The true value of a managed detection and response (MDR) lies not in the alerts generated. It’s the savings you get by minimizing (or eliminating) the damage from cyber attacks. And the faster you respond, the more you save.
This economic advantage separates the response-first MDR from alert-heavy models.

Here’s how (and why) rapid response delivers a return on investment (ROI):

Why Response-First MDR ROI Matters

Imagine you’re a CISO at a board meeting. You’ve been tasked with justifying a recent cybersecurity investment. Where would you start?

Most boards and executives demand measurable financial returns. So addressing technical activity doesn’t do the trick. They want cost savings.

Moving Beyond Alert Volume

Traditional tools are great for drowning security analysts in alerts, but not delivering ROI.

Response-driven MDR models prioritize actionable threats and incident containment. They filter the “noise” and offer tangible value by removing threats (not just finding them).

So instead of being a cost center that reports on problems, security becomes a value center that directly protects the bottom line.

Calculating the MDR Economic Impact

Quantifying the savings of a response-first MDR is straightforward. Use metrics that highlight the cost of a security incident and the savings achieved by stopping it sooner.

Time-to-Contain Breaches

The primary driver of savings is speed of response. It dramatically shortens the breach lifecycle. So one metric you can use is the Mean Time to Respond (MTTR).

Solid MTTR is often the difference between threats sent and threats activated.

For instance, say you found ransomware within hours (and not days). You could isolate it before it activated encryption on the servers. In this case, you prevented spending millions on ransom payments, recovery services, and lost revenue from downtime simply by increasing your response time.

Loss Avoidance as ROI

Loss avoidance is a super clear economic benefit. Frame MDR ROI as a risk reducer that has kept millions of dollars in the bank. And it’s something you can calculate fairly quickly:

• What were the potential costs of ransomware payments?
• What about the recovery or remediation expenses of hiring a provider?
• Are there any regulatory fines or legal fees associated with a potential breach?
• And what does downtime truly cost the business (e.g., customer churn, lost revenue)?

These are real, measurable costs that directly impact the bottom line. In reality, you’re a profit saver!

Efficiency Gains for Security Teams

A lesser-noticed value of response-first MDR is the time given back.
Imagine how many times per day security analysts chase false positives. There’s an opportunity cost to that. Every hour spent investigating a benign alert is an hour not spent on strategic defense, threat hunting, or patching critical vulnerabilities.

It also leads to “alert fatigue” and burns out valuable talent (who could ultimately leave the company).

Show how MDR can reduce overall labor costs and employee churn.

Response-First MDR ROI in Action

Case studies and scenario-building are effective methods for adding context. Here are some examples you can use to illustrate MDR cost savings:

Breach Scenario: Alert-Only vs. Response-First

An alert-only service flags suspicious activity, flooding analysts with alerts that require investigation.

So let’s say ransomware got deployed into the network at 2:00 PM EST. The analysts are so busy evaluating 22 other alerts, they don’t see and handle the ransomware until 6:00 PM EST.

By then, the system had already been encrypted, with the ransom demand posted.

In the same scenario, a response-first MDR gets the same alert but filters the noise. They’ve set up SOAR workflows that prioritize specific systems or activities and automatically trigger response protocols. At 2:00 PM EST, ransomware deploys. By 2:02 PM EST, the endpoint is quarantined and cleaned. No widespread exposure.

Real-World Cost Differentials

The 2017 Equifax breach is a classic example of how delayed detection and response can cause a ripple effect. While the breach occurred in May 2017, it wasn’t discovered until July 2017. Attackers had weeks to steal consumers’ sensitive PII and credit card data.

The company ended up with a bill of $1.38+ in settlements and remediation costs. They probably could’ve avoided the incident altogether had they spotted the vulnerability sooner.

Moneris Banking is the opposite, boasting a success story. When they were targeted by ransomware in 2023, it could’ve resulted in a $6 million extortion payment plus remediation fees and fines. Instead, they responded quickly and prevented any data from being compromised. No impact, just a minor inconvenience.

Executive Visibility

Unlike technical jargon from cyber activity metrics, CFOs and boards understand finances. They resonate with data showing how rapid response reduces risk and bottom-line exposure.

