Cisco AMP for Endpoints - Detailed Review

Cisco Advanced Malware Protection (AMP) for Endpoints

Cisco Advanced Malware Protection (AMP) for Endpoints is a comprehensive security solution that integrates multiple layers of protection, detection, and response to safeguard endpoints against various cyber threats. Here are the key features and how they work:

Prevention

• File Reputation: AMP for Endpoints uses a vast database to categorize files as good or bad, allowing it to quickly quarantine known malware at the point of entry without intensive scanning.
• Antivirus: The solution includes constantly updated, definition-based antivirus engines for Windows, Mac, and Linux endpoints. This ensures protection both online and offline since the antivirus signature database resides locally on each endpoint.
• Polymorphic Malware Detection: AMP for Endpoints can detect variant malware through loose fingerprinting, which identifies similarities between suspicious files and known malware families.
• Machine Learning Analysis: This feature uses algorithms trained on Cisco Talos data to identify malicious files and activity based on attributes of known malware, helping to detect never-before-seen threats.
• Exploit Prevention: This feature defends against exploit-based, memory injection attacks by identifying and blocking vulnerabilities in applications and operating system processes.

Detection

• Continuous Monitoring: AMP for Endpoints continuously monitors and analyzes file and process activity to detect threats that evade initial defenses. It uses cognitive intelligence to identify command and control traffic, data exfiltration, and unwanted applications through web traffic analysis.
• Low Prevalence Analysis: The system automatically identifies and analyzes executables that exist in low numbers across endpoints, helping to uncover targeted malware or advanced persistent threats.
• Dynamic Analysis: AMP for Endpoints includes a secure sandboxing environment powered by Cisco Threat Grid to analyze the behavior of suspect files, providing detailed information on their severity and behavior.

Response

• Endpoint Visibility and Response Tools: AMP for Endpoints offers granular visibility into endpoints, enabling quick identification of infected endpoints and understanding the scope of an attack. Actionable dashboards streamline management and response.
• Endpoint Forensics: Tools like file trajectory and device trajectory help track the full scope of a threat, identifying affected applications, processes, and systems, as well as the method and point of entry.
• Retrospective Security: This feature automatically uncovers advanced threats that have entered the environment by correlating new threat information with past history and quarantining files that exhibit malicious behavior.
• Command Line Visibility: AMP for Endpoints provides visibility into command line arguments to determine if legitimate applications are being used for malicious purposes.

AI and Machine Learning Integration

• Machine Learning Analysis: AMP for Endpoints leverages machine learning algorithms trained on a comprehensive dataset from Cisco Talos to identify and detect malicious files and activity. This helps in detecting new and unknown threats.
• Cognitive Intelligence: When deployed alongside a compatible web proxy, cognitive intelligence uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to correlate user-generated traffic and identify command and control traffic, data exfiltration, and unwanted applications.

Additional Features

• Vulnerability Identification: AMP for Endpoints identifies vulnerable software across the environment, prioritizing them based on industry CVE scoring to help reduce the attack surface.
• API Integration: The solution includes an API that allows for data retrieval and manipulation, enabling integration with other security tools and platforms, such as InsightIDR.

These features collectively provide a strong defense against malware, viruses, spyware, and ransomware, ensuring comprehensive protection for endpoints across various operating systems, including Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS.