If you are a student of history, specifically the time between the World Wars, you've undoubtedly heard of the Maginot Line. After WWI, the French decided to build a modern day castle wall that stretched along their Western border to prevent another invasion from the East (read: Germany). The parts along their shared border with Germany were strong but their parts along the border shared with Belgium were weaker. When Nazi Germany decided to take revenge on France for their harsh WW1 punishment, they just went through Belgium and easily through those weaker sections, making the Maginot Line a complete and total waste of French time and money.

We see a similar stance being taken with cyber defenses in modern day businesses. The EDR, or Enhanced Detection and Response, vendors out there are selling their solutions as the end-all-be-all for smaller clients. Some of our competitors do the same.

This is, in part, due to the lingering idea that an antivirus-like tool, coupled with a network firewall, are all you need to keep the baddies out. Too many small and mid-sized businesses are looking for confirmation that they can buy a simple sliver bullet solution so these EDR sales tactics fall on willing ears.

Unfortunately, many of the worst kinds of cyber criminals are easily bypassing EDR agents in many ways. Some even build their malware to disable the EDR agent outright. If you are wholly dependent on EDR for your protection, you are in deep trouble at that point.

This is why a comprehensive and multi-layered approach is necessary. You can't just buy your way out of cyber risk. It's not about the tools. It's about the strategy and culture of your business. Even if you find the perfect solution for now, it won't be perfect weeks or months from now. It may even be Maginot Line useless. Think of all the money you will have wasted at that time while you watch your business in ruins.

Invest in the program that will adaptively secure your business against the next big threat and the next one and the one after that by setting goals, implementing technology, policies, processes, standards, physical protections, and education to achieve those goals. Tools such as EDR will likely be a part of that for the foreseeable future. However, you need to ensure they are meeting a goal and you understand that goal so you can adjust or discontinue that tool when it no longer meets that goal.

We love designing and implementing effective and efficient security programs for our clients. We work hard to ensure that these programs fit your company like a glove. We also work hard to keep them cost reasonable and as free from business interruption as possible. Reach out if that sounds like something you need.

Reference:
https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/14/edr_killers_ransomware/