control required to maintain security across distributed environments.
Building an MSP endpoint protection strategy that scales
The most effective endpoint security strategies layer these approaches to create defense in depth. Here’s how they work together:
- Device level: MDM establishes the baseline by ensuring only compliant, secure devices can access company resources. Think of this as your first checkpoint.
- Activity level: EDR monitors what’s happening on those devices, watching for threats that slip past initial defenses. This is your continuous surveillance layer.
- Connection level: SASE secures how devices connect to applications and data, regardless of location. This protects data in transit and enforces access policies.
Each layer compensates for the limitations of the others. MDM can’t stop a zero-day malware attack, but EDR can. EDR might not catch a credential theft attack happening over an unsecured network, but SASE can. Together, they create overlapping protection that makes it significantly harder for attacks to succeed.
Choosing solutions that grow with your practice
For MSPs, operational efficiency matters as much as security effectiveness. Your endpoint protection stack needs to scale as your clients grow and as you add new clients to your portfolio.
Cloud-native, multi-tenant platforms designed for MSPs provide centralized management across all clients. You can standardize configurations, automate routine tasks and generate consistent reports without rebuilding your processes for each new client. Look for solutions that integrate with your existing tools like your PSA, RMM platform and ticketing system. The less context-switching required to manage security, the more efficiently your team operates.
The distributed workforce is here to stay, and MSPs who build comprehensive endpoint protection strategies now will differentiate themselves as clients’ security needs continue to evolve. The question isn’t whether to layer MDM, EDR and SASE, it’s how quickly you can implement them to stay ahead of the threats targeting your clients’ scattered endpoints.
Ready to build a modern endpoint security stack?
Explore Sherweb’s portfolio of security solutions to find the right combination of MDM, EDR and SASE tools for your clients.
