Managed detection and response (MDR) is one of the most effective varieties of cyber security today. While there are many things to understand about MDR services before going out and getting them for your business or agency, there’s one aspect that is most important to understand above the rest: it’s managed nature.
When organizations opt for an MDR solution, they’re essentially signing up for a security firm to take over some of the load in terms of monitoring networks and mitigating threats. There are some major benefits to this, which will be discussed in the next section.
While there are a number of reasons organizations should consider MDR adoption, there are several main attractive factors to the service: boosting security, as well as reapportioning time and capital. It’s no secret that data breaches are prevalent and expensive. The average breach in 2021 cost firms over $4 million when all was said and done. This is only going to continue being a problem going forward.
Clearly, security tools and services are a must in today’s world. Let’s look at the benefits of MDR, as well as capabilities your MDR services provider must have in order to keep your data safe.
Why Are the Benefits of MDR?
Before purchasing and deploying any kind of technology or service, organizations need to conduct due diligence to confirm it will serve them best.
These are some of the benefits of MDR services:
- IT can spend time on different tasks – IT departments have been stretched thin—a fact that hasn’t been made any better by the challenges posed by COVID-19 and remote work. Despite the constant changes happening at enterprises, security still needs to be a top focus. By utilizing MDR services, many of these security responsibilities can be outsourced to experts, while internal IT can work on more company-specific goals.
- Potential for substantial cost savings–Every organization should be on the lookout for ways to save money. MDR can provide this opportunity through reductions in both online service costs, as well as massively lowering the costs of a breach.
- Ability to spot and stop threats faster – An MDR service’s combination of cutting-edge technologies and experts at the helm allows for much faster threat detection. This is crucial in limiting the ability of threats to spread throughout a network.
With such clear general benefits, MDR has becomea favored solution. But not every provider is going to offer the same quality of service and level of benefits. It’s important to know how to distinguish necessary features from extraneous ones.
What Essential Capabilities Must MDR Services Providers Have?
These key things set great MDR solutions apart from the rest:
- Based on a DevOps model – While this almost certainly isn’t the first place most people will think to look when evaluating MDR offerings, it’s undoubtedly one of the most essential. MDR solutions built on a DevOps model and rationale will yield better long-term performance than those that don’t take this path. This is because security tools don’t exist in a vacuum. They need to respond to realities as they become apparent. With a DevOps-oriented MDR, such as what’s offered by Open Systems, development and operations are linked—allowing for more responsive changes.
- A top-tier security operations center – You wouldn’t put someone who doesn’t know how to fly a plane in the cockpit of a fighter jet. Following the same logic, you shouldn’t have anything less than industry-leading experts watching over your networks. A first-rate SOC is paramount for MDR services.
- Technology and planning to respond to threats faster – Speed is paramount to stopping threats. An MDR service needs to leverage AI-driven technologies, as well as prebuilt response playbooks, in order to comprehensively respond to attacks before they spread throughout the network.
There’s no denying the growing importance of MDR solutions for organizations looking to improve their security posture. It’s essential, however, to identify the key capabilities of MDR before deciding on a vendor.
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