What is endpoint detection and response (EDR)?

Endpoint detection and response (EDR) is an advanced layer of endpoint security that provides real-time visibility across endpoints and servers. It helps organizations accelerate the detection of suspicious activity, enables threat hunting and the investigation of incidents, and allows security teams to respond quickly and with precision. EDR strengthens security operations by: Delivering continuous, real-time telemetry from endpoints and servers. Accelerating detection and reducing incident response times. Equipping teams with tools to contain, investigate, and remediate threats.

Why is endpoint detection and response (EDR) important?

Modern cyber threats are increasingly sophisticated, fast-moving, and designed to bypass traditional security tools. EDR provides the visibility, detection capability, and rapid response required to prevent breaches before they begin.

EDR collects endpoint telemetry, analyzes behavior to identify anomalies, and highlights high‑risk events. Security teams can investigate root cause, trace attack paths, and take action to contain threats before they spread.

What are common EDR use cases?

Organizations use EDR to: Detect and contain ransomware. Investigate fileless attacks. Detect suspicious authentication activity. Monitor suspicious PowerShell or command-line activity. Track lateral movement. Support live response and post-incident investigation.

How does EDR differ from antivirus or endpoint protection (EPP)?

Antivirus blocks known threats. EPP adds prevention-first technologies such as anti-exploitation and ransomware protection to block known and unknown threats. EDR goes further by delivering continuous monitoring, threat detection, and automated and human-led incident response capabilities to stop advanced threats that prevention may miss.

How does EDR reduce risk and improve endpoint visibility?

EDR provides continuous insight into endpoint activity and highlights high‑risk behavior. Organizations benefit from faster detection, quicker containment, reduced dwell time, and measurable improvements in mean time to detect (MTTD) and mean time to respond (MTTR).

What makes Sophos EDR different?

Sophos EDR combines prevention-first protection with intelligent detection and response in a unified platform. AI-accelerated features streamline detection and response, helping to prioritize where to focus your attention, quickly understand the threat with world-class threat intelligence, recommended next steps, and rich and real-time insights to quickly and thoroughly respond to threats.

How does Sophos EDR protect against ransomware?

Sophos EDR detects malicious encryption behavior at the file level — even when the encryption originates from another compromised device on the network. If ransomware activity is confirmed, file rollback can automatically restore affected data to a safe state.

How does Sophos EDR improve investigation and reduce alert fatigue?

Endpoint telemetry is stored in the Sophos Data Lake for real-time and historical analysis. AI-driven prioritization surfaces fewer, higher-confidence alerts, while AI Search and AI Case Summary translate complex activity into clear, actionable insights.

How do Sophos EDR and Sophos MDR work together?

Sophos EDR provides the tools for protection, detection, and response. Sophos MDR adds 24/7 expert-led monitoring, threat hunting, and containment, giving organizations the option to manage EDR themselves or offload operations without adding headcount.

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Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)

Complete endpoint protection, detection, and response

Sophos Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) is a comprehensive endpoint security solution designed for security analysts and IT administrators. Protect your endpoints and servers from advanced, human-led attacks, whether they are in the office, remote, or in the cloud.

67%

Sophos IR and MDR cases that started with identity attacks— a threat that preventative tools alone can’t easily see and stop.

Sophos Active Adversary Report 2026

41%

of exploited vulnerabilities used in ransomware attacks are on a user's device.

Sophos State of Ransomware Report 2026

126%

Increase in unique legitimate executables used by attackers to evade detection.

Sophos Active Adversary Report 2025

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Speak with an expert to learn more about Sophos Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)

Elevate your endpoint defenses

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The #1-rated EDR solution in the G2 Summer 2026 Reports

A 2026 Gartner® Peer Insights™ “Customers’ Choice” vendor for Endpoint Protection Platforms (EPP).

A Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Endpoint Protection for the 17th consecutive time.

A strong performer in MITRE ATT&CK® Evaluations for Enterprise Products (EDR).

