Technical Review by
Craig MacAlpine
ESET PROTECT MDR — Machine learning and cloud-based endpoint detection wrapped in a fully managed service targets mid-market teams without dedicated SOC coverage, with XDR threat hunting and multi-platform support across PC, Mac, and mobile.
RocketCyber — Real-time monitoring across endpoints, cloud, network, and firewall events with MITRE ATT&CK alignment and direct MSP ticketing integration targets Kaseya-stack MSPs managing security across multiple client environments.
ThreatLocker CyberHero MDR — Sub-60-second response times with expert analyst triage and customizable incident rulebooks target organizations already running ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust platform that want 24/7 managed coverage on top of existing telemetry.
Your security team cannot watch everything, all the time. Attackers know it. Managed detection and response fills that gap, but the market is crowded with services that look similar on paper and perform very differently when an incident is live. The wrong MDR service means slow response times, high false positive rates, and an analyst team that triages noise while real threats advance.
We evaluated ten MDR platforms for detection coverage, response speed, analyst quality, transparency, and whether the service model matches the environments it claims to protect. What we found: the gap between “24/7 monitoring” and “24/7 monitoring that actually stops attacks” is significant. Some services deliver elite threat hunting but require security maturity to operate effectively. Others prioritize simplicity and get SMBs protected fast, but hit ceilings as environments grow.
This guide cuts through the managed service marketing to show you which platforms deliver when an attacker is inside your environment, and which ones are better suited to a different use case than yours.
We found that the top options here excel at different goals. Pick based on your team’s priorities.
ESET PROTECT MDR is a fully managed detection and response service built for small to mid-sized enterprises. It wraps endpoint protection, file server security, and XDR into a single managed service, with ESET’s expert team running detection and response around the clock.
Endpoint Protection Backed by a 24/7 Expert Team
ESET PROTECT MDR uses machine learning and cloud-based analysis to detect malware and ransomware across endpoints, file servers, and mobile devices. We found multi-platform coverage spans PC, Mac, and smartphones, supporting both cloud and on-premises deployment.
XDR extends detection beyond the endpoint with threat-hunting services on top of standard protection. ESET includes full disk encryption in the package. For a mid-market team without dedicated security operations, that’s a meaningful stack under one managed contract.
What Customers Say About the Platform
Customers using ESET’s endpoint platform describe the initial setup as time-consuming. Policy configuration and user group management take effort to get right, particularly across multiple teams. Users have flagged that policy naming could be clearer during initial setup.
Once configured, the platform runs with minimal ongoing maintenance. Customers say the dashboard gives a quick view of system status without requiring daily deep dives. The lightweight footprint gets consistent praise, with users reporting no noticeable impact on system performance.
Is ESET PROTECT MDR Right for Your Organization?
We think ESET PROTECT MDR fits mid-market teams stretched across a growing environment. If your security headcount is limited, the managed service layer handles what you can’t.
Teams running a mature SOC get less value from the managed wrapper. But if your attack surface is growing and your team is lean, this covers serious ground.
RocketCyber, a Kaseya company, is a managed detection and response service built primarily for MSPs and the businesses they manage. It combines real-time threat monitoring with proactive expert-led threat hunting across endpoints, networks, and cloud environments.
17 Hunt Methodologies Across Your Entire Stack
RocketCyber monitors Windows, macOS, Linux, firewall, network devices, and Office 365 and Azure AD events in real time. We found MITRE ATT&CK alignment lets you map detections to specific attack techniques and stages, which adds useful context for triage.
The built-in app store adds purpose-built detection apps, including breach detection and event log monitoring. The platform requires no additional hardware and integrates with existing EDR, antivirus, firewall, and email security tools. Detected threats feed directly into MSP ticketing systems with remediation guidance attached.
What Customers Say
Kaseya stack users flag the integration as a standout. The Kaseya team handles initial setup, which customers say removes most of the configuration burden. Users have flagged that the single-portal SIEM view makes managing logs and detections across multiple client environments more manageable.
On the downside, some customers say system isolation doesn’t always perform as expected. Users have flagged occasional duplicate organizations appearing in the dashboard. Some customers also note the platform takes time to learn, given the volume of features on offer.
