Managed Detection and Response (MDR): What Is It?

Managed Detection and Response (MDR) is a service that helps organizations identify and respond to threats once identified. A human element is also present as security providers give MDR clients access to their team of security researchers and engineers tasked with monitoring networks, investigating incidents and responding to security situations.

Managed Detection and Response (MDR) covers important issues that afflict modern enterprises. The most recognizable problem is the lack of security expertise in businesses. While some companies that can afford it can train and build specialized security teams capable of conducting full-time threat hunting, most companies will find this difficult due to their limited resources. This is predominantly true for medium and large businesses, which are often the target of cyberattacks but lack the resources or personnel to field such teams.

Is MDR the same as MSSP or SIEM?

No, Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) monitor network security measures and can even send notifications when anomalies are detected. However, MSSPs often don’t look into anomalies to eliminate false positives or respond to real threats. This means that any unusual network usage patterns are reported to your IT staff, who then need to review the data and determine if there is a real threat and what to do about it.

Are Firewalls substitutes for Managed Detection and Response?

Cyberattacks can be successfully avoided with the use of firewalls and other preventative cyber security measures. But the past decade has shown that preventive cyber security solutions alone cannot achieve network security. Furthermore, they contribute to the “alert fatigue” that everyone is already experiencing by providing another source of alerts, log messages, and events. Recent high-profile attacks, such as the Michigan-based Flagstar Bank in June 2022, where hackers stole the social security numbers of 1.5 million customers, or T-Mobile’s Data Breach exposing personal information from nearly 48 million people in 2021, show how simple it is for hackers to break into corporate enterprise networks and take millions of credit card information, medical records, and other types of PII/PHI.

How about using AI versus security professionals?

It’s still early for artificial intelligence to be used to solve security issues. Although there is a promise for automating intelligence through computing, this potential won’t be realized for some time. There is also an ongoing arms race among criminals who weaponize AI in an effort to outwit it. As a result, the only trustworthy analysts at this time and in the foreseeable future are people.

That said, artificial intelligence can potentially augment human skills significantly. For example, Rhyno’s monitoring tool sorts through millions of network events to find suspicious behaviour that humans can further investigate. Our analysts then use replayable packet capture to investigate and determine whether a security issue has actually happened.

If a compromise is confirmed, our Security Operations Center (SOC) releases an Incident Action Plan and collaborates with your team or service provider to respond, take down, and fix it before any damage is done.

Both the preservation of evidence and thorough recovery oversight is included in this response.

• Deep expertise tailored to your organization’s cyber security needs and vulnerabilities
• Dedicated security analysts keep an eye out for threats on your network
• Embedded MDR tools with integrated threat and advanced analytics and intelligence for accurate threat detection
• Complete Security Event Investigations to reduce the strain of false positives on your IT resources
• Creating individual incident action plans helps you mitigate threats, limit damage, and speed up recovery
• Support with recovery and post-incident response
• Compliance with regulations
• Positive impact on crucial cyber security indicators such as cost per incident, frequency of incidents, and time to incident closure

Selecting the Right Managed Detection and Response Solution

Two factors are the main determinants of the effectiveness of an MDR provider. The provider’s internal competence is the first factor. An efficient MDR provider will have the necessary in-house capabilities to handle any circumstances a consumer may experience. This entails a round-the-clock SOC, incident response teams, and proficiency in securing various platforms, such as cloud computing and business endpoint devices.

But these teams can only be successful if they have the right equipment. Complete network visibility, strong data analytics, and the capacity to react quickly to possible security incidents are requirements for an MDR provider.