Today’s cybercriminals are craftier and more astute than they’ve ever been before. They need to be, in order to stand a chance of navigating the comprehensive and complex technologies that organizations use to keep them at bay.
Organizations must, therefore, continue to evolve their security measures to stay one step ahead. This is made more challenging by widespread talent shortages and heightened operational costs. Questions around having an internal or third-party security team are often at play.
Managed Detection and Response (MDR) offers a cost-effective alternative to building an in-house Security Operations Center (SOC), providing access to expert analysts and advanced security technologies, without the burden of large overheads. MDR can also help organizations meet compliance requirements by providing security log management, threat intelligence, and response capabilities.
This article will explore the features and purpose of MDR. It will identify the pros and cons of investing in its implementation and examines potential downfalls of not having it in place, to help you weigh up whether MDR is the right tool for you.
What Is MDR?
Managed Detection and Response is a cybersecurity service that organizations can use to proactively protect against cyber threats. It uses advanced detection and rapid incident response to address cybersecurity challenges as they arise.
The service takes a dual-pronged approach. The technological backbone provides human analysts with the information that they need to make smart, appropriate choices. When used in tandem, this human expertise and technological rigor can result in a very effective and powerful solution.
While most cybersecurity solutions are preventive and work to stop threats before they can take hold, MDR is remedial, identifying malicious activity already in your systems or devices. Once identified, it can take immediate action before harm can be caused.
Costs Of Investing In MDR
- The average monthly cost of MDR typically falls between $10 and $30 per asset.
- The average cost for MDR services typically ranges from $50,000 to $200,000 per year, contingent on your organization’s size and IT environment complexity.
- A smaller organization with 100 endpoints may pay approximately $50,000 per year for basic MDR services.
- In contrast, a larger organization with 10,000 endpoints can easily invest upwards of $500,000 per year for comprehensive MDR services with added features like threat hunting and incident response.
- Basic MDR solutions may just provide automated threat monitoring and reporting
- MDR solutions with a higher level of service can provide additional capabilities such as incident response, threat hunting, direct support, and root cause analysis
The cost of investing in MDR for your organization will largely depend on what your environment looks like.
Factors that can affect costs for MDR include:
- Number of endpoints and assets within your organization
- Number of users / employees
- If other security tools like SIEMs need to be implemented
- What level of service and expertise is needed from the MDR provider
Costs Of Not Having MDR
- According to IBM, the global average cost of a data breach is $4.88 million USD.
- On average, organizations that used security and AI automation extensively in prevention saved an average of $2.22 million USD compared to those that didn’t.
- The average salary of a security analyst is about $90k USD per year. This means that just employing enough staff to build a fully functional, 24×7 SOC team can cost an organization over $1 million per year.
- After the additional costs of hardware, software, and training are factored in, running an in-house SOC can end up costing between $2 million and $7 million per year.
- According to Arctic Wolf’s 2024 Security Operations Report, 45% of security incidents are alerted outside of traditional working hours. Additionally, 20% of alerts occurred on weekends.
- This means that if relying on only human staff working normal business hours with no automated detection, some critical alerts may not be actioned in time.
Is MDR A Worthwhile Investment?
MDR can be a worthwhile investment for many businesses, but this will depend on your organization’s specific needs, cybersecurity maturity, and risk profile. In the long run, implementing the right security tools and best practices should end up being cheaper than going without protection and suffering a breach. However, if you already have strong security operations or operate in a low-risk industry, the costs may outweigh the benefits.
MDR provides 24/7 threat monitoring, advanced threat detection, and rapid incident response, helping businesses stay ahead of cyber threats that traditional security tools may miss. For small and mid-sized companies lacking dedicated security personnel, MDR offers access to expert analysts and cutting-edge technology at a fraction of the cost of maintaining an internal Security Operations Center (SOC). Outsourcing SOC to a third party can be cheaper for organizations than building their own SOC center from the ground up, especially for smaller businesses.
Ultimately, MDR helps organizations enhance their security defenses, minimize risks, and improve response times, making it a valuable investment for many.
For more information on the top MDR solutions, head to one of the following articles:
- Top Managed Detection And Response (MDR) Solutions
- How To Choose A Managed Detection And Response (MDR) Solution
- What Are The Benefits Of MDR?
