{"id":59079,"date":"2018-05-02T12:28:14","date_gmt":"2018-05-02T17:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/?p=59079"},"modified":"2018-05-02T16:15:38","modified_gmt":"2018-05-02T21:15:38","slug":"proactive-reactive-two-alternative-security-approaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/proactive-reactive-two-alternative-security-approaches\/","title":{"rendered":"Proactive or Reactive, the Two Alternative Security Approaches"},"content":{"rendered":"

There Are Two Security Approaches – Which Fits You Best?<\/h3>\n

When considering a security solution, individuals consider various aspects including price, usability, compatibility, and customer reviews.\u00a0 However, how often do customers dig deeper?\u00a0 Do they look at malware detection rates?\u00a0 Do they look at the security approach taken by the antivirus vendor?\u00a0 The answer to all three questions is, rarely.<\/p>\n

Many users simply renew with the security program their computer came with.\u00a0 Some don’t use a security solution at all.\u00a0 In a corporate world, budgets are often considered, as well as convenience.<\/p>\n

As a result, many users have been left with a reactive security approach.\u00a0 Meaning, they are using a traditional security solution that implements a basic blacklist which blocks all known threats.\u00a0 This may sound great, but what are these solutions doing to prevent new, unknown threats from happening.\u00a0 They’re not.\u00a0 Case in point, WannaCry.\u00a0 That was an unknown, malicious ransomware variant that was allowed to run on endpoints that were running a blacklist security solution.\u00a0 They knew what files were bad but would allow anything else to run.<\/p>\n

It’s impossible to keep up with the known bad files, which is exactly what hackers rely on.\u00a0 A reactive approach includes endpoint detection and response (EDR), a method to detect, respond and mitigate suspicious activity on an endpoint.\u00a0 In addition, reactive approaches also include creating a disaster recovery plan and data backups.<\/p>\n

To be clear, being prepared is not a bad thing.\u00a0 Having a disaster recovery plan is simply best practice, as well as backing up your data.\u00a0 However, with today’s emerging threats, being reactive is not enough; although, that is what companies are dumping their security budgets into.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 We’re not sure.\u00a0 Logically, it makes far more sense to increase your prevention security budget, compared to boosting the budget in reacting to them.<\/p>\n

Being Proactive<\/h4>\n

Taking a proactive approach means the company places a higher emphasis on avoiding malware infections, instead of preparing for the aftermath of one.\u00a0 A proactive approach should include the following:<\/p>\n