It’s much easier to present MDR as a cost-control center and profit protector, thereby making the investment case clear.

Building the Business Case for Response-First MDR

Position MDR as a strategic investment, not another line item on the expense report:

Mapping Security Metrics to Financial KPIs

Connect security performance to business language:

• Drop MTTR from 12 to three days? That’s loss prevention (prevents costs of business disruption, ransom payments, and lost data).
• Did you prevent five incidents in the last month? You’ve turned cyber risk from abstract to something measurable (the cost of five data breaches). That’s risk reduction.
• Spend $150,000 on MDR? You prevented $4.5 million in potential breach costs. That’s a 2,900% ROI.

Make the economics clear. A modern, response-first MDR is not a cost.

Vendor Evaluation Through Economics

Choosing an MDR partner is a financial decision as much as a technical one. Go beyond feature checklists and ask these cost-focused questions to gauge economic impact:

• What is your guaranteed or typical MTTR and MTTC? (No speed, no cost savings)
• Do you have any data on the average dwell time reduction for your clients? (Directly translates to lower breach costs)
• What is included in your “response” action? (you need automated containment, not just alerts)

Asking these questions shifts the conversation from technical capabilities to tangible financial protection.

Counting the Savings, Not Just the Alerts

MDR performance is not counted in alerts, but the millions of dollars saved by preventing a full-scale breach.

Every minute shaved off your dwell time is real money preserved. And the difference between a brief inconvenience and making the headlines is being able to respond in hours, not days.

It’s what makes response-first MDR ROI so vital. You’re not adding another IT cost; you’re investing in a profit protector.

The post The ROI of Response: Why Modern MDR Saves More Than It Costs appeared first on CyberMaxx.

The MDR market is becoming increasingly crowded, which can cause confusion and frustration for those looking to invest in their cybersecurity.

Analyst firms still play a crucial role in providing clarity about the market and establishing standards for security vendors overall. Their research provides vendor-neutral perspectives that can inform your top-level strategy. Sometimes, translating broad analyst guidance into concrete plans can be challenging.

Review sites and AI resources also crowd the landscape with advice, creating even more noise and challenges with decision-making.

Our MDR Buyer’s Guide aims to provide an actionable success blueprint for MDR that aligns with analyst-defined best practices.

This guide includes:

• What you should/shouldn’t look for with an MDR provider
• Must-haves vs nice to haves
• Simple one-page “MDR Buying Guide Checklist”

The post Managed Detection and Response MDR Buyer’s Guide appeared first on CyberMaxx.

Overview

In this exclusive webinar, CyberMaxx CISO Thomas Pioreck will walk you through a real-world breach scenario—highlighting the critical decisions that can either prevent or escalate a cyber crisis.

Key takeaways:

• The full impact of cyber-attacks—beyond financial loss
• How integrated cybersecurity tools can stop threats in their tracks
• Lessons from organizations that successfully defended against attacks

This session is essential for business leaders, IT professionals, and anyone responsible for safeguarding operations.

Featuring:
Lisa Burke, Chief Customer Officer at CyberMaxx| Thomas Pioreck, CISO at CyberMaxx | Lee Crockett, Director of Sales at Advanced Logic

The post On Demand Webinar: Avoiding Your Worst Day – What Every Business Leader Needs to Know About Cybersecurity appeared first on CyberMaxx.

Join our webinar focused on how CyberMaxx leverages SentinelOne to prioritize rapid response and get you out of your worst day.

Join experts from CyberMaxx and SentinelOne as they discuss the real-world impact of “Big R Response” – a proactive approach that goes beyond alerting to drive true cybersecurity outcomes. It’s key to provide your security team with more than just tools, but real-time support that prioritizes rapid response and gets them out of their worst day quickly.

In this session, Zack Hoffman (CyberMaxx) and Jay Ryerse (SentinelOne) dive into how CyberMaxx utilizes SentinelOne’s best-in-class EDR platform as a cornerstone of its Managed Detection & Response (MDR) strategy. The conversation will share practical use cases that demonstrate how advanced response capabilities are being used to reduce dwell time, contain threats, and protect organizations in real time. Questions are more than welcome.

