The comparison your MSP will not show you.

Every SMB security product on the market, from the kernel-mode category leaders to the premium SMB tiers to the OS vendor's bundled product to the value engines, operates at the operating system kernel or above. They all share one architectural ceiling. They are differentiated by price, polish, and support experience. None of them are differentiated by what layer of the stack they operate at.

Echoron operates at the network layer and the endpoint. We inspect traffic at the OS packet queue, decontaminate files, and monitor endpoint behavior, with a boot-level runtime on our roadmap. We do not replace your MSP's preferred tool. We run alongside it and inspect traffic and file content it does not look at. Content inspection applies to unencrypted traffic. No product that sits on the network can read inside an encrypted session - ours included.

Category Leader
Kernel-Mode EDR Leader
Flagship SMB suite · Premium per-endpoint subscription
  • ✓Strong product, the SMB market default
  • ✓Good XDR and MDR add-on options
  • ×Kernel-mode agent with standard OS-layer ceiling
  • ×Firmware and bootkit threats pass through it
  • !MDR add-on is where the real cost lives
A safe default. Does not solve the architectural problem. Still sits above the layer the actual attacks are moving to.
Premium SMB
Premium EDR, SMB Tier
SMB tier of an enterprise platform · Per-endpoint subscription
  • ✓Enterprise-grade threat intelligence
  • ✓Strong brand recognition for cyber insurance
  • ×July 2024 kernel driver outage hit every tier equally
  • ×The SMB tier is a stripped-down version of the enterprise product
  • !Same architectural ceiling as the premium enterprise tier
Brand premium you pay for cyber insurance acceptance. The protection is not materially different from cheaper options.
EDR Specialist
Behavioral EDR Specialist
Mid-tier package · Per-endpoint subscription
  • ✓Strong behavioral detection, good Mac support
  • ✓Rollback capability after ransomware
  • ×Kernel-level hooks have the same failure mode as competitors
  • ×Rollback assumes detection happened, which it often does not
  • !The mid-tier package is the cheap tier, not the complete product
Solid product at its layer. Signature-and-kernel model; the rollback feature is a tourniquet, not prevention.
Budget / Bundled
OS-Bundled Endpoint Security
Included with the business office suite · Per-user, bundled
  • ✓Free with licenses you are already paying for
  • ✓Deeply integrated with the vendor's productivity environment
  • ×The OS vendor defending its own OS from attacks on that OS
  • ×Threat actors engineer specifically against the default product
  • !Same vendor as the OS, same architectural layer
A reasonable baseline if you are already paying for the suite. Not a substitute for layered defense. The vendor is the target.
Value
Value-Tier Engine
Business security suite · Value-tier per-endpoint subscription
  • ✓Strong detection engine, great independent test scores
  • ✓Low resource overhead
  • ×Same kernel-layer operational model
  • ×Signature-led; misses novel and structurally-hidden threats
  • !Good tool, same architectural ceiling
Best value in category at its layer. The layer is the limiting factor, not the engine.
The Answer
Echoron Small Business
Network-Layer Protection · The layer nobody else covers
  • ✓Network-layer inspection at the OS packet queue, before your services see the traffic
  • ✓File decontamination and behavioral endpoint monitoring, with a boot-level runtime on our roadmap
  • ✓Independent of OS vendor, MSP tool, or cloud provider
  • ✓Drop-in. Your current stack stays. We run alongside it.
  • ✓Signatures plus structural analysis. No SOC required. Install and it runs.
Priced for SMB. Engineered for the threats the industry has been denying exist at your scale. A layer the products above do not cover.