Deep Instinct Review & Alternatives

Cyber threats are a big deal, and any business owner knows that cybersecurity is a vital component that can not be ignored

There are all kinds of cybersecurity tools out there that promise to help organizations deal with today’s cybersecurity challenges. But the problem is that most of these tools are reactionary and rely on signatures or indicators of compromise to detect and respond to threats. That means when it comes to zero-day threats or threats with unrecognized signatures; those tools become ineffective against such attacks because they’re only good at recognizing threats they already know about. That is where deep learning comes into play.

Deep learning, also known as Deep Neural Networks, is a type of machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) based on learning and improving on its own by examining computer algorithms. While traditional machine learning algorithms use more straightforward concepts with some limitations, deep learning is designed to imitate how humans think and learn. What makes deep learning so extraordinary is its ability to self-learn as it ingests data and works autonomously to predict, prevent, and detect threats. There are only a few deep learning frameworks globally, and Deep Instinct stands out as the only purpose-built framework for solving cybersecurity challenges.

Deep Instinct Prevention Platform Review

Deep Instinct is a cybersecurity company that applies deep learning to cybersecurity, especially in preventing and detecting malware. Deep Instinct is headquartered in New York City, United States, with Israel and United Kingdom operations. Deep Instinct takes a prevention-first approach to deal with zero-day threats and other modern cybersecurity challenges using its revolutionary deep learning framework. Deep Instinct prevents threats at the endpoint without requiring an agent. It also prevents threats beyond the endpoint by scanning the in-transit files of your applications and workflows, as well as local, private, and public cloud storage and web gateways to prevent the upload or download of malicious files while ensuring the integrity of your environment.

Key Features:

• Preventative Approach: Utilizes deep learning to preemptively stop zero-day and other advanced threats across endpoints and cloud environments.
• Low False Positive Rate: Achieves high EPP efficacy with a promise of fewer alerts and the industry’s lowest false positive rate.
• Broad Endpoint Protection: Supports a wide array of operating systems including Windows, macOS, Android, ChromeOS, and Linux, ensuring comprehensive endpoint security.
• Cloud and Application Security: Offers dedicated solutions for cloud storage and critical business applications, preventing malicious uploads and downloads.
• Web Gateway Protection: Integrates with web gateways via ICAP to prevent access to malicious content and reduce malware entry points.

Unlike other tools that often generate an overwhelming volume of alerts and false positives, the Deep Instinct Prevention Platform fulfills the promise of prevention by providing an improved endpoint protection platform (EPP) efficacy and the lowest false positive rate to stop unknown threats. In addition, deep Instinct prevents threats before execution, unlike most endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions which rely on fundamental machine learning and require the attack to begin executing before it can be detected.

The Deep Instinct Prevention Platform is made up of the following key components:

Deep Instinct for Endpoint: Deep Instinct for Endpoint is a lightweight, agent-based solution that prevents known and unknown malware, including zero-day exploits, ransomware, remote code injection, fileless attacks, script-based attacks, among others. The moment an attacker attempts to infect your endpoint with a malicious payload, Deep Instinct prevents it even before it executes. This helps to improve the effectiveness of your existing security solutions while lowering false positives and your organization’s overall risk.

In addition to prevention, Deep Instinct also employs additional dynamic and behavioral analysis layers to detect and automate responses to identified threats. As a result, your security teams will spend less time responding to benign alerts and more time focusing on higher-value priorities.

Deep Instinct for Endpoint key benefits and capabilities include:

• Supported on Windows, macOS, Android, ChromeOS, and Linux operating systems.
• Increases the security team’s productivity and efficiency to fight threats.
• Lowers TCO and increases ROI of your entire security stack.
• Improves compliance standards for GDPR, PCI, and CCPA.
• Eliminates frequent cloud checks and agent updates.
• Maps to MITRE ATT&CK for faster investigations.
• Guaranteed false positive rate <0.1%.
• Extremely lightweight agent.

Deep Instinct for Cloud: Public cloud providers are responsible for the security of the cloud, but you are responsible for the protection of what is stored in the cloud. Preventing malicious content from entering your cloud storage is critical to lowering the risk that an infected file could spread malware. Deep Instinct for Cloud contains malicious content in your cloud by scanning files uploading to or downloading from your public or private cloud storage while ensuring the integrity of your cloud deployment.

Deep Instinct for Cloud key benefits and capabilities include:

• It prevents malicious files from uploading into public or private cloud storage.
• Keeps malware-infected files from reaching production systems.
• Improves existing security solutions by reducing the burden on the endpoint.