Key Takeaways

• What “Big R” means in the context of modern MDR
• How CyberMaxx integrates SentinelOne EDR into its threat response workflows
• Real-life customer scenarios showcasing effective threat mitigation
• Proactive, response-centric MDR strategies

Who Should Attend

Security leaders, SOC managers, CISOs, IT professionals, and anyone interested in advanced threat detection and response strategies.

Details

Event Location: Virtual Webinar Link
Date: Wednesday, September 10, 2025
Time: 1:00 p.m. EDT

Spots are limited, so RSVP today! More details will be shared upon RSVP confirmation.

The post Modern MDR: Focused on Response with SentinelOne appeared first on CyberMaxx.

In this video series, we’re here to peel back the curtain and show how the “tricks” in cyber are done so we can all have a better understanding.

Tom Pioreck, CyberMaxx’s CISO, will be diving into all things EDR & MDR. In this episode of “Demystifying Cyber,” we’ll unlock the mystery and clear the confusion surrounding EDR & MDR.

For your convenience, we’ve included a transcript of the 17-minute episode below. Feel free to watch the video on YouTube.

Transcript

Organizations keep hearing that they need to detect and respond, and EDR, or a trusted MDR provider, is one of the best ways to do that.
That’s all well and good, but what do EDR and MDR mean? What does an organization need to know and consider when determining which option is the better choice for them?

If security professionals keep saying EDR should be a standard part of our security program, then it’s probably a good idea if we understand the abbreviation, the terms it contains, and what we’re really saying when we talk about EDR and MDR.

Hello, I’m Thomas Pioreck, cybersecurity professional with close to 20 years in the industry and self-professed most paranoid person in the room. On this episode of Demystifying Cyber, we define EDR, MDR, and considerations for which one to select as an organization.

The famed author, Arthur C. Clarke had three laws when it came to science fiction, his third law is, “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” We’re here to peel back the curtain and show how the “tricks” in cyber are done, so we can all have a better understanding. This, is “Demystifying Cyber.”

EDR and MDR. In a world of abbreviations, what’s two more? If EDR and MDR are so similar, which seems to be the message out there, then why the need for both terms? Let’s start by breaking down the abbreviations, EDR and MDR.

And since both have “D” and “R,”, let’s start there. The good news is that the D and the R have the same meaning in each abbreviation. The D is for “Detection” and the R is for “Response.” So, that’ll help keep things a little simpler. We will get into what each term means a little later, but what about the E versus the M?
E is for Endpoint. Just like C is for Cookie. Endpoint, endpoint, endpoint start with E. Well, that’s simple enough, isn’t it. Hmm? What’s an Endpoint? Yeah, that’s a good question.

We kind of just throw the term “endpoint” out there and figure everyone knows exactly what we’re referring to when we say “endpoint.”
There’s mostly two different ways people interpret the term “endpoint” and that can create confusion when we’re talking about EDR.

The broadest definition of an endpoint is, “any device that operates within your corporate environment.” And that really means any device; mobile phone, tablet, servers, desktops, switches, laptop, point-of-sale systems, automated inventory systems, smart TV, smart fridge, smart coffee maker (a critical asset, if ever there was one), an “endpoint” is anything and everything.

When we ask an organization about asset inventories and we ask them to account for all of their endpoints, this is the breadth we want you to consider and document. Generally, though, when a company is considering EDR (and this applies to MDR too), we tend to narrow the scope just a bit.

Your EDR “endpoints” really comes down to computers, whether laptop, tower, or desktop, and your servers, physical or virtual. Why such a narrow scope? The reason is what’s available on the market as of this recording. It’s these endpoints that have available agents that are tried and true. Yes, some solutions on the market have an agent for phones and tablets, and depending on what runs your point-of-sale system, an agent for that, maybe an agent for a smart device, like that TV in the boardroom, but they don’t have the operational history like the agents for servers and computers do.

Let’s take that term “agent.” That word gets thrown around a lot too. Single agent, agentless, consolidated agent, call my agent, almost all solutions out there have some kind of “agent” associated with them. Even AI is getting in on the game with “agentic AI.” So, what’s an agent?

