Unified Endpoint Management and Security - Yearly roundup and 2023 predictions

The beginning and end of a year call for celebration. As relevant as Christmas and New year cheer is to this time, there are two other things that are unique to this time of the year -- The yearly round-up and the next year's forecast.??

Let's take a look at last year's top trends and the predictions for this year.

Anywhere-work model accelerating modern management

After almost two years of uncertainty because of the pandemic, 2022 was when we gained a semblance of normalcy. However, most organizations that could get work done without staff being physically present, opted for a hybrid work model so they could enable their employees to work remotely permanently, or at least long-term.

With hybrid or remote work being the new norm, utilizing the traditional manner of managing devices is challenging. Luckily, IT teams have incrementally adopted modern management methods throughout the pandemic to prepare for this situation which include cloud-based IT management and support, employee self-service, zero-touch and automated onboarding, and user-centric endpoint management.

Native endpoint security convergence

Basic security features, like setting passwords and encryption, are already part of IT management capabilities. Organizations, on an average, are using more than 70 tools to manage IT security. This tool bloat contributes to a significant increase in the attack surface, not to mention IT overhead costs for maintaining different tools. Enterprises will start favoring UEM vendors who??provide built-in security features such as vulnerability management, EDR, anti-phishing, and Zero Trust Network Access within the UEM solution.

Ransomware as a Service

RaaS is a business model in which ransomware is offered as a full-fledged paid service. A person (affiliate) who wishes to launch attacks can approach operators for a ready-made ransomware kit and receive their help to launch attacks for a monthly or yearly fee. Though this has existed for quite sometime, it gained momentum and became a major headache for enterprises in the past two years. The RaaS business has carried out full-blown ransomware attacks and reaped rewards worth millions of dollars.

We had seen an increased adoption of modern management, in-built security capabilities as part of UEM solutions, and Ransomware-as-a-Service, trending in 2022.?

Entry of Enterprise browsers

In Q3 of 2022, we saw the emergence of two young start-ups (Island and Talon) with a product that competes in an entirely new category—the Enterprise Browser. In the SaaS era, web browsing has become the foundational access point through which the average employee performs nearly all of their day-to-day responsibilities. This "browserization" trend, while helping productivity soar, has also created a new and vast attack surface. In such a scenario where browsers serve as gateways to accessing corporate resources and other applications, the emergence and focus on secure browsing is a step in the right direction. If the enterprise browser affords the luxury of flexibility while ensuring security, this software has an increasing chance of being adopted enterprise-wide.

Identity and access management prioritized

With the proliferation in SaaS applications and the anywhere-work culture, security perimeters have blurred. SaaS applications and resources on cloud require individuals to sign in. This has replaced Network as the perimeter and has placed the responsibility on Identity. With identity being the key to accessing corporate resources, Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), Single-Sign On (SSO), identity authorization, and privileged access management have taken the center stage in IT security, post pandemic.??

Digital employee experience (DeX) becomes the talk of the town?

Imagine you are greeted by a fully lit and Christmas-ready office when you come to work in December, wouldn't that put you in a good mood? The HR team, throughout the year, plans for events like this to nurture employee experience. Now, that's not the only place where good experience matters. Imagine you are walking up to your work desk with the same positive vibes, opening your laptop and are greeted with a BSOD, your mood might fall faster than gravity. This is where DeX comes into play.

With most, if not all work moving digital, it is imperative to create a positive and strong digital work environment to support the future of work. This means having a comprehensive endpoint telemetry and remediation system, either natively built into the UEM tool or integrated into the IT environment. Real-time data on system performance, VPN performance, software details, etc., can be recorded with remediation when pushed automatically to the endpoints, thereby greatly improving employee experience.??

?UEM -- Predictions 2023

In general, we see IT management and security becoming a top priority for businesses, and increased involvement of the board in security investments and decisions related to managing and securing their digital assets. Gartner even predicts that, by 2025, 40% of boards will have a dedicated cybersecurity committee overseen by a qualified board member. In keeping with this, here are top trends expected in 2023 and beyond, in IT management and security.??

SaaS as the preferred mode of deployment and vendor consolidation

Organizations today use dozens of tools for their operations. Most business leaders are looking to optimize tool sprawl by adopting a single vendor approach. Enterprises will look to deploy a cloud-based secure web gateway, cloud access security brokers, Zero- trust network access, and Firewall as a Service all sourced from a single vendor.??

Modern Privacy laws will dictate data handling and security

The GDPR was the first major consumer privacy legislation, but countries around the world are establishing their own privacy laws such as Turkey's Personal Data Protection Act, Brazil's General Personal Data Protection Act, California's Consumer Privacy Act , and Saudi Arabia's Personal Data Protection Law. Customers will have control over the data they want to share with businesses and businesses will have the increased responsibility of safeguarding the data they collect. This means that companies need to focus on automating and standardizing their data privacy management system according to the laws that govern their region.

Increased risk of IoT as part of a Shadow IT device

Remote work has increased, multifold, the unsanctioned use of devices, or the commonly known shadow IT problem. IoT devices, which are increasingly part of corporate environments and IT infrastructures, are predicted to escalate the shadow IT problem. As IoT devices don't directly store data, they are often poorly configured or unpatched. If these IoT devices are part of or connected to a shadow IT device, they are well hidden from the IT team's scope and are great gateways for attackers targeting a organization's network. With Gartner predicting around 43 billion IoT devices in use by 2023, the management and security of IoT, other connected devices, and cloud systems will become one of the top priorities in the upcoming years. Organizations should focus more on inventorying and maintaining their IoT devices.?

AI within UEM platforms driving self-healing and proactive IT administration

With the proliferation in endpoints and sophisticated attacks, it has become increasingly difficult for SecOps teams to track attacks, predict, and react to them. This is where AI comes into the picture. ML algorithms can examine a vast amount of data moving across networks in real time far more effectively than humans ever could, in part because they learn to recognize patterns that indicate a threat. Increased adoption of AI within endpoint management platforms will enable automatic remediation of endpoint issues without human involvement. ML could be used to detect anomalies and patterns, to learn a device's optimal state, and return it to that state when needed. This is called proactive IT administration, as the system self corrects, even before it's exposed to risks from its vulnerable state. Organizations should start investing in smart solutions for their security and management requirements.

DevSecOps will be the focus in the coming years

The application development environment is a rich ground for launching cyberattacks. Securing the developer environment and incorporating security measures or protocols directly into the developed code will be the focus increasingly in the upcoming years. Heightened DevSecOps practices, along with zero-trust architectures and advanced encryption solutions, will become crucial as organizations increasingly understand their importance.

Data security for unmanaged devices?

With the increase in BYOD usage and the desire for privacy, many organizations are looking for endpoint management tools that provide data or app-centric protection rather than full device protection that requires enrolling the device. Owing to this, Forrester has predicted a rise in stand-alone mobile application management (MAM- only) approaches. This model will focus on clearly separating enterprise and personal data, and extending security restrictions to enterprise data alone. It is focused on reducing risk by increasing security, while addressing employee privacy concerns about employers seeing personal data on their devices.

The major trends that will drive innovations in endpoint management and security in 2023, are centered around end-user experience management, securing unmanaged devices, vendor consolidation, self-healing endpoints and proactive IT administration, along with IoT security. Organizations, while planning their IT budget for the upcoming years could base it around these trends and predictions. UEM vendors can stay relevant and extend value if they keep these trends in mind while structuring their roadmaps and development plans for the year 2023 and beyond.

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