hey guys welcome to cyber platter this is a series on endpoint protection interview question and answers this is part one I will link the other parts in the description box as and when I upload them we will cover some scenario based questions practical as well as technical question and answers here if you are interested in interview question and answers regarding EDR there is another video which I will link it in the description box let's go to the first question so say that your organization is deploying a new ENT Co security solution how would you evaluate its Effectiveness in protecting against apts that is advanced persistent threats so what are advanced persistent threats these are sophisticated and prolonged cyber attacks and these are aimed at a specific Target like say for an organization or Nation this is typically carried out by well-funded and highly skilled threat factors so the goal of apts is to gain and maintain unauthorized access to a network and why do they need this this is to steal data or disrupt operations over an extended period now we'll see how to evaluate the effectiveness of an endpoint security solution against apts so the steps that we will discuss now for APS will apply for other situations as well like say you want to evaluate the effectiveness of the endpoint security solution itself most of the steps we discuss here will apply to that as well or you know just against ransomware or most of the situations you can give the same answer so let's start first is the review of threat intelligence you need to ensure that the solution is updated with the latest threat intelligence feeds and signatures and this is to understand the tactics techniques and procedures that is ttps of apts next is simulate AP scenarios so you can conduct pen tests or penetration testing and Red Team exercises to simulate AP attacks you can use Frameworks like miter attack to design realistic scenarios if you want to know about miter attack there's a separate video where I explain what is miter attack how you can use it I will link that as well in the description box and then once you use pentest and Red Team exercises to simulate apt attacks you can evaluate detection and response to these simulated attacks next is to analyze detection capabilities so you need to verify detection of various AP attack stages such as say initial compromise lateral movement data exfiltration and persistence you also check for accuracy to minimize false positives and false negatives next step is to assess prevention mechanisms you need to test prevention of APD activities like for example blocking malicious files Network traffic and blocking unauthorized processes you should also here evaluate endpoint hardening features that is say for example application whitelisting behavioral analysis and exploit prevention next is to examine the response capabilities so here you assess the speed and efficiency of response uh mechanisms that is including alerting containment and Remediation you also need to test automated response mechanisms here like for example isol ating compromised endpoints terminating malicious uh processes and removing malware once you check the response capabilities next is measure the performance impact so you can monitor system performance before and after deploying the solution so you need to evaluate the impact on CPU memory disk usage and network latency once you're done with performance impact the next is to review integration and management you need to ensure that there is seamless integration with existing security tools like for example your sim EDR and threat intelligence platforms then you assess the Management console for ease of use reporting capabilities and centralized management once that is done you can conduct a pilot deployment that is you deploy the solution on a subset of endpoints in a controlled environment or a test environment here you monitor Effectiveness over time that is by gathering data on detections performance and user feedback then you also look at the scalability that is can the solution scale to protect all the endpoints in your organization you need to check that as well next col collect and analyze data that is you collect data on detection rates false positives and false negatives response times and overall impact on security posture first you collect and then you analyze this data to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the endpoint security solution that you are evaluating so these are some of the steps that you can take to evaluate the effectiveness of the new endpoint security solution in protecting against APS that is advanced persistent threats let's go to the next question say your organization is planning to implement a bring your own device policy what measures would you take to ensure endpoint Security in this scenario so as we all know implementing a bring your own device policy introduces various security challenges let's see some of the measures that you would take to ensure endpoint Security First is to develop a bring your own device policy so you establish clear guidelines and expectations for device usage security requirements and acceptable behavior and then you require employees to sign an agreement acknowledging the bring your own device policy and their responsibilities next is to impl ment mobile device management MDM so you require all personal devices to be enrolled in a MDM solution that is to enforce security policies like you can use MDM to enforce encryption screen lock and remote wipe capabilities and then you can also use MDM to control the installation and use of applications apps so this is to to prevent the use of unapproved or risky applications after MDM you can enforce strong authentication that is require MFA multiactor authentication for accessing corporate resources this is to add an extra layer of security and then you can also add device level authentication to ensure only authorized devices