Why Are We Accepting Blind Spots in Endpoint Traffic Visibility?

It’s 2024 — cyber threats are sophisticated, pervasive, and the threat of AI-powered attacks are looming. As ever, users remain a prevalent threat vector. In fact, 74 percent of breaches include the human element, either via error, privilege misuse, use of stolen credentials, or social engineering.  

So, why isn't centralized, end-to-end endpoint visibility a standard practice?  

With over 70 percent of firms choosing either fully remote or hybrid work, the lack of endpoint traffic visibility regardless of users’ location is not just an oversight; it's a significant vulnerability.  

The reality of endpoint visibility

Nearly all organizations have some level of endpoint traffic visibility. However, this visibility is often fragmented, without the necessary context or comprehensiveness.  

Most commonly, we see organizations rely on their network hardware for visibility when employees are in their office. When employees are remote, organizations rely on their VPN (virtual private network) or ZTNA (Zero Trust Network Access) tools when users are remote. However, remote users aren’t always connected to the corporate environment, and the fidelity of data can vary depending on where the user is or what they are doing.

This fragmented approach results in visibility blind spots, complexity, and overall, a lack of actionable insights. Having to combine different sources of traffic information makes it a challenge to understand how endpoints communicate with each other, your data center, or the cloud.  

The case of centralizing endpoint visibility

Centralizing endpoint visibility means having a centralized view of all endpoint traffic, regardless of the location a user is working from. This endpoint traffic, combined into a single application dependency map alongside traffic telemetry from the data center and cloud environments, form a single map of all network traffic, irrespective of how assets are connected. A centralized map of network traffic enables organizations to easily visualize RDP (remote desktop protocol) traffic from admins to individual servers.

Illumio Endpoint: Visibility everywhere

With Illumio Endpoint, organizations get complete visibility and control over all communication from their workforce’s devices, be it endpoint-to-endpoint or endpoint-to-server.  

It's not just about seeing what each endpoint is doing; it's about understanding these activities in the broader context of the organization's entire network. With insight from Illumio, security teams can see risk, prioritize the right security policies, and contain inevitable breaches and ransomware attacks.  

The Illumio Zero Trust Segmentation (ZTS) Platform combines this complete visibility and network control into a single platform to help organizations build Zero Trust and stay resilient against attacks.

Watch a demo of Illumio Endpoint in action:

As part of the Illumio ZTS Platform, Illumio Endpoint helps organizations:

• See a unified view of endpoint traffic: Illumio Endpoint offers a complete view of all endpoint traffic, breaking down silos and providing a cohesive picture.
• Gain rich contextual data: Beyond mere visibility, Illumio Endpoint provides  rich context through multi-dimensional labels. With this is place, it’s easy to understand what is going on across your network and act at scale.
• Build a proactive security posture: With comprehensive visibility, Illumio Endpoint enables organizations to shift from a reactive to a proactive security stance, mitigating threats before they grow to catastrophes.

Centralized visibility should be the norm

The question remains: Why isn’t a simple, comprehensive approach to endpoint visibility a standard in the industry? The reasons are varied, ranging from a lack of awareness to a tendency to solve complex problems with complex solutions.  

But as organizations realize they can’t rely on their legacy approaches in today’s dispersed environments, centralizing traffic visibility isn't just an upgrade — it's a necessity.

With Illumio Endpoint, visualize endpoint traffic anywhere. From home or the office, quickly assess and mitigate risk by seeing all network traffic.

Want to learn more? Contact us today for a free consultation and demo.