Built for MSPs, Less So for Everyone Else
We think RocketCyber is built specifically for MSPs managing security across multiple client environments. If you’re already running Kaseya tools, this is a natural extension of what you have.
Enterprise teams running a standalone SOC get less from the MSP-centric design. But if you manage multiple clients and need expert-backed detection in a single pane, this fits well.
ThreatLocker CyberHero MDR is a 24/7 managed detection and response service built on ThreatLocker Detect EDR. It’s designed for organizations already running ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust Endpoint Protection Platform who want expert-led threat management on top.
Response in Under 60 Seconds, Backed by Expert Analysis
CyberHero MDR uses telemetry data from all agents to detect unusual behavior in real time. We found a response time of under 60 seconds sets this apart from most MDR services. Alert-to-action lag is a real operational problem in this market, and this addresses it directly.
The CyberHero team distinguishes genuine indicators of compromise from false positives, reducing noise without sacrificing coverage. Incident response follows preset rulebooks. You customize those policies to control how the team handles alerts, without leaving everything to automation.
What Customers Say About the Platform
Customers using ThreatLocker’s platform consistently praise the support. Dedicated solutions engineers walk teams through setup live. Users say onboarding is structured enough to run without extensive in-house security expertise.
The zero-trust model requires a shift in how your team thinks about security. Customers flag granularity as a strength and a source of friction. Users have noted that policy management across flat and hierarchical structures creates confusion, and small teams without dedicated security engineers take longer to reach full operational confidence.
Already on ThreatLocker? This Is the Natural Next Step
We think CyberHero MDR makes most sense for organizations already invested in ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust platform. The tight integration means your telemetry data feeds directly into expert hands without additional tooling.
If you’re not on ThreatLocker Detect EDR, the value case weakens. But if you are, adding 24/7 expert monitoring at that response speed is a meaningful upgrade to your coverage.
Arctic Wolf MDR is a 24/7 managed detection and response service built for mid to large enterprises. The Concierge Security Team model sets it apart from standard MDR, pairing ongoing strategic guidance with continuous threat monitoring.
Concierge Security Team Plus Continuous Threat Monitoring
Arctic Wolf monitors networks, endpoints, and cloud environments continuously. It integrates with your existing technology stack to build a unified view of your assets. We found the Concierge Security Team goes beyond triage to review your environment, surface gaps, and recommend improvements.
AI assistance supports SOC analysts in processing the telemetry data flowing through the platform. Customizable workflows let you shape incident response to fit your risk tolerance. The Risk Dashboard gives a clear view of current exposure without requiring daily deep dives.
What Customers Say
Customers consistently point to the team as the standout quality. Users say Arctic Wolf staff are responsive, accessible, and engaged when issues arise. Customers say the Concierge model makes it easier to demonstrate security ROI to leadership.
On the downside, customers flag the à la carte pricing model as a growing concern. Customers say new features outside the core bundle push the total cost upward. Users have flagged limited custom log parser flexibility as a recurring pain point. That creates friction when connecting non-standard data sources to the platform.
A Strong Fit for Teams That Need Scale Without Headcount
We think Arctic Wolf MDR fits teams that need MDR as a genuine extension of their security function. The Concierge model delivers strategic depth that most managed services skip.
If your team is small and stretched, Arctic Wolf helps close the coverage gap. But watch the total cost of ownership as your feature needs expand.
CrowdStrike Falcon Complete combines enterprise endpoint security with a fully managed service layer. The OverWatch threat hunting team is the key addition on top of the Falcon platform’s AI-driven detection capabilities.
OverWatch Threat Hunting on Top of AI-Driven Detection
Falcon Complete pairs continuous managed threat hunting with AI and machine learning detection. We found the centralized dashboard contextually triages and prioritizes threats, so your team focuses on what actually needs attention.
The platform deploys in minutes via a lightweight agent and connects to existing tools through APIs. Real-time network visibility means your team gets full context during investigation, not just raw alerts.
What Customers Say About the Platform
Customers using the Falcon platform consistently praise the lightweight agent and behavioral detection capabilities. Users say the platform runs without impacting system performance, which matters in production environments. Teams without in-house SOC capacity say the expert monitoring layer is what makes the investment worthwhile.