can access the network next is strong network security so you can segment the network to separate the bring your own devices from critical corporate resources you can also require the use of a secure VPN for remote access to uh corporate resources then you need to ensure that the corporate Wi-Fi networks are secure and that employees avoid using unsecured public Wi-Fi next is data protection enfor encryption of sensitive data both in transit and at rest on bring your own devices and then Implement DLP solutions that is data loss prevention solutions to Monitor and protect sensitive data from being exfiltrated or misused then you can use containerization to keep corporate data separate from personal data on these devices next is make sure that there is regular security updates so you need to ensure that all bring your own devices have the latest security updates and patches installed on them you can also configure these devices to receive automatic updates for both operating systems and applications next is endpoint protection so you require the installation of reputable anti- malware software on all of these devices you can also use endpoint detection and response solutions that is EDR solutions to Monitor and respond to potential threats on these devices next is user training and awareness so you need to conduct regular training sessions to educate employees about security best practices fishing attacks and safe use of personal devices you should also encourage and train employees to report any you know suspicious activity or security incidents immediately when they notice it next is Access Control you need to implement rback that is role based Access Control to ensure employees only have access to the data and applications necessary for their rules you can also use conditional access policies this is to restrict access based on device compliance location and risk level next is regular Audits and compliance so you need to conduct regular security Audits and assessments and this is to identify and mitigate potential risks next you need to ensure that the bring your own device policy and practices comply with relevant industry regulations and standards like for example gdpr Hippa right so these are some of the steps that can be taken to create a secure bring your own device environments so this bring your own device environment should balance flexibility and productivity with robust security controls let's go to the next question say there was a Security review in your organization and you discover that some end points are not compliant with your organization's security Baseline and and how would you address this issue first thing you need to do is to document which endpoints are non-compliant and in what specific ways they deviate from the security Baseline then assess the sity and potential impact of the non-compliance on the organization's security posture next determine the root causes for this non-compliance like you know common causes might be outdated software misconfigurations or unauthorized changes and then evaluate whether existing policies and procedures were followed and if there are any gaps in these policies and procedures next if the non-compliance poses an immediate threat then you need to take immediate mitigation actions like for example isolate the critical endpoints from the network to prevent potential breaches you can also apply temporary measures to mitigate the risk until permanent Solutions are in place next create a detailed remediation plan this is to bring the non-compliant ands into compliance so this may include patching software updating configurations or reinstalling security software so here you need to assign clear responsibilities and time timelines for these remediation tasks to the relevant it and security teams next communicate the findings and also the remediation plan to relevant stakeholders and these stakeholders can include it staff management and affected users you also need to provide education and awareness training to users about the importance of compliance and how to maintain it next imp implement the remediation plan ensuring that each step is carefully monitored and documented once the remediation plan is implemented that is after remediation validate that the end points are now compliant with the security Baseline and to validate you can do it through automated scans or manual verification once that is done Implement continuous monitoring to ensure ongoing compliance you can use endpoint management tools to automate compliance checks here also make sure that you strengthen the enforcement of security policies and procedures to prevent any future non-compliance and this may involve say stricter access controls or automated updates once this is done conduct a review of the remediation process to identify what worked well and where improvements can be made that is the post remediation review here okay and then according to that update your security policies and baselines as necessary to reflect Lessons Learned and to address any newly identified gaps you can also schedule regular security Audits and reviews to detect and address non-compliance issues proactively and then you should also document all the actions that were were taken to address this non-compliance including say root cause analysis remediation steps and validation results so this is a very structured approach to ensure that all endp points meet the organization security Baseline let's go to the next question describe a situation where an endpoint security update causes system instability how would you address and resolve this issue so so for this you can say recently after deploying a critical endpoint security update to a large number of company laptops we began receiving reports of system instability and these symptoms included frequent crashes slow performance and in some cases complete system unresponsiveness and for this let's discuss the approach so to