Threats to IP security are at critical levels. Why? It's easier to steal someone else's intellectual property than it is to devise a proprietary knowledge base. Enterprises must institute policies and systems designed for IP protection; otherwise, hackers will undoubtedly find loopholes within current IT security platforms.

Application control and endpoint security technology can ensure the integrity of laptops, desktops, servers and even mobile devices so that companies are protected against potential risks and/or major losses of IP. Application control and whitelisting doesn't only stop bad attacks. It allows only known good programs, and software to run on protected machines. Companies can devise a list of trusted sources permitted to run on or access their networks and servers. The list of what is permitted to run and/or access data is much smaller than the list of banned programs and applications. Further, the list of unsafe programs, software and apps that have been deemed unsafe is an ever-changing entity, and virus protection software requires frequent updates to stay abreast of the latest potential threats.

Additionally, supplementing advanced threat protection technology with current platforms (SIEM) can provide real-time threat detection by filling in blind spots, which are often experienced with event profiling and endpoint executable identification. In conjunction with endpoint data from and , threat detection is not only timely, but appropriate, eliminating many false positives. In other words, it creates a faster, more accurate insight of system usage and activity needed by today's security professionals.

The evolution of trust policies has changed the way known sources are managed. What used to be a cumbersome process based upon a static list of approved programs now works by allowing predetermined sources like Adobe or WSUS to update as often as necessary. IT professionals can filter updates and downloads based upon publisher, distribution method or trusted source. When an unknown source attempts to download or access files, it's stopped before it can breach the system's firewall, thus protecting the system, the company's intellectual property and any other sensitive data from potential harm.