Customers flag pricing as the main barrier, particularly when additional modules push costs up. Users have flagged that the admin portal is built for experienced engineers. Teams new to EDR platforms face a steeper learning curve getting to full operational value. Some customers also note that third-party integrations take time to configure correctly.
Powerful, But Priced for Organizations That Can Use It Fully
We think Falcon Complete fits organizations with the security maturity to operate a platform this capable. The OverWatch team adds a dedicated threat hunting layer that goes well beyond standard alert monitoring.
If your security operations are still maturing, the complexity and cost demand careful evaluation. For mature security teams that can leverage the full platform, this is a strong MDR investment.
Expel MDR covers cloud, Kubernetes, endpoints, SaaS, email, network, and identity from a single platform. It combines AI-powered detection with a 24/7 human SOC team. The platform suits organizations managing broad attack surfaces with limited internal security headcount.
Workbench Transparency Sets Expel Apart
Expel Workbench gives your team direct visibility into how every alert is triaged, enriched, and investigated. We found this level of SOC transparency is a genuine differentiator in MDR.
AI and automation handle detection, correlation, and prioritization before human analysts step in. That combination cuts the noise reaching your team, reducing time spent on reactive triage. Expel analysts also surface configuration gaps, logging blind spots, and detection tuning opportunities.
What Customers Say
Customers consistently describe Expel as feeling like an extension of their internal security team. Users say Expel frees their team from L1 triage to focus on higher-value security work. The wide integration library and clean Workbench interface get consistent praise.
On the downside, users have flagged that integration depth varies by tool. Some data sources deliver rich context; others feel limited, occasionally sending teams back into native consoles. Customers flag limited self-service tuning options as a recurring frustration. Some also note that exec-level reporting requires manual effort to align with compliance frameworks.
Built for Teams That Want Visibility Into Their MDR, Not Just Coverage
We think Expel suits security teams that want operational transparency alongside managed coverage. If your team needs to stay close to investigations, the Workbench model is a strong fit.
Teams that want fully hands-off MDR should evaluate the tuning limitations and integration gaps carefully. But if security maturity and program visibility matter to your organization, Expel delivers on both.
Huntress is a managed detection and response platform built for small and mid-sized businesses with under 1,000 users. It targets persistent foothold attacks and ransomware for IT service providers protecting clients without in-house security teams.
Ransomware Canary and One-Click Remediation for SMBs
Huntress combines automated threat detection with 24/7 human threat hunting. The platform runs without requiring a SOC analyst on your end. The ransomware canary feature enables earlier ransomware detection, limiting spread before your team can respond.
We found the one-click remediation model reduces the expertise barrier for IT teams without security specialists. Step-by-step guidance lets admins handle incidents directly, or hand them off to Huntress.
What Customers Say
Customers consistently highlight setup as fast and the dashboard as easy to navigate without specialist training. Users say the remediation workflow stands out, with tailored assessments and clear next steps per incident. Coverage across Defender, Microsoft 365, and Security Awareness also gets positive marks.
On the downside, some customers say post-isolation response times have slowed as Huntress has grown. Users have flagged gaps of 15 to 30 minutes between isolation events and receiving actionable details. That leaves teams with little to communicate to stakeholders mid-incident. Users also flag admin console permissions as too broad for teams with distinct sub-team roles.
The Go-To for SMBs Without In-House Security
We think Huntress is the strongest fit for SMBs that need ransomware defense without dedicated security staff. One-click remediation and clear incident guidance reduce the expertise barrier significantly.
If your environment has grown past 1,000 users, assess whether the additional modules justify their cost. But for SMBs in the core use case, this delivers strong ransomware coverage without added complexity.
Rapid7 MDR is a managed detection and response service built for organizations of all sizes. It runs a 24/7 SOC extension alongside multi-layered detection covering endpoints, networks, user behavior, and deception technology.
User Behavior Analytics, Attacker Analytics, and Deception Technology
Rapid7 analyzes user behavior and attacker behavior separately, building baselines of healthy activity to surface anomalies early. We found the deception technology layer is a distinctive addition that most MDR services don’t include. It creates internal traps that catch malicious behavior before attackers reach high-value targets.