start with you can say I immediate ly documented all reported symptoms I also noticed a pattern in this such as specific Hardware models or operating system versions and then I notified the it Network and security teams to ensure all stakeholders were aware of this and could assist in the investigation next I set up a test environment and this test environment mirrored the affected systems to reproduce the issue without further disrupting users and then I applied the same update to this controlled uh setting and then I confirmed the system instability and gathered error logs and system Diagnostics and then to provide immediate relief I initiated a roll back to the previous stable version of the security software on affected systems then I communicated with the end users informing them of the roll back and providing temporary workarounds while we investigated further then I contacted the security software vendor to report this issue and I also shared logs diagnostic data that I collected previously to expedite their investigation also at the same time I worked with our internal teams to analyze the logs and system Behavior to pinpoint the exact cost of the instability next Once the vendor provided a fix I rigorously tested that fix in our test environment to ensure it resolved the issue without introducing any new problems and then I rolled out the patch in faces that is starting with a small group of endpoints first closely monitoring their performance before a full scale deployment next after the update I implemented enhanced monitoring to quickly detect any recording or new issues then I also established a feedback loop with end users to report any anomalies post update and then I documented the entire incident from the initial problem to the final resolution I also highlighted the lessons learned and any procedural improvements needed and then I conducted a post incident review with the team to discuss what went wrong and how to prevent similar issues in the future that is including better pre-employment testing and user communication strategies so this is how you can answer the question where there is system instability what is the approach and what really happened let's go to the next question what according to you is endpoint protection so this is also known as endpoint security so this is a an approach to secure end points or end user devices such as computers laptops mobile devices servers and printers so it is a combination of software policies and practices designed to protect these devices from a variety of cyber threats and also to ensure that they do not become entry points for malicious activities within an organization's Network let's see some of the key components of endpoint protection first one is antivirus and anti- malware this is the software that detects prevents and removes malicious software such as viruses worms Trojans ransomware and spyware next is firewalls these control incoming and outgoing traffic Network traffic based on predefined security rules next is intrusion detection and prevention systems idps these tools monitor Network and system activities for any malicious actions and policy violations these can also respond by blocking or quarantining harmful activities next is endpoint detection and response that is an EDR solution these are Advanced solutions that Contin ously Monitor and collect data from endpoints to detect suspicious activities provide visibility and enable rapid response to threats there's a separate video on this I will link it in the description box and there is a separate video for firewalls as well describing different types of firewalls and how they help in keeping an organization safe that also I will link it in the description box and then there is data encryption if you want to know how encryption Works what are the different types and why is it actually required there is a separate video because these are lengthy videos I will link that as well in the description box and on patch management vulnerability management I will link all of those in the description box so data encryption that is encrypting data stored on endpoints to protect it from unauthorized access especially in the event of device theft or loss next patch management that is ensuring all the endpoint devices have the latest security patches and updates to mitigate vulnerabilities next is access control that is implementing policies to control who can access endpoints and what they can do and you usually use mechanisms like multifactor authentication MFA and role based access control that is ourbank next is application control that is restricting the applications that can run on endpoints this is to reduce a risk of malicious software being executed next is MDM that is mobile device management these Solutions manage and secure mobile devices used within an organization next is web filtering that is blocking access to malicious or inappropriate websites to to protect users and endpoints from web- based threats next is backup and Recovery that is ensuring that data on endpoints is regularly backed up and can be restored in case of data loss due to cyber attacks or Hardware failures let's go to the next question why do you think that endpoint security has become crucial in recent times first is that there is an increase in cyber threats like for example apts advanced persistent threats these are like we discussed before sophisticated and prolonged attacks targeting specific organizations and then there is ransomware that is malware that encrypts data and then Demands a ransom these often Target endp points and then there are fishing attacks these are the attempts to deceive user into revealing sensitive information frequently through endpoint devices next there is also zero day exploits these are the attacks exploiting vulnerabilities that are unknown to vendors so there is increase in cyber threats then increase in devices not only devices but also the types