Earlier in the book, I discussed intrusion prevention, primarily
from a network perspective. In this appendix, we ’ ll look at
security from the perspective of the host, what has been called
endpoint security. An endpoint is defi ned as anything that can be construed to be a host,
such as a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a smartphone, and so on. For the purpose
of this discussion, a server can also be an endpoint. For example, a host intrusion prevention
system is a form of endpoint security. It guards against an attack to host computers and
servers and is usually deployed in an enterprise setting. In addition to an introduction to
endpoint security, we will look at the threat posed by buffer overfl ows. Then we will look
at the various products used by Cisco to address endpoint security. Finally, I will discuss
endpoint security best practices.