Your Most Important Security Investment is MDR

The prevalence and effects of threats like malware and ransomware are growing yearly, and this is contributing to the ongoing evolution of the cybersecurity threat landscape. In order to defend themselves, organizations of all sizes and across all industrial sectors must actively seek for emerging risks and monitor risk. They must also act fast in the event that a threat is discovered. Organizations are having trouble finding enough cybersecurity specialists to fill their teams in the face of this complex threat scenario. Around 3 million cybersecurity professionals are needed worldwide. So how can businesses conduct proactive threat identification and response in the face of a severe skills gap?

Endpoint security and the installation of firewalls around an enterprise are no longer the only methods of cybersecurity. Companies today must actively watch for dangers, hunt out potential threats, and be ready to act at any time. Extended detection and response (XDR) and security information and event management (SIEM) technologies can correlate data from different sources, assist in the detection of threats, and streamline investigations, but they omit some of the proactive security measures required to stay safe in the modern environment of advanced threat. Organizations won’t derive the desired value from these technologies without the appropriate knowledge. Similarly, a traditional managed security service provider (MSSP) that concentrates on monitoring logs and alarms is missing a significant portion of the picture, can produce several false positives, and can lead to a number of other problems.

Organizations are using managed detection and response (MDR) services more frequently. One of the most rapidly expanding subfields of cybersecurity is MDR. By 2025, MDR services are expected to be used by 50% of enterprises, according to analyst firm Gartner. Nonetheless, there is frequently misunderstanding in the sector regarding what MDR services ought to cover and who is most qualified to deliver them. Some boutique providers only offer very limited adjacent capabilities and telemetry support and concentrate in MDR. While MSSPs advertise that they offer MDR, they actually just investigate automated warnings. Organizations must comprehend the genuine value that MDR services may provide, the distinctions between MDR and other managed security services, and how to identify the best partner before investing in further cybersecurity technology and services.

Getting the Most Out of Your Security Spend

The effort, time, and knowledge required to set up 24/7 threat detection and response capabilities in-house can be intimidating, even when an organization has the funding to do so. Even once these technologies are put into place, it takes more time for a company’s internal security analysts to become knowledgeable about the systems and learn how to install and manage them.

An organization’s ability to increase the return on investment (ROI) of the cybersecurity products they already own is another important advantage of using an MDR service. Many businesses make the error of investing in cutting-edge cybersecurity technologies. Nevertheless, they lack the knowledge and resources necessary to effectively configure and utilize them. In addition to having a plethora of experience with these technologies, a competent MDR provider also offers round-the-clock monitoring and threat intelligence from other client locations, giving your cybersecurity skills, coverage, and knowledge an immediate boost.

What to look for in an MDR Provider

A sophisticated combination of people, procedure, and technology is needed to effectively detect and respond to the advanced threats currently threatening businesses. It will be easier for enterprises to receive the value they want from their cybersecurity program if they know what to look for in an MDR provider:

• Technology: Early MDR services were heavily endpoint-focused and assisted enterprises in putting their EDR systems into operation. Threat detection and hunting must now extend far further than an organization’s endpoints. The number of possible risks, vulnerabilities, and entry points into an organization has grown tremendously as firms have migrated more of their IT infrastructure to the cloud and more people are working remotely. Strong EDR implementations are still a good place to start, but organizations should search for an MDR provider with XDR technology expertise in order to combine threat telemetry and forensic data from across the organization’s IT infrastructure, including networks, email, cloud infrastructure, and more.
• Detection: Threat-hunting is unquestionably one of the most crucial components of MDR services, although the approaches taken by MDR suppliers might differ significantly. The majority of MDR services include threat-hunting at least occasionally, but some providers are more adept at it than others. It is crucial to consider how an MDR provider finds hazards. Is it an automated search for IOCs or is it human-led, hypothesis-driven threat hunting? Although many conventional MSP’s assert that they have threat hunting capabilities based on log data, this technique is restricted to historical and sparse data. Threat hunting must involve proactively investigating and querying systems for both their present condition and past data.
• Response: Reaction is another area where service standards might vary greatly. Some MDR providers define a response as nothing more than a set of suggestions on how to proceed. Choose a provider who responds to risks by controlling them and preventing their future spread if you want to get the most out of your MDR services. Your MDR supplier should be able to remotely take action on the endpoints, the network, or other applications of your organization in addition to detecting and alerting in order to isolate systems and stop threats in their tracks.
• Research Capabilities: Effective detection and threat hunting frequently start with threat intelligence. To take advantage of the most recent knowledge on newly emerging threats around the world, look for an MDR supplier with an active research arm and the ability to incorporate additional cyber threat intelligence. Recognize their methods for collecting and organizing danger intelligence. A good research team assists firms in staying one step ahead of threats by researching adversaries and their methods, deconstructing malware, performing breach investigations, and other activities.
• Field-Tested Experience: Make sure your MDR partner has hands-on experience with incident response if you’ll be giving them the power to alter your environment so that it can react to threats. Rapid reactions can have detrimental effects, such as unnecessarily shutting down systems and corporate operations. You need to be certain that your MDR supplier has solid expertise in choosing the appropriate course of action and that their incident response approach is up to date.
• Culture: Organizations frequently ignore the importance of culture. Take into account the provider’s working philosophy, how they will collaborate with your company, and how they come across in your interactions. Are they the kind of individuals you wish to collaborate with? Do they have a solid reputation in the field and are they credible? Do they have a substantial enough size to be able to offer a reliable, long-term partnership? You should think about all of these issues while assessing whether their corporate culture and your own.

A top-notch MDR provider goes above and above by actively probing endpoints, searching for threats, conducting forensic investigations, and responding to incidents as soon as they happen to lessen their effects. They offer significant expertise and context regarding threats and vulnerabilities from various client contexts, which makes them more useful in your environment. Finally, they can optimize your current investments, accelerating time to value and raising ROI thanks to their knowledge in sophisticated cybersecurity technology and techniques.

This all supports the idea that selecting the best MDR supplier is possibly the most crucial security investment of all.