Let’s say you’ve decided to go with an EDR solution, which we’ll just call The Farm. The main component, the brains if you will, exists as some kind of central headquarters. That headquarters could be something you build, install, and run in your own data center, or it could be a cloud-platform solution, often called the “console,” that The Farm provides.

That console is where all the data and information is visible to you. It’s where you login to see data, alerts generated and where you go to triage those alerts, set your configurations, the real functional aspect. All of the intelligence you’re gathering comes back to this central location. It serves as a central intelligence hub. Here’s where central intelligence’s agent comes in.

The agent works for The Farm. Its job is to monitor what happens on the single endpoint it’s been deployed to and report back on all the activity that it sees, so that modules within The Farm can perform an analysis and decide if what it’s seeing is “suspicious, malicious,” or “benign.” The agent is basically a small piece of software that gets deployed on every endpoint. Once it’s deployed, it’s perma-linked to that endpoint and reports back to headquarters, or the mothership, so to speak, pretty much in real-time. Agents can function on their own, but their operating parameters are defined by the mothership, kind of like the alien ships in Independence Day.

So now I have an agent deployed on the servers and computers, my “endpoints,” that operate across my environment. The activity that occurs on each endpoint reports back to the console, where the “magic” happens. Congratulations, you’ve implemented the first step in monitoring your environment. You are getting insight into the activity that is occurring on each endpoint and can be alerted when malicious, or at least suspicious, activity is Detected.
And that’s the D in EDR. Detection. By being able to ingest the activity and analyze it, we’re then able to detect unwanted behavior. There’s a bit more that happens than just “detecting” though.

EDR systems have some form of alerting or notification whenever something is detected that you need/want to be aware of, see what’s really going on. So the D for Detect really has a silent N for Notify or silent A for Alert.

Great, so I’ve monitored, detected, and been notified, but I want to do something about it. That activity you alerted me to is bad, make the bad thing stop, I need to Respond to the bad thing. I don’t want to be aware that it’s happening and just sit there while it wreaks havoc on my company, I want to Respond. And there’s our R.
R is for Response. You want to be able to Stop the activity. You’ll hear the word “Kill” used here a lot with EDR vendors. You can set parameters where the EDR solution itself will Kill and/or Quarantine (exactly what you think it means) that activity or process. The really cool part is you can set a lot of the Response actions to happen automatically within the system and not give up manual review or human decision–making.

If the system seems to be killing too many legitimate actions just because they seem sketchy, you can tune its behavior. Or tell it to alert you but take no further action until you tell it to do so.

Most EDR solutions can isolate that endpoint. Meaning, nothing that’s happening on that one endpoint can get to any other system on the network or even anywhere on the Internet. The only communication an isolated endpoint can have is back to the mothership. The endpoint can only phone home. So, we have any number of response capabilities ready for us to implement now.

Ok, that’s EDR in a nutshell, so what’s MDR? The D and the R are the same, Detection and Response. The M is for Managed, so MDR is Managed Detection and Response. So, what’s the difference between EDR and MDR? The difference lays in who manages the solution.
See, MDR is really Managed EDR. You select a vendor to manage the EDR solution that’s been implemented. The functionality of the EDR doesn’t change, it’s the same for EDR and MDR, but with MDR, you’re offloading the management of the system to a trusted security partner. And that partner is usually an MSSP, a Managed Security Service Provider, specifically an MDR vendor. Notice the M means the same thing in MDR and MSSP? That’s how you can remember the connection and meaning, plus the difference between MDR and EDR.

Your next question is likely, is EDR or MDR better for my organization? That’s a fair question. And it may seem like a simple question of do I want to outsource it or do I want to run it in-house? There’s actually a lot that goes into that decision.

Managing an EDR is a 24/7 job. That’s just the time. That whole Detection component? It requires constant tuning and maintenance, tweaking it until you find that perfect sweet spot where the alerts you’re getting are mostly just the signal amongst the noise. The cyber world changes so rapidly that your tuning is never truly complete. You’re always going back and tuning as the threat landscape changes, as new attack techniques are identified and shared, as your business evolves and changes. Once you have the system tuned, you still need to investigate each alert that is generated for risk and actual legitimacy.