Deep Instinct for Applications: Deep Instinct for Applications is designed to protect your business-critical applications such as ERP, CRM, and others and prevent the introduction of malware into your production environments. When a file is uploaded through an application, a trigger calls Deep Instinct to scan the file. If the file is deemed malicious, the file is blocked, and according to the policy set by the organization, the file will be deleted or sent to a sandbox. This helps to assure that your applications will not be a source of infection for your end-users or customers.

Key features and benefits include:

• Reduces latency associated with traditional AV file scanning.
• Provides consistency of security standards across all applications.
• Scales to the needs of high-volume transaction applications.

Deep Instinct for Web Gateways: Deep Instinct for Web Gateways is designed to protect your network and prevent users from accessing malicious content from the internet with greater accuracy. If you are using a signature-based web proxy, for example, to filter traffic, when user requests from the internet hit the web proxy, Deep Instinct deployed with  Internet Content Adaptation Protocol (ICAP) server (a lightweight HTTP-based protocol used to optimize proxy servers) scan files to ensure that malicious content from the internet does not get through.

Key features and benefits include:

• Improves end-user experiences by reducing latency associated with legacy AV solutions.
• Reduces malware at the entry point, reducing the burden on security teams and analysts overwhelmed with alerts.
• Prevents a more significant number of known and unknown threats at the web gateway.

Deep Instinct integrates seamlessly with EDR, SIEM, SOAR, and other tools via REST API, Syslog, or SMTP to improve investigation, remediation, and threat hunting. If you are considering this solution for your network, the system requirement is as follows:

The leading Deep Instinct alternatives

Deep Instinct platform is not a one-size-fits-all solution for everyone. If you figure out that it is not best suited for your needs or environment and you’re considering a suitable alternative, you’ll find lots of them out there. To help you decide between the countless options out there, we’ve put together a list of the ten best Deep Instinct platform alternatives. Hopefully, this will guide you in the process of selecting the right one that meets your needs.

1. CrowdStrike Falcon

CrowdStrike Falcon is a unified set of cloud-delivered technologies that prevent all types of attacks — including zero-day malware and much more. CrowdStrike Falcon responds to those challenges with a cloud-managed lightweight solution that unifies next-generation antivirus (NGAV), endpoint detection and response (EDR), cyber threat intelligence, managed threat hunting capabilities, and security hygiene.

Key Features:

• Comprehensive Attack Prevention: Integrates various technologies to thwart all attack types, including elusive zero-day threats.
• Unified Cloud Solution: Offers a lightweight, cloud-managed security platform combining NGAV, EDR, and more.
• Extensive Security Suite: Features include Falcon Prevent (NGAV), Falcon Insight (EDR), Falcon Device Control, Falcon Firewall Management, Falcon for Mobile, and Falcon Forensics.

In addition, the CrowdStrike Falcon Platform includes:

• Falcon Prevent Next-Generation Antivirus (NGAV)
• Falcon Insight Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
• Falcon Device Control USB Device Control
• Falcon Firewall Management Host Firewall Control
• Falcon For Mobile Mobile Endpoint Detection and Response
• Falcon Forensics Forensic Data Analysis

CrowdStrike was also named a Leader in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection. A free trial is available on request.

2. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (MDE)

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is an endpoint security platform designed to prevent, detect and respond to modern threats in enterprise networks. MDE uses a combination of endpoint behavioral sensors embedded in Windows 10, next-generation protection, cloud security analytics from big data, device-learning, etc., and threat intelligence generated by Microsoft hunters and other sources to combat cyberattacks in the enterprise.

Key Features:

• Comprehensive Protection: Combines endpoint behavioral sensors, next-gen protection, cloud analytics, and threat intelligence to counteract cyber threats.
• Cross-Platform Support: Offers robust security solutions for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android platforms.
• Advanced Threat Detection: Utilizes big data analytics and machine learning to detect and respond to threats across the enterprise landscape.

Microsoft is also recognized as a Leader in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platform. MDE is supported on Windows, macOS, Linux server, iOS, and Android devices.

Deployment options include On-premise, cloud-native, among others. A free trial is available on request.

3. Trend Micro Apex One

Trend Micro Apex One defends endpoints against fileless malware, ransomware, malicious scripts, and other malware. Trend Micro is recognized as a Leader in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection. Apex One offers threat detection, response, and investigation within a single agent. Its extensive detection and response capabilities (XDR) extend detection and response capabilities with cross-layer detection, threat hunting, and investigation across email, endpoints, servers, cloud workloads, and networks together in one console. Trend Micro provides both SaaS and on-premises deployment options. A 30-day free trial is available on request.

4. Sentinel One Singularity platform

Sentinel One is a cybersecurity startup that uses machine learning for monitoring personal computers, IoT devices, and cloud workloads. It is recognized as a Leader in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platform. Sentinel One Singularity is an XDR platform that utilizes its patented heuristic model behavioral AI to prevent, detect, and respond to cyberattacks. Sentinel One Singularity is a one-stop platform for EPP, EDR, NGAV, firewall, device control, cloud workload security, threat intelligence, network visibility, and control; and A free online demo is available on request.

5. McAfee Endpoint Threat Defense and Response

McAfee Endpoint Threat Defense and Response brings together robust threat detection and correction tools such as:

• Real Protect: Applies state-of-the-art machine learning techniques to identify malicious code
• Dynamic Application Containment (DAC): Makes it easy to protect systems from infection without sacrificing productivity
• Active Response: advanced malware hunting and response capabilities that enable analysts to uncover threats anywhere in the environment

McAfee was named a Leader in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection. A free online demo is available on request.

6. Sophos Intercept X Endpoint

Intercept X from Sophos is one of the leading endpoint protection software that combines endpoint detection and response (EDR), extended detection and response (XDR),  managed threat response (MTR), deep learning AI capabilities, and more to prevent, detect and respond to modern cyberattacks from a unified console. Sophos is recognized as a Leader in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platform. Intercept X is available for devices running on Windows and macOS. Licensing is based on per-user pricing with no upfront infrastructure cost.  A free trial and online demo are available on request.

7. VMware Carbon Black Cloud Endpoint 

Carbon Black is a cybersecurity company developing cloud-native endpoint security software designed to prevent and detect cyberattacks. Carbon Black leverages the Predictive Security Cloud (PSC)–a big data and analytics cloud platform that analyzes unfiltered user data for threats. VMware Carbon Black Cloud Endpoint Standard combines next-generation antivirus (NGAV), endpoint detection and response (EDR), and behavioral analytics to prevent, detect and respond to modern cyberattacks. A free online personalized demo is available on request.

8. Cylance AI

Cylance is a software company that applies AI and machine learning techniques to cyber security to prevent, rather than reactively detect malware. Cylance is noted for its pioneering role in developing antivirus and other computer security applications that effectively neutralize cyber threats before they can exploit or infiltrate systems.  BlackBerry acquired the company in 2019. Cylance AI is now the technology that powers the following leading BlackBerry security applications:

• BlackBerry Protect–an AI-based endpoint protection platform (EPP)
• BlackBerry Optics–an AI-driven endpoint detection and response (EDR) works with BlackBerry Protect
• BlackBerry Persona–an endpoint user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA) solution that uses predictive AI
• BlackBerry Gateway–an AI-driven Zero Trust network access (ZTNA) solution

9. Cybereason Defense Platform

Cybereason is a cybersecurity company that offers a unified endpoint protection platform. Multiple layers of machine learning algorithms power the Cybereason Defense Platform to uncover zero-day and other forms of malware. In addition, the platform provides comprehensive prevention, detection, and response solutions via a single lightweight agent.

Cybereason plans and features include:

• Professional: Prevention-focused protection targeted at SMBS
• Business: Combines threat intelligence, NGAV, EDR, MDR, threat hunting, and more to prevent, detect, and respond to cyberattacks targeted at SMBS
• Enterprise: Advanced prevention, endpoint controls, and critical tools for your SOC needs.
• Ultimate: Comprehensive attack protection including breach protection warranty targeted at enterprises of all sizes

10. Symantec Endpoint Security

Symantec is a well-known brand in endpoint security and has one of the largest market share of any product for endpoint security. Symantec Endpoint Security combines intrusion prevention, firewall, anti-malware, and some DLP features as a single-agent platform designed to protect all your traditional and mobile endpoint devices. It applies machine learning and behavioral analytics to prevent, detect, and respond to malicious activities. Symantec Endpoint Security is a flexible solution deployed on-premise, in the cloud shares, or hybrid. It is typically supported on machines running Windows, Linux, or macOS. With or without Symantec Agent installed, endpoints can leverage the EDR cloud-based portal using a dissolvable agent and on-premises collection server. It is supported on machines running Windows, Linux, or macOS. The product can be purchased via Broadcom authorized distributors and partners in your region or country.