Endpoint Security Fundamentals Every IT Team Should Know

Cyberattacks aren’t slowing down; they’re accelerating. In Q1 2025 alone, cyberattacks per organization surged nearly 47%, reaching an average of 1,925 weekly attacks (Check Point Research). And with 60% of organizations planning to increase their cyber risk investments (PwC), the urgency is impossible to ignore.

Hackers will continue to improve their methods and exploit vulnerabilities. Ransomware attacks will occur. Theft and sale of personally identifiable information (PII) and other sensitive data on the dark web will occur.

Additional security layers such as MFA, antivirus, endpoint detection and response (EDR), mobile device management (MDM), and mobile threat defense (MTD) can reduce the likelihood of a successful attack. However, endpoint security fundamentals remain essential.

Ignoring these fundamentals is like renovating a home without repairing a failing foundation. A solid security posture, like a home, must begin with a strong foundation. Endpoint security fundamentals provide that foundation.

Endpoint security fundamentals: Where to start

Fundamental endpoint security is critical to the effectiveness of any security solution. Advanced tools cannot compensate for missing basics, which are often overlooked as IT teams manage siloed tools, heavy workloads, limited staff, or a lack of expertise.

Adopting best practices for onboarding and managing endpoints strengthens an organization’s defense against attacks. Start with the following:

• Establish and maintain deep visibility and sufficient control over endpoints
• Reduce patching complexity to ensure consistency and avoid gaps
• Harden endpoints to reduce the number of attack surfaces
• Establish a solid backup routine

📌 For a thorough guide, watch what Endpoint Security is and how it works before we go further.

Deep visibility into endpoints

You cannot secure what you cannot see. Maintaining real-time, deep visibility into all managed devices accessing your network enables a historically reactive IT department to become more proactive and better serve its users. Nipping potential issues in the bud before they blossom into productivity blockers (or even worse, before they unwittingly roll out the red carpet for any one of the most common cyberattacks) is a win for the entire team.

Ongoing awareness of endpoints that have fallen out of compliance and thus introduce potential security vulnerabilities is key, along with the ability to quickly take actions to bring them back to compliance. Examples of endpoint visibility include the ability to:

• View and manage all endpoints in real-time
• Create and enforce device policies
• Discover and manage rogue devices
• Identify known vulnerabilities
• Alert on security-related activities

Get complete visibility into your IT estate with an always-updated inventory. See how.

Cyber security data breaches have increased by up to 40% globally in 2026. (SentinelOne)

Simplified patching reduces the potential for human error and security gaps

Ask IT admins to name their most challenging tasks, and patching will likely appear at or near the top of the list. If you consider the sheer number of applications deployed and managed, the number of patches to apply (some multiple times due to unforeseen issues), difficulties associated with patching remote worker and road warrior endpoints, and the push to minimize impact on users across regions and time zones, to say patching is complex is an understatement.

Nevertheless, patching is a critical component in the battle to fend off cyberattacks. At a minimum, your patching solution should enable you to:

• Identify known vulnerabilities daily
• Patch OS, applications, drives, and firmware
• Remediate critical vulnerabilities immediately
• Deploy other patches as quickly as is reasonable
• Validate and report on patch outcomes

NinjaOne makes patch management zero-touch across your Windows, Mac, and Linux endpoints. See how.

The exploitation of software vulnerabilities ranked among the fastest-growing cyber risks in 2025, with 58% of organizations reporting an increase, making timely patching more critical than ever. (WEF Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2026)

Endpoint hardening

Endpoint hardening is a key strategy for reducing the likelihood of cyberattacks, ensuring device compliance, and maintaining business continuity. It works by lowering risk through reducing the attack surface, which includes all flaws and backdoors that could be exploited.

The principle is straightforward: increase control over managed endpoints. A strong endpoint management solution, such as NinjaOne, allows you to apply hardening measures at scale. Key capabilities to consider include the ability to:

• Adjust default settings to make them more secure
• Ensure drive encryption
• Require strong passwords and use of MFA
• Identify unprotected endpoints and deploy security applications (I.e., antivirus)
• Harden the operating system and its configuration (I.e., restrict lateral movement tools and techniques, secure boot, logging, etc.)

Endpoint security vs. endpoint hardening? Similar, but different. Dive into the details and see the comparison.

84% of compromised accounts had MFA enabled when attacked. IT experts now say that legacy MFA is no longer sufficient to counteract sophisticated threats. (LastPass)

Reliable backups

After working with three backup and recovery (BAR) vendors, I have seen how critical reliable backups are. I have also seen how challenging they remain for many IT teams. Common issues include failed or slow backups, network performance degradation during backups, and the complexity of managing full, incremental, and differential schedules.

Following the 3-2-1 rule is essential: maintain three copies of data, store them on two different types of media, and keep one copy offsite for disaster recovery. (Newer backup strategies talk about the 3-2-1-1-0 framework).

Backups are one of the strongest defenses against ransomware. While most BAR solutions share similar features, several key factors should guide your evaluation:

• Reliable cloud-first file & folder, and image backups
• Flexible cloud-only, local and hybrid storage options
• Ability to back up all Windows and macOS endpoints – as well as servers
• Use of cryptography and MFA to secure file restores
• Easy, self-serve file restores for your users

Keep your organization secure, efficient, and confident. Watch endpoint security explained for a straightforward guide to endpoint defense.

48% of all breaches now involve ransomware, making reliable, tested backups one of the most critical defenses any organization can have. (Verizon 2026 Data Breach Investigations Report)

Strong endpoint security starts with the basics

Advanced tools have their place, but no amount of investment in EDR, MDM, or threat intelligence can compensate for a weak foundation. Visibility gaps, unpatched vulnerabilities, misconfigured devices, and unreliable backups remain the most exploited weaknesses in organizations of every size.

The good news is that getting the fundamentals right doesn’t require a massive overhaul. It requires consistency, automation, and the right platform to enforce best practices across every endpoint, every day.

NinjaOne Endpoint Management empowers IT organizations to simplify the management of distributed, disparate endpoint devices, while also taking fundamental, yet critical steps to improve security posture – all from a single console.