Why Sophos

Sophos vs. the competition

YOUR CHALLENGES

Protect and monitor for suspicious activity and evasive threats

Adversaries are increasingly deploying sophisticated tactics to avoid being blocked by preventive cybersecurity solutions. Real-time and continuous monitoring is required to detect human-led attacks and prevent breaches.

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Sophisticated attacks using evasive techniques

Attackers attempt to avoid triggering preventive security tools to allow more time for a comprehensive breach, and the ability to monetize their attack.

Prioritizing what to investigate

Security tools can generate a large volume of alerts. Knowing which alerts are essential to investigate can be the difference between detecting a threat and missing it.

Team skills and agility

Organizations may lack the necessary knowledge and skills to respond effectively to advanced threats, increasing risk and potential impact.

OVERVIEW

Best-in-class endpoint protection, detection and response

Sophos EDR is a comprehensive endpoint security solution designed for security analysts and IT administrators.

Stop more threats up front to reduce your workload with Sophos’ prevention-first approach.

Gain insights into suspicious activity and evasive threats across your endpoints and servers.

Investigate and respond to suspicious activity quickly and efficiently with outcome- focused AI -tools.

FEATURES

Elevate your endpoint defenses

Sophos EDR strengthens your endpoint defenses by enabling you to identify, investigate, and neutralize evasive threats.

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Accelerate detection, investigation and response

Sophos Endpoint included

The industry’s most sophisticated AI-powered endpoint security solution, including robust defenses against local and remote ransomware, and adaptive defenses is included with Sophos EDR. Learn more: Sophos Endpoint

Supports non-Sophos endpoint protection

You can choose to use Sophos Endpoint (included) or a non-Sophos endpoint protection agent like Microsoft Defender.

Automated responses

Fully automated actions like process termination, ransomware rollback, network isolation, and adaptive attack protection, contain threats rapidly and save your team valuable time.

Security analyst responses

Your team can isolate an endpoint or manually engage adaptive attack protection while they investigate suspicious activity, use live response for direct and audited shell access to your devices, and more. Video: Adaptive Attack Protection

AI-prioritized detections

Easily identify suspicious activity that needs immediate attention. Sophos EDR automatically prioritizes detections based on risk, providing full context.

AI case summary

Provides an easy-to-understand overview of detections and recommended next steps, helping you make smart decisions fast.

AI search

Find the data you need quickly, using natural language queries and pre-canned search prompts. No complex SQL required.

AI command analysis

Analyzes complex command line arguments to uncover their intent and impact, with explanations in plain language.

Rich and real-time insights

Analyze endpoint activity in real-time with access to rich on-device data, and search historical events using the Sophos data lake, even when devices are offline.

Device exposure

Identify risky, out-of-date devices that are most vulnerable to threats, enabling you to act quickly to reduce risk.

MITRE ATT&CK Framework mapping

Threat detections are automatically mapped to MITRE ATT&CK Tactics, enabling you to easily identify gaps in your defenses.

Multi-platform support

Protect endpoints and servers, both on-premises and in the cloud, across Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems — including legacy platforms.

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Powerful capabilities for IT Operations and security operations

IT generalists and security analysts can perform operational tasks and remediate threats with speed and precision. Direct, secure, and audited remote shell access to your devices enables you to:

Install and uninstall software.
Terminate active processes.
Run scripts, programs, third-party forensic tools.
Edit configuration files.
Shut down and reboot devices.
And more.

Stop breaches before they start

Most EDR solutions force you to waste valuable time investigating incidents their protection should have blocked. Sophos EDR includes Sophos Endpoint, offering complete protection, detection, investigation and response in a single, unified agent.

Validated by consistent top scores in independent security tests, Sophos Endpoint automatically stops more threats before they escalate, so resource-stretched IT teams have fewer incidents to investigate and resolve.

Already using Sophos Endpoint? Add EDR with a single click in your Sophos console — no no additional agents to install.