Centralized log management, file integrity monitoring, and network traffic analysis feed into the SOC alongside endpoint detection. That range of telemetry gives analysts fuller context during investigations. It reduces the chance of missing lateral movement or data staging activity.
What Customers Say
Customers describe Rapid7 MDR as functioning like a genuine team extension. Users say analysts handle triage, confirm threats, and deliver clear action steps to internal teams. Consolidating tools including SentinelOne and M365 telemetry into one platform gets consistent praise.
On the downside, some customers flag the onboarding process as slower than expected. Users have flagged alert ordering issues in the portal, making prioritization harder under pressure. Some also note that remediation recommendations occasionally surface alongside older guidance, slowing follow-up response times.
Strong Coverage Across Multiple Detection Layers
We think Rapid7 MDR fits organizations that need detection depth across more than just endpoints. If you need network traffic monitoring or deception technology alongside endpoint coverage, this covers both.
For buyers focused purely on endpoint MDR, simpler options offer a cleaner fit. But if your environment needs multi-layer detection across endpoints, network, and cloud, Rapid7 covers that well.
Red Canary, now a Zscaler company, delivers 24/7 threat detection and response across endpoints, identities, and cloud environments. Its standout feature is a 99% true positive rate, backed by multi-expert validation before alerts reach your team.
4,000+ Behavioral Analytics With Multi-Expert Alert Validation
Red Canary runs over 4,000 behavioral analytics continuously, layered with automated and ad-hoc threat hunts. We found the multi-expert validation process is a standout differentiator. Alerts only reach your team after multiple analysts confirm them, changing the signal-to-noise ratio at the source.
Guided remediation playbooks walk teams through response steps, and integrations with Microsoft Sentinel keep workflows connected. Transparent reporting tracks threats stopped and quantifies security improvements over time.
What Customers Say
Customers consistently highlight high-fidelity detections and a consistent reduction in false positives compared to previous solutions. Users say the platform filters noise effectively, letting internal teams focus on confirmed threats. Onboarding gets consistent praise, with customers reporting immediate value once their environment was configured.
On the downside, some customers flag limited customization options as a recurring theme. Users have noted that email-based alert communication creates confusion when managing multiple concurrent incidents. Customers have also raised alert timing as an occasional challenge in larger environments.
Built for Teams That Are Tired of Chasing False Positives
We think Red Canary suits organizations that have been burned by high false positive rates. The validated alert model means your team acts on real threats, not noise.
The Zscaler acquisition is worth tracking if you’re evaluating long-term roadmap and integration direction. But if your priority is accurate detection with minimal noise, Red Canary is a strong option.
SentinelOne Vigilance Respond is an MDR service built on the Singularity XDR platform. An in-house expert team backs the service, with a mean time to respond of 18 minutes.
18-Minute MTTR Built on Singularity XDR
Vigilance Respond combines active threat hunting with automated incident response, built on SentinelOne’s AI-based endpoint detection engine. We found the tight integration between the managed service and the XDR platform gives analysts richer context faster.
The Pro tier adds digital forensics and malware investigation on top of standard triage and remediation guidance. Security assessments and ongoing reporting round out the service. Deployment is straightforward, and the service scales across organizations of any size.
What Customers Say
Customers consistently say Vigilance frees up internal resources. Users praise the service as a cost-effective alternative to hiring dedicated security staff. Quick response times and thorough per-incident documentation get consistent positive marks. Users also highlight clear event details in the management console as operationally useful.
On the downside, some customers flag inconsistent response speeds that don’t always match the headline MTTR. Users have flagged that exclusions are hash-based only, with no application-level option available. Some customers note performance impacts during agent scans and flag missing patch management and DLP features.
Strong if You’re Already on SentinelOne
We think Vigilance Respond is the most natural fit for organizations already running SentinelOne endpoint protection. The managed layer sits directly on the XDR engine your team already knows.
Without an existing SentinelOne deployment, weigh the platform dependency against the performance benefits. But if you’re already on Singularity XDR, Vigilance Respond is a natural coverage upgrade.
Integrated MDR with AI-driven threat detection and response across endpoints and cloud.
24/7 threat hunting, detection, and response backed by global security experts.
Expert-driven MDR with advanced threat intelligence and incident response.
Cloud-native MDR offering continuous threat detection and compliance support.