of devices like for example bring your own device that is employees use using personal devices for work and this increases the number of endp points that need protection next there is internet of things that is iot devices so because there is an increase in iot devices this introduces more and points many of which have limited security features and then there is this shift to remote work due to the covid-19 pandemic this has also expanded the attack surface as employees access corporate networks from potentially unsecured home environments next because of data protection and privacy endpoint security has become more crucial that is endpoints often store and process sensitive data this makes them Prime targets for data breaches and also laws and regulations like for example gdpr Hippa and CCPA requires stringent protection of personal and sensitive data including those on endpoints and the next reason is complexity of modern it environments so there is integration of cloud services with endpoint devices so this requires that a strong security to protect data as it moves between local devices and Cloud environments and also nowadays there are highly interconnected networks and this makes a single compromised endpoint to potentially jeopardize the entire network the next reason is human factor users are often the weakest link in cyber security and endpoints being the primary interface for user interactions next there is social engineering that is attackers exploit human psychology TR to trick users into compromising their endp points and nowadays the sophistication of attacks has increased that is cyber attacks are becoming more skilled at launching targeted attacks against specific individuals or organizations or nations and then there is Automation and Ai and these enable attackers to launch more frequent and sophisticated attacks on end points so these are some of the reasons that you can provide for why endpoints security has become crucial in recent times let's go to the next question how to protect operating systems that is OS first enable automatic updates to ensure the OS receives the latest security patches and Bug fixes next you can also manually regularly check for updates and apply them promptly if automat if automatic updates are not enabled then use complex and unique passwords for all user accounts also Implement password policies to enforce strong passwords then require multiactor authentication MFA for logging into the OS adding an extra layer of security then implement the principle of least privilege that is giving the users the minimum access necessary to perform their tasks next set policies to lock accounts after a certain number of failed login attempts that is say if you enter like 10 fail login attempts then your account gets loged that is account lockout policies and this is to prevent Brute Force attacks next use the operating systems built-in firewall to control incoming and outgoing Network traffic based on predefined security roles also segments the network to limit the spread of potential threats and isolates sensitive systems next install and maintain up toate antivirus and anti- malware software to detect and prevent malicious activities then scheduled regular scans on these antivirus and antimalware software Ware to check for and remove any malware or potentially unwanted software next disable unnecessary services that is turn off uh services and features that are not needed and this is to reduce the attack surface and then apply security baselines and hardening guidelines specific to the OS to ensure it is configured securely next you can use group policies to ensure security settings and policies across the network and then use full disk encryption tools to protect data at rest and full disk encryption tools can be like bit Locker for Windows or file Vault for Mac OS you should also encrypt files before sharing and use secure methods for data transfer next schedule regular backups of critical data and the OS configuration and also store these backups securely and test them regularly and then develop and maintain an incident response and Disaster Recovery plan to quickly restore the OS in case of a security breach or failure next enable logging to keep track of system events access attempts and security incidents regularly review and analyze logs to detect suspicious activities and potenti IAL security breaches next is to implement application white listing that is to allow only approved apps to run on the OS also ensure that all these applications running on the OS are regularly updated and patched next train users on best security practices recognizing fishing attempts and safe browsing habits also make sure that you enforce security policies and guidelines to make sure that the users adher to best practices next we also need to consider physical access that is physical security so secure physical access to devices to prevent unauthorized tampering or theft enable secure boot to ensure that the OS boots only with trusted software you can also consider using sandboxing to isolate applications and to reduce the risk of malware affecting the entire system next for Windows enable VBS that is virtualization based security to create isolated and protected environments for sensitive operations utilize TPM that is trusted platform module and this is for Hardware based security functions like for example cryp cryptographic cryptographic key storage and uh Integrity checking so these are some of the steps that you can take to significantly enhance the security of an operating system so that's it for today guys I hope this video helped you understand a little bit more about endpoint protection I will see you in another video with more questions on the same topic that is endpoint protection that can help you to prepare for your interviews thank you so much for watching please don't forget to like subscribe and share our videos that helps us a lot bye-bye