And you can’t do any of that without staffing, and staffing means a knowledgeable team of professionals that have experience and can put items in context. Folks that can really apply critical thinking to the deluge of notifications and intelligence that all these solutions present.

Think of it like this. You own a home. Not an especially large home, but what most folks think of when they think of a typical American home in the suburbs. That home has a lawn, likely some bushes, maybe even a couple of flower beds. You want your home to have a beautiful yard. Well, that means mowing, edging, weeding, and pruning. That’s just the regular maintenance you have to do every week. Then there’s knowing when to plant, managing the soil, being able to identify crab grass, grubs, rot, plant infections or whatever they’re called, knowing when to plant what plants at what time of year, in what soil and maintain the pH of that soil, in a location where they’ll get the right amount of sunlight and shade. That’s a lot of work, a lot of time, and a lot of knowledge you need to have or obtain. Can you really afford to do all that yourself AND have the outcome you want? Oh, and have time for the myriad of other things going on in your life?

Like many suburban homeowners, you’d likely hire a landscaping service. Professionals who have the experience and know the answers to those questions, who can recommend treatments, how to plant and what to plant, lay new seed, mitigate the grubs and other bugs, identify when foliage seems to have become infected and treat it, recommending future steps to avoid it from happening. And when they do the maintenance, the mowing, the edging, the pruning, they know just how to do it, so that the yard remains and looks healthy. Trusting them to carry out that work means you get two things. One, you feel better knowing that this thing of importance to you, your yard’s health, is entrusted to professionals with years of experience. And second, you free up your time that would be spent performing these tasks and research to gain the knowledge required to achieve the results desired, to focus on other areas of importance for your life. You’re gaining in two places, not just one.

That, admittedly somewhat loosely, is what you get when you elect to go with an MDR to implement an EDR solution. And just like with the landscaper, there are additional costs when you do it yourself that you incur when trusting it to experienced professionals.

All that equipment that landscapers use, you would need to buy for yourself. That includes the fuel, replacement blades, sharpening the blades, pruners, trimmers, edgers, seed, insecticide, plant formula, all of it. Those costs recur; they don’t go away. Same is true with implementing your own EDR. All the tools, watchlists, implementations, API’s, workstations, sandboxes, all the utilities that you may not even think of, are a recurring cost. And that doesn’t cover the cost of staffing and training that you would have to incur. Plus, you get the benefit of all the knowledge they gain from working on all the other houses that they service, which allows them to see and diagnose potential issues faster or make recommendations to get ahead of an issue they’ve encountered at another home recently. They’re aware of trends because it’s just a part of what they do. Of course, that will all depend on the value that they provide. Are they doing the bare minimum, mow, trim, prune, preseason clean, postseason clean? Or are they a committed partner? I know which one I’d prefer.

Endpoint Detection Response, EDR, and Managed Detection Response, MDR, are an integral component of what we call, “Continuous Security Monitoring.” Real-time insights, data points for correlation and aggregation, and ability to respond to threats as they’re occurring, a lot of times at the point of attempted entry, before they get to taking action within a system. Frankly, in today’s business world, having them is table stakes. Insurance carriers will ask if you’ve deployed them, your partners will ask about it, and many of your clients and prospects will ask about it. The days of rolling out an antivirus solution alone are over. Going back to our suburban home analogy, having an alarm system is pretty much the same thing. It doesn’t mean we stop putting locks on the doors and windows, it just means that we acknowledge that times have changed, and having someone be able to monitor our valuable assets for us 24/7 is a must-have. And we trust a service provider to enhance the capability and manage the monitoring, detection, and response for us. Think about it, do you really want to, can you really afford to, monitor and respond to your doorbell camera every time it goes off? 24/7?

And hopefully now you have a better understanding of what everyone means when they’re talking about EDR and MDR, what they provide you, and how they differ when you’re determining which is the best option for your organization. I think EDR is incredibly vital to a security program and hope you do now too.

Until next time, I’m Thomas Pioreck for Demystifying Cyber.

The post EDR & MDR appeared first on CyberMaxx.