Cross-layer detection combining endpoint, email, and network data.
Managed threat detection and response with 24/7 SOC and global coverage.
Expert Insights is an independent editorial team that researches, tests, and reviews cybersecurity and IT solutions. No vendor can pay to influence our review of their products. Our Editor’s Scores are based solely on product quality. Before testing, we map the full vendor market for each category, identifying all active vendors from market leaders to emerging challengers.
We evaluated ten MDR platforms for detection coverage, response speed, analyst quality, transparency, service model fit, and how well each platform handles the environments it claims to protect. Each product was assessed through hands-on evaluation of detection workflows, dashboard navigation, and incident response processes, alongside pricing model clarity.
Beyond hands-on evaluation, we conducted in-depth market research across the MDR category and reviewed customer feedback, implementation guides, and incident response documentation to understand how platforms perform when an attacker is active in your environment. We spoke with vendors to understand service architecture, analyst team structure, and licensing models. Our editorial and commercial teams operate independently. No vendor can pay to influence our review of their products.
This guide is updated quarterly. For full details on our evaluation process, visit our How We Test & Review Products page.
Evaluating MDR services requires looking beyond coverage claims to ask the right questions about how detection and response actually works when an incident is live. Here’s what actually matters:
Response Time And What It Actually Means: What is the vendor’s mean time to respond, and what does “respond” mean in their definition? Some services measure time to alert acknowledgment. Others measure time to containment action. Ask for the specific SLA, what triggers the clock, and what your team receives at the end of it.
Alert Fidelity And False Positive Rate: How does the service validate alerts before they reach your team? High false positive rates consume internal resources and erode trust in the service over time. Ask how many alerts are validated by human analysts before notification, and what the vendor’s published true positive rate is.
Analyst Quality And Availability: Who is doing the detection work? Some services use tiered offshore SOC models with variable expertise levels. Others use in-house teams with dedicated threat hunters. Ask whether analysts are in-house or outsourced, what their escalation process looks like, and whether you get a named point of contact.
Coverage Scope And Telemetry Depth: Does the service monitor endpoints only, or does it extend to cloud, network, identity, SaaS, and email? Attackers move laterally across the environment. A service that only sees endpoint telemetry misses significant portions of a modern attack chain.
Transparency And Visibility Into Investigations: Can you see how your MDR service is working? Some platforms give full visibility into alert triage, investigation steps, and analyst decisions. Others operate as black boxes where you receive notifications without context. Your team needs enough visibility to learn from incidents, not just close them.
Integration With Your Existing Stack: How does the service connect to the tools you already run? Some MDR services build on a specific platform and deliver limited value outside that ecosystem. Others integrate broadly across EDR, SIEM, and identity tools. Map your existing stack before evaluating integration claims.
Remediation Model And Your Team’s Role: Does the service contain and remediate automatically, or does it hand off action items to your team? Fully automated response reduces dwell time but can disrupt production systems. Guided remediation gives your team control but requires internal bandwidth. Know which model fits your risk tolerance and operational capacity.
Pricing Model And Total Cost Of Ownership: What does the base service cover, and what sits behind additional fees? Some MDR services start competitive and escalate quickly as you add coverage modules, data sources, or faster response tiers. Get a full cost projection for your environment before you compare headline prices.
Test your incident response process before you need it. Run a tabletop exercise with your MDR vendor to validate response times, communication workflows, and remediation steps under simulated pressure before an attacker does it for real.
No single MDR service fits every organization. Your choice depends on team size, existing security tooling, detection coverage requirements, and how much internal bandwidth your team can contribute to the service relationship.
If your team is mid-market and stretched across a growing environment without dedicated SOC coverage, ESET PROTECT MDR wraps endpoint protection, XDR, and threat hunting in a single managed contract that handles what your team can’t.
If you are an MSP managing security across multiple client environments from a single console, RocketCyber delivers real-time monitoring across endpoints, cloud, network, and firewall events with direct ticketing integration and MITRE ATT&CK-aligned detections.
If your organization already runs ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust platform and wants 24/7 expert monitoring on top, ThreatLocker CyberHero MDR delivers sub-60-second response times with customizable incident rulebooks built directly on your existing telemetry.