Cybersecurity for all your needs

Sophos Extended Detection and Response (XDR)

Extend visibility beyond endpoints and servers, across your entire IT environment, by integrating data from your existing technology investments.

Gain insights into evasive threats across all key attack vectors.
Optimize your investigations with streamlined workflows.
AI-powered tools accelerate security operations.
Accelerate and automate response.
Leverage a fully integrated ecosystem of Sophos and non-Sophos technologies.
Compatible with your existing cybersecurity tools.
Includes endpoint protection and EDR features as standard.

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Sophos Managed Detection and Response (MDR)

Free up IT and security staff and benefit from superior security outcomes delivered as a managed service by our highly skilled analysts.

Instant security operations center (SOC).
24/7 threat detection and response.
Proactive threat hunting.
Full-scale incident response.
Keep the cybersecurity software you already have.
The most robust MDR service for Microsoft environments.
Breach protection warranty.

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Sophos State of Ransomware 2026 Report

How likely are you to be hit by ransomware? How many of your computers would be affected? Find these answers and much more in the Sophos State of Ransomware 2026 Report.

Download the report

Customer Success

Already a customer? Find additional information to inspire, grow your knowledge, troubleshoot, and get help.

Frequently asked questions

Endpoint detection and response (EDR) is an advanced layer of endpoint security that provides real-time visibility across endpoints and servers. It helps organizations accelerate the detection of suspicious activity, enables threat hunting and the investigation of incidents, and allows security teams to respond quickly and with precision.
EDR strengthens security operations by:
- Delivering continuous, real-time telemetry from endpoints and servers.
- Accelerating detection and reducing incident response times.
- Equipping teams with tools to contain, investigate, and remediate threats.
Modern cyber threats are increasingly sophisticated, fast-moving, and designed to bypass traditional security tools. EDR provides the visibility, detection capability, and rapid response required to prevent breaches before they begin.
EDR collects endpoint telemetry, analyzes behavior to identify anomalies, and highlights high‑risk events. Security teams can investigate root cause, trace attack paths, and take action to contain threats before they spread.
Organizations use EDR to:
- Detect and contain ransomware.
- Investigate fileless attacks.
- Detect suspicious authentication activity.
- Monitor suspicious PowerShell or command-line activity.
- Track lateral movement.
- Support live response and post-incident investigation.
Antivirus blocks known threats. EPP adds prevention-first technologies such as anti-exploitation and ransomware protection to block known and unknown threats.

EDR goes further by delivering continuous monitoring, threat detection, and automated and human-led incident response capabilities to stop advanced threats that prevention may miss.
EDR provides continuous insight into endpoint activity and highlights high‑risk behavior. Organizations benefit from faster detection, quicker containment, reduced dwell time, and measurable improvements in mean time to detect (MTTD) and mean time to respond (MTTR).
Sophos EDR combines prevention-first protection with intelligent detection and response in a unified platform. AI-accelerated features streamline detection and response, helping to prioritize where to focus your attention, quickly understand the threat with world-class threat intelligence, recommended next steps, and rich and real-time insights to quickly and thoroughly respond to threats.
Sophos EDR detects malicious encryption behavior at the file level — even when the encryption originates from another compromised device on the network. If ransomware activity is confirmed, file rollback can automatically restore affected data to a safe state.
Endpoint telemetry is stored in the Sophos Data Lake for real-time and historical analysis. AI-driven prioritization surfaces fewer, higher-confidence alerts, while AI Search and AI Case Summary translate complex activity into clear, actionable insights.
Sophos EDR provides the tools for protection, detection, and response. Sophos MDR adds 24/7 expert-led monitoring, threat hunting, and containment, giving organizations the option to manage EDR themselves or offload operations without adding headcount.

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)

Complete endpoint protection, detection, and response

Get started now

Elevate your endpoint defenses

Sophos specialists

Straightforward pricing

See why customers choose Sophos

Protect and monitor for suspicious activity and evasive threats