By this reception, we are continuing with what we will call our organic series of ‘saying the quiet part out loud.’ In this article we provide you with a framework for evaluating your MDR provider, insuring they are not placing an MDR wrapper around an MSSP operating model, which occurs far too often, leaving businesses with a flood of alerts which they are obligated to assess for risk and action; while the pseudo-MDR / actual-MSSP postures with the guise of protection. Enough already, here are the tools you need to challenge your MDR provider and determine if they are nothing more than a masquerading MSSP.

Fundamental difference between an MDR and MSSP security provider

When identifying a suspicious/malicious security event, an MDR security provider will perform Response action on behalf of the client, contrasting with an MSSP which will notify and escalate to the client for evaluation and response.

! WARNING – If your security provider emphasizes Alert Response Time as a key performance indicator, they are an MSSP. It’s easy to respond quickly with an Alert & Notify service when all you are doing is passing the security alert through your hands, making the bulk of the investigation and response a client responsibility.

Evaluation Criteria – MDR providers will perform response actions on behalf of the client. MDR providers will emphasize Response Time as the truest key performance indicator.

Breadth of Response

CyberMaxx speaks of the ‘Big R’ in contrast to the little ‘r’ when presenting our modern MDR service. The difference comes in the breadth of response. MSSPs will speak of ‘r’esponse, when depending exclusively on EDR detections and auto-disruption when a malicious artifact is detected. For true, full-service MDR providers, this is just the beginning. CyberMaxx Modern MDR delivers on ‘R’esponse beyond EDR platform detections, to include:

• Zero-Latency Response, where Threat Responders are staffed 24x7x365 to conduct incident triage, isolation, and containment
• Full Scope of Compromise evaluation is where CyberMaxx brings enhanced Response services, where our Threat Responders look beyond the initial threat vector to include tangential paths among trusted relationships.

! WARNING– If your security provider equates EDR platform response with the ‘r’ in MDR services, they are offering marginal protection and operating as an MSSP with endpoint monitoring services. This doubles your efforts, as now the client must handle the bulk of the investigation and response for the endpoint in addition to the SIEM.

Evaluation Criteria – MDR Providers will respond beyond the inherent EDR platform alerts. The best will include Threat Responders within the SOC, as first-stage Incident Response, reducing latency in the case of a breach, limiting risk to full exposure

TIP: See CyberMaxx ‘Tales from the SOC’ [Tales from the SOC eBook | CyberMaxx] for case studies of Big ‘R’

Novel and Native Detections

MSSPs masquerading as MDR providers will emphasize Platform Native Detections, inherent with their maintained platforms – this in the absence of Novel Detections authored by the organization. Here’s the problem – with the absence of Novel Detections, clients are receiving a ‘me too’ service, meaning the same as every other MSSP, with equal dependency on Platform Native Detections of the SIEMs and EDRs they claim to support.

The CyberMaxx Cyber Threat Unit is a dedicated team of Threat Researchers AND Detection Engineers, for Optimization, Enrichment, and Authorship of Novel and Native Detections, delivering comprehensive protection for our clients through CyberMaxx MDR.

• CyberMaxx Threat Research for original authorship of Novel Detections, where these have an effective true positive rate of 185% than native detections alone. We protect clients when they are most vulnerable during the early days of novel malware.
• CyberMaxx Detection Engineering for optimizing Native Detections, enhancing incident fidelity, avoiding alert fatigue for our clients, who otherwise would be responding to excessive false positive alerts, inherent with in-the-box Platform Native Detections, where we boast a handling rate of 99.99%. We at CyberMaxx do the work for you.

! WARNING – If your security service provider is exclusively dependent on Platform Native Detections, they are an MSSP.

Evaluation Criteria – MDR providers will gladly showcase their investment in Threat Research and Detection Engineering. This is one of the most important areas of focus for not only differentiating between an MDR and MSSP provider but also measuring value amongst various MDR providers. Ask about custom detections for Novel events.

Federated Intelligence

MSSPs operate exclusively in reactive mode, taking telemetry from the SIEM and EDR platforms when evaluating security incidents. The fact is that most MDR providers operate in the same way, with a lower level of maturity, placing exclusive dependency on client-chosen log sources. For many clients, their selection in log sources was heavily influenced by the cost associated with the volume of telemetry consumed by the SIEM. It’s one thing to have a platform capable of unrestricted consumption; it’s another to be able to afford it. As a result, many clients find themselves having to choose among log sources that are most critical.

CyberMaxx MDR breaks the economic stranglehold:

• First, CyberMaxx MDR offers unlimited log source ingestion. Where others force you to choose, CyberMaxx respects our clients in determining which log sources matter most, without restriction
• Plus – CyberMaxx includes Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM), with our Modern MDR service. No additional cost, all the while running in parallel to the client-delivered event stream.

Yes! CyberMaxx CTEM brings federated intelligence, such as data and detections, to supplement log sources provided by our clients. CTEM is for our clients, with full MDR services, 24x7x365. CyberMaxx CTEM includes detections through:

CyberMaxx MDR Federated Intelligence also includes Deception Technology for establishing decoys, presenting as business assets of our clients

• CyberMaxx Novel Detections will alert to malicious behavior, which is then reviewed by the CyberMaxx Threat Response team, determining risk, as might be associated with early indicators of ransomware
• CyberMaxx Offense Fuels Defense philosophy is on full display when applying Threat Actor Behavioral Analytics, in evaluating activity associated with Deception Technology
• CyberMaxx Vertical Expertise comes into play particularly with Deception Technology, where experience in HealthCare, Financial Services, Municipalities, and other regulated industries informs the evaluation of Threat Actor Behavior specific to the industry vertical

! WARNING – Ask your security service provider about their application for Federated Intelligence. If you receive a blank stare, you are speaking to an MSSP

Evaluation Criteria – Federated Threat Intelligence is in the domain of modern MDR providers, where CyberMaxx leads the way, with our experience in application and inclusivity with CyberMaxx MDR. We stand alone in offering this value to our clients.

Whether you currently partner with an MDR provider or are evaluating one for a future partnership, I hope you find this article useful in challenging your MDR provider to ensure you are receiving the most value for your service investment.

The post Challenge your MDR Provider appeared first on CyberMaxx.

It’s no longer enough to rely on anti-virus software to monitor assets and address these gaps, as it does not include the skilled expertise, full visibility, and cutting-edge technology necessary to defend organizations in the security space.

Businesses must detect, contain, and eradicate threats before they occur, through extended detection and response (XDR) services. To effectively leverage 24/7/365 visibility and access to top-tier threat intelligence, it behooves companies to outsource these services to trained security professionals offering managed detection and response (MDR) or managed extended detection and response (MXDR).

This explainer covers XDR/MXDR and its components, benefits, and how partnering with an MSSP offering such services can inform and strengthen your cybersecurity posture.

What Is Extended Detection & Response (XDR)?

Extended detection and response (XDR) collects and analyzes data from endpoints, networks, and cloud environments to coordinate timely threat detection, containment, and response.

By consolidating previously siloed analytics and activity, XDR provides unparalleled, full visibility into online risk posture—especially when compared to offerings such as endpoint detection and response (EDR), which, while impactful, only triages data from laptops, desktops, and mobile devices, among other endpoints.

XDR, by contrast, collects data from all user account activity, email system activity, cloud services, and other services often ingested by a SIEM for real-time insights into activities and potential threats within a system.

Unifying security telemetry under one solution empowers organizations to better detect threats as they occur, minimize response time, and strengthen cybersecurity.

XDR vs. MDR

While XDR provides unparalleled insight into online risk posture, it is understandable that some businesses might outsource management to trained security professionals to leverage their expertise, streamline incident response, and save on costs of hiring new staff.

This is where managed detection and response (MDR) comes in.

MDR leverages top-tier threat intelligence and cutting-edge technology to provide continuous monitoring, threat hunting, and incident response.

It is essentially managed EDR. However, while conventional EDR collects and triages data from endpoints, MDR can be expanded to include all endpoints, networks, and cloud devices, through managed extended detection and response (MXDR). Although “MDR” is often used as a catch-all term for these services, it is important to note this distinction when choosing the right solution for your business.

All of these offerings are fully managed by an experienced managed security service provider (MSSP), who analyzes and triages data in your security space, and handles threat detection and containment. In the event of a breach, the provider immediately handles certain elements of threat eradication, and coordinates others with the end client, themselves.

Key components of incident response through an MSSP providing MDR/MXDR include:

• Detection: Proactively monitor and record activity on all endpoints, networks, and cloud devices to reduce breach risk and rapidly detect threats before they manifest as attacks.
• Containment: Isolate threats before damage occurs, prevent them from communicating with other endpoints, and thwart further spread.
• Response: Eradicate threats and follow up with lessons learned to mitigate potential repeat attacks and refine security posture.

Advantages of MDR & MXDR

In leveraging MDR/MXDR through an MSSP, businesses can maximize several unique advantages. Among these:

• Full Visibility: With continuous transparency into all system aspects, MDR/MXDR facilitates unparalleled visibility and insights, mitigating security gaps and silos.
• Minimized Response Time: Time to deploy ransomware has decreased by 94% in the past three years—from taking more than 60 days in 2019, to 9.5 days in 2020, and just 3.85 days in 2021, according to IBM’s “Security X-Force Threat Intelligence Index 2023” report. This underscores the importance of MDR in immediately detecting and remediating threats, and minimizing incident response time and damages.
• Elevated Cybersecurity Posture: By seeking to curb risks before they manifest and minimizing downtime during a breach, organizations can bolster a robust cybersecurity posture.
• Cutting-Edge Software: State-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI) technology and machine learning (ML) streamline detection and minimize response time.
• Compliance: Experienced security professionals map your risk posture against National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Center for Internet Security (CIS) 18 Controls to remediate gaps and evaluate your eligibility to claim NIST SP 800-171 compliance. They also help safeguard sensitive payment, healthcare, and other information for increased HIPAA and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliance.
• Cost Savings: MDR eliminates expenses associated with hiring new IT employees for continuous monitoring, with minimal startup costs for 24/7/365 protection by skilled experts.

When considering your options, it is best practice to select an MSSP offering Security Operations Center-as-a-Service (SOCaaS), as access to an SOC’s centralized technology and dedicated team of experts only enhances these benefits.

The post What Is Extended Detection & Response (XDR) in Cybersecurity? appeared first on CyberMaxx.

The speed of cybersecurity response can mean the difference between a minor incident and a catastrophic breach. According to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach 2024 Report, organizations take an average of 258 days to identify and contain breaches. Credential-based attacks, which hold a plurality of 16% of all breaches reported across various attack vectors, take even longer at 292 days.

To combat these extended vulnerability windows and strengthen security postures, organizations are increasingly turning to Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services.

Here’s what you need to know about MDR and why it’s becoming an essential component of modern cybersecurity strategy.

Understanding Managed Detection & Response

MDR services leverage top-tier threat intelligence and cutting-edge technology to provide a comprehensive cybersecurity solution that includes continuous monitoring, threat detection, and incident response.

What sets MDR apart is its focus on active threat detection, containment, and response during security incidents. And with the rising costs and frequency of incidents, it’s no surprise the demand for traditional security monitoring has evolved to include a more proactive approach. According to global market research firm MarketsandMarkets, the global MDR market is projected to reach $11.8 billion by 2029, up from $4.1 billion in 2024.

MDR providers often manage this and other services through a Security Operations Center (SOC) offering tailored solutions—or Security Operations Center-as-a-service (SOCaaS)—to meet an organization’s unique needs. With the SOCaaS model, organizations gain access to a comprehensive service offering that helps accelerate the identification and mitigation of threats, minimizing damage and reducing the time to recover from cyberattacks一all without building extensive in-house security teams.

Key Benefits of MDR

By partnering with an experienced provider, organizations outsourcing MDR leverage expert knowledge, enhanced visibility, and cost efficiency to protect their assets around the clock. Associated benefits include:

• Continuous Monitoring: Skilled specialists provide continuous monitoring of networks, cloud environments, and endpoints for known and emerging threats. Upon detection, threats are swiftly analyzed, validated, contained, and remediated to minimize potential fallout and disruption to business operations.
• Cutting-Edge Expertise: MDR providers are staffed with cybersecurity professionals who focus on staying current with the latest industry developments and threats, removing the burden for organizations to recruit, hire, and train staff.
• In-Depth Investigation: Anomalies may