If you need MDR that functions as a genuine security team extension with strategic guidance beyond alert triage, Arctic Wolf MDR delivers continuous monitoring across networks, endpoints, and cloud alongside a Concierge Security Team that surfaces gaps and recommends improvements.
If your organization has the security maturity to operate an enterprise-grade platform and needs elite threat hunting on top of AI-driven detection, CrowdStrike Falcon Complete delivers OverWatch continuous threat hunting with a centralized triage dashboard that scales across complex environments.
If your security team wants full operational visibility into how every alert is investigated and triaged, Expel MDR delivers Workbench transparency across cloud, Kubernetes, SaaS, email, endpoints, network, and identity from a single platform.
If you are an SMB under 1,000 users that needs ransomware defense without dedicated security staff, Huntress delivers ransomware canary detection, one-click remediation, and 24/7 human threat hunting without requiring specialist expertise to operate.
If your environment needs detection depth across endpoints, network traffic, user behavior, and deception technology in a single managed service, Rapid7 MDR delivers dual behavior analytics and internal deception traps alongside centralized log management and file integrity monitoring.
If your team has been burned by high false positive rates and needs confirmed-threat-only alerting, Red Canary MDR delivers a 99% true positive rate backed by multi-expert validation and over 4,000 behavioral analytics running continuously across your environment.
If your organization already runs SentinelOne endpoint protection and wants managed coverage built directly on that investment, SentinelOne Vigilance Respond delivers active threat hunting and automated incident response on the Singularity XDR engine with an 18-minute MTTR and optional digital forensics for deeper investigations.
Read the individual reviews above to dig into detection coverage, response models, and pricing that matters for your environment.
Managed detection and response (MDR) are outsourced, specialized cybersecurity services, which use combination of machine learning, artificial intelligence, edge computing, and human intelligence to discover and remediate against cyber-threats. MDR services connect organizations to highly trained IT staff who can help to monitor, analyze, and respond to incidents and anomalies in their network.
The best MDR providers implement a wide range of advanced tools as well as offer highly skilled and trained staff to be able to monitor, detect, prioritize, investigate, and remediate threats appropriately and effectively. They utilize artificial intelligence and machine learning tools to automate network scanning and threat detection, and to reduce the overall number of alerts. The human side of MDR consists of threat hunters, data analysts, security analysts, and more to provide specialized insight and problem–solving expertise, to help analyze threats and implement the most efficient, effective incident response workflows.
A Managed Detection And Response (MDR) solution gives you comprehensive threat detection and remediation capabilities, managed for your organization by a team of security experts. When choosing an MDR solution to partner with, there are some key features to consider:
The main reason for deploying an MDR solution is to quickly identify and remove network threats. Because of this, threat hunting, alerting, information triage, and managed threat remediation is extremely important. Choosing an MDR is also about finding the right partner for your business, so it’s also important to consider the credibility of the managed service, your organization’s specific requirements and scale, and of course the cost of the MDR solution.
Threat Hunting: Perhaps the most crucial task completed by MDR services is threat hunting. MDR services proactively seek out potential and emerging known and unknown threats. They aggregate activity data from a wide variety of sources—such as logs, events, endpoints, and user behavior—and analyze that data for vulnerabilities and indicators of active threats. This continuous, extensive approach to threat hunting makes MDR particularly adept in finding advanced and sophisticated threats, such as zero-day malware.
The round-the-clock threat hunting also helps for threats to be discovered and responded to far quicker, meaning the issue can be solved much faster, thereby reducing its overall impact. MDR solutions can also perform dark web monitoring, target- and risk-based threat hunting, Digital Asset Monitoring, and domain registration monitoring.
Data Collection: In order for MDR services to stay one step ahead of the curve, they need to aggregate a lot of data from a wealth of sources to provide detailed forensics about all threats–both new and old. MDR services collect data from assets, user behavior, events, files, logs, endpoints, and any other network activity. They also consult heavily with shared lists on known and emerging threats, and often will regularly trawl the dark and deep web to detect if company information is being misused at any point. This data collection isn’t just stored and left, however; MDR staff also use it for research.
