Stairwell vs. EDR

Staying ahead of sophisticated threats requires innovative solutions that complement and enhance existing defense strategies. Endpoint detection and response (EDR) platforms have been a cornerstone of defensive cybersecurity mechanisms, but as threats become more advanced, there’s a growing need for specialized tools that offer unique capabilities to identify pervasive or unknown threats. Enter Stairwell – a game-changing cybersecurity solution that takes detection and response to a whole new level, turning your cybersecurity team into legendary defenders.

Let’s explore how Stairwell diverges from traditional EDR solutions, offering distinct advantages that revolutionize threat detection, machine learning, retention, and more. From lightning-fast searches to unlimited data retention, Stairwell introduces unparalleled possibilities for safeguarding your organization against even the most elusive adversaries.

How is Stairwell different from EDR?

Let’s dive into what are some of the top differentiators that set Stairwell apart from conventional EDR platforms:

1. Out-of-band evasion: Stairwell’s unique out-of-band detection and evasion strategy is a game-changer. Unlike traditional EDR solutions, attackers cannot ascertain if Stairwell is actively monitoring their activities, keeping them in the dark and at a significant disadvantage.
2. Unlimited world, unlimited retention: Stairwell’s forward-thinking architecture is designed for an unlimited world. With the ability to handle unlimited and permanent data ingestion and retention, it effortlessly overcomes the conventional EDR limitations of data retention, enabling continuous coverage of historical and ephemeral architectures.
3. Cost-effective solution: Stairwell’s platform empowers organizations to scale their advanced threat detection capabilities without straining their budgets and is offered at a fraction of the cost compared to traditional EDR platforms.
4. Unrivaled detection capabilities: Stairwell goes beyond traditional EDR by detecting a wide range of threats, including traditional advanced persistent threat actors and their variants, LOLBINs, as well as non-malware techniques that often evade conventional EDR tools.
5. YARA-based detection at scale: Stairwell empowers organizations to run YARA-based detections across your entire environment without causing disruption to hosts or networks. Comprehensive detection capabilities are now at your fingertips.
6. Blazing fast search: With Stairwell’s rapid search functionality, you gain access to instant queries over hundreds of millions of binaries. Real-time threat intelligence and quick response times give your cybersecurity team superpowers.
7. Private and unique: Stairwell offers the best of both worlds – a private and unique malware feed and binary analysis solution exclusive to your organization. Your data remains confidential, protected from external exposure.
8. Automation at its core: Stairwell’s automation capabilities streamline the process of detecting and staying on top of the latest threats. By ingesting threat feeds and intelligence, Stairwell operationalizes and continuously analyzes this information within seconds, keeping you one step ahead.
9. Continuous learning: Equipped with advanced machine learning, Stairwell thrives on continuous improvement. With human feedback, detections, and ingested files, Stairwell’s system learns to identify anomalies within your environment and across all customers.
10. Lightweight design: While EDR platforms often come with considerable resource overhead, Stairwell provides a more efficient and lightweight solution. Customers can experience up to 10x less impact on their host machines, ensuring optimal performance and seamless operations.

As the cybersecurity landscape evolves, Stairwell stands out as the perfect complement to existing endpoint platforms, whether they are next-gen EDR solutions or traditional AV systems. By harnessing advanced machine learning, lightning-fast search capabilities, YARA-based detections, variant discovery (over 270,000 malware variants were found in just the first half of 2022), and unlimited data retention, Stairwell empowers organizations to fortify their defenses with unprecedented efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

What’s the benefit of using Stairwell with EDR?

Many of our customers choose to stack Stairwell with advanced EDR platforms like Crowdstrike or SentinelOne  to achieve three essential objectives:

1. Detection of EDR bypass attacks: Stairwell’s ability to detect EDR bypass attacks, such as the Terminator EDR bypass for Crowdstrike, provides an additional layer of protection against crafty threat actors.
2. Complete retention of all interesting files: With Stairwell’s unlimited history, organizations can discover threats that may only become known as malicious after a certain period, such as Solarwinds or MOVEit incidents.
3. Unmatched detection capabilities: By combining Stairwell’s advanced detection, search, and variant discovery with a primary EDR platform, organizations attain the best possible coverage and unparalleled detection capabilities.

Our customer stories are a testament to the remarkable benefits of integrating Stairwell into existing security infrastructures. Previously, some customers stacked two top-tier EDRs, but now they’ve embraced the power of Stairwell alongside a single EDR solution, ensuring maximum coverage while saving costs. Stairwell fills critical gaps where EDR deployments might be challenging, offering a comprehensive solution for systems where EDR installation is either impractical or limited by platform constraints. 

Looking ahead, Stairwell continues to innovate and adapt to the ever-changing cybersecurity landscape. We aim to fully integrate Stairwell into cloud and zero trust architectures as well as network and edge detection technologies, ensuring seamless detection logic against files traversing the network, a valuable asset for OT/IOT networks with restrictions on software installations.

As cyber threats grow in sophistication, organizations must embrace innovative solutions like Stairwell to stay ahead in the ever-evolving cybersecurity battlefield. To learn more about Stairwell’s distinct advantages and how it complements your existing EDR solution, read our blog post, “Why your EDR could use a helping hand.”