Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) tools were supposed to be the answer, the digital watchdogs designed to spot suspicious behavior, flag malicious activity, and stop attackers in their tracks. But somewhere along the way, that promise started to crack.
Too many defenders have mistaken visibility for victory. They’ve built their security strategies around detecting and responding to threats after the fact, trusting that EDR and its extended cousin, XDR, can keep them one step ahead. In reality, attackers have already outpaced them.
EDR was built for a world where threats moved slower, attacks were easier to spot and alerts meant action. That world doesn’t exist anymore. Today’s adversaries move fast, hide in plain sight and weaponize the very tools defenders rely on. The result? A false sense of security that’s leaving organizations exposed and teams exhausted.
It’s time to ask the hard question: is detection still defense or have we fallen into the EDR trap?
What is EDR?
An Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) solution continuously monitors and analyzes data from an organization’s endpoints to detect, investigate, and respond to threats in real time. Using AI and machine learning, EDR tools identify suspicious behaviors that traditional antivirus solutions often miss, helping security teams quickly contain threats and perform in-depth investigations when breaches occur.
The Budget-Breach Breakdown
Network security spending has risen nearly 18% in the last two years and Gartner predicts another 13% jump in 2025. Yet globally reported data breaches ballooned more than 300% last year and two-thirds of cybersecurity pros say their roles are more stressful than they were five years ago.
In a perfect world, higher spending would mean fewer breaches and less burnout, but that’s not happening – it’s actually just the opposite. So, what’s going wrong? We’re throwing too much budget at detection while deprioritizing protection, leaving defenders stuck in an endless game of catch-up.
More than 80% of security teams say they’re so overwhelmed by alert volumes and false positives that they routinely investigate the same incidents more than once. Aside from the fact that EDR/XDR solutions are burying security teams under mountains of contextless alerts, they’re also inherently reactive.
Attackers Evade Detection with Speed, Stealth and Strength
Even in the best-case scenario, detection and response can only go so far, especially if alerts arrive too late – and they often do.
Breakout time has steadily accelerated in recent years, falling to an average of 48 minutes in 2024 – a 22% drop year-over-year. Defenders’ capabilities aren’t matching that pace. The mean time to identify (MTTI) a breach last year was 194 days, only a three-day improvement over the 2018 figure. Even so, timely detection is only half the battle; a swift, well-orchestrated response is equally important, but this twin imperative creates double the opportunities for hackers to evade defenses. In other words, all the stars have to align for EDR/XDRs to successfully block adversaries.
Attackers aren’t just outrunning endpoint defenses; they’re outsmarting them, too.
Recent incidents like the use of RVTools to deliver Bumblebee malware illustrate how easily attackers can evade EDR/XDRs. This is especially troubling considering the percentage of breaches involving a third party doubled last year, and supply chain attacks have surged by more than 400% since 2021.
The increasing convergence of OT/IoT systems and IT networks highlights another EDR/XDR blind spot. During an attack earlier this year, the Akira Ransomware Group was initially blocked by the victim’s EDR solution – but only briefly. The attackers eventually identified a vulnerable webcam via network scan, allowing them to bypass the EDR tool and deploy ransomware.
Examples like this aren’t unique. Utilities, tunnelers and remote control and administration tools are observed in 57% of ransomware attacks, meaning legitimate tools like PsExec, SSH, RDP and WinRM are shielding attackers from detection in the majority of ransomware attacks.
If that weren’t enough proof that EDR/XDR can’t effectively protect against ransomware, the adversaries themselves alert organizations to their intrusion in nearly 50% of ransomware attacks rather than waiting around to be discovered.
To top it all off, cybercriminals’ use of “EDR killers” like EDRSilencer, EDRSandblast, EDRKillShifter and Terminator is accelerating and evolving. In 2024, 48% of ransomware attacks included successful attempts to disable EDR/XDR – only 4% of removal attempts failed. Tools like these further commoditize sophisticated tactics, inflating an already booming RaaS economy.
Zooming out, the evidence is undeniable: EDR/XDRs are outmatched. Rather than doubling down on detection, it’s time for defenders to take a new tack.
Containment > Detection: Stop Chasing Attackers, Start Blocking Them
Even with a small army sifting through alerts, detection alone still isn’t enough to stop attackers today – they blend in with regular network traffic, deploy offensive tools, and use tactics that EDR/XDR systems simply weren’t built to beat.
Threat “hunting” is increasingly lobbed up as the solution here, because nothing says progress like tracking cyber adversaries for sport. While the underpinning logic – that it’s key to identify risks before they impact operations – is sound, it’s not so simple in practice. Security teams are already understaffed and overburdened; active threat hunting changes the burden, but it doesn’t alleviate it.
The real solution requires a fundamental mindset shift. You don’t need to run faster or in a new direction – you need to step off the treadmill entirely.
With powerful identity- and network-driven controls, defenders can shift from a reactive stance to a proactive posture, containing threats by default and shifting the burden of effort to attackers.
Instead of trying to detect a security breach early and trace an attacker’s every move, stop hackers where they start. By enforcing granular segmentation across all network assets and identities, organizations can build resilient networks that automatically block lateral movement, leaving attackers stranded and returning peace of mind to defenders.
Rethinking Reactivity: A New Era for Defenders
Visibility alone isn't victory, and "better late than never" doesn't apply to incident response. Endless alerts, busy dashboards, and the resulting buzz of activity create the illusion of control, but detection-centric network security strategies have only yielded more burnout – not better protection.
It’s time to accept that cyber threats have evolved; our understanding of cyber defense should evolve, too. Reactive approaches like EDR/XDR were once the network security gold standard, but that era has passed. History has taught us that we cannot win by digging our heels in and clinging to what once was cutting-edge.
So, my call to defenders is this: let's rebalance the cybersecurity power dynamic. Let's embrace proactive containment to take away attackers' strategic advantage. Let's say enough late nights, enough alerts, and enough playing catch-up. No more chasing hackers – let’s leave them stranded instead.