Threat Intelligence: For MDR teams to be able to respond to threats as appropriately and as quickly as possible, they rely heavily on threat intelligence. Threat intelligence pertains to the data that is collected, processed, and analyzed to learn and understand a particular attacker’s target, motive, behavior, and patterns of attack. This information is analyzed to help SOC and MDR teams further understand how threat actors operate, helping them in turn to make quicker and more informed responses to (and anticipate) threats and develop prevention strategies.
Incident Analysis: MDR solutions provide companies with access to a team of experts who meticulously research incidents as they occur, allowing for them to prioritize threats and assess what the best course of action is to respond to an attack and devise guided responses.
Incident Response: And of course, it’s no good just to have a highly skilled and full kitted out team to just deliver extensive reporting and analysis. MDR services also provide incident response, either through immediate automated response from tools that nip emerging threats in the bud or through a team analyzing and remediating more sophisticated threats that need a pair of human eyes on them. The organization experiencing the breach will be notified and supplied with a root cause analysis and remediation recommendations and toolkits to solve the problem, with some MDR services actually remediating the breaches themselves.
Generally, the quicker the responses to incidents, the greater the reduction in the overall impact a threat can have on a network.
Security Monitoring: MDR services, in addition to threat hunting and responding to said threats, can also be proactive in the actual prevention of attacks. They offer vulnerability management, pointing out to organizations where security may be lacking and offering solutions to patch these oversights. They, of course, also perform dedicated, constant security monitoring of an organization’s network perimeter, network activity, endpoints, and more.
The tools, staff, and capabilities that make up the framework may vary between solutions, but there are some critical features that you need to look out for when choosing an MDR provider:
Adaptability: Good MDR services tend to not overcomplicate things. Rather than tearing out your security architecture and building something from scratch, MDR services tend to make things more manageable by building on what you already have. If appropriate solutions aren’t in place, then MDR services can help you to devise and build your security framework. Most MDR services also have a range of deployment options, covering on-prem, cloud, hybrid, and public environments.
Visibility: Coverage and insights into network activity need to be not only in depth but wide reaching, leaving no stone unturned. MDR services should be applied to every single part of the network, regardless of whether it’s cloud to on-prem, from behind a data center to every single endpoint.
MDR solutions pull data and analytics from every reach of the network and all their threat intelligence from a variety of sources. Good MDR services should provide organizations all of this within a single, intuitive, and clean dashboard that is easy to navigate and understand.
Round-The-Clock Monitoring: Attacks come from all angles and at all hours. MDR revolves around constant detection, investigation, and response. Cyberthreats don’t sleep and neither do MDR services; MDR provides 24/7/365 analysis and response, making sure that organizations are protected at all times. This round-the-clock support is delivered by robust, automated tools that actively hunt for threats and remediate them where they can when no human input is necessary, and a team that covers all hours of the day.
Alongside these benefits, MDR services also bring valuable insights and extensive reporting to the table that wouldn’t necessarily be available from just automated reports or from an in-house team. They can also help devise custom responses to incidents, ensuring a more targeted and effective approach to remediation.
Joel is the Director of Content and a co-founder at Expert Insights; a rapidly growing media company focussed on covering cybersecurity solutions.
He’s an experienced journalist and editor with 8 years’ experience covering the cybersecurity space. He’s reviewed hundreds of cybersecurity solutions, interviewed hundreds of industry experts and produced dozens of industry reports read by thousands of CISOs and security professionals in topics like IAM, MFA, zero trust, email security, DevSecOps and more.
He also hosts the Expert Insights Podcast and co-writes the weekly newsletter, Decrypted. Joel is driven to share his team’s expertise with cybersecurity leaders to help them create more secure business foundations.
Craig MacAlpine is CEO and Founder of Expert Insights. Before founding Expert Insights in August 2018, Craig spent 10 years as CEO of EPA Cloud, an email security provider that rebranded as VIPRE Email Security following its acquisition by Ziff Davies, formerly J2Global (NASQAQ: ZD) in 2013.
Craig is a passionate security innovator with over 20 years of experience helping organizations to stay secure with cutting-edge information security and cybersecurity solutions.
Using his extensive experience in the email security industry, he founded Expert Insights with the singular goal of helping IT professionals and CISOs to cut through the noise and find the right cybersecurity solutions they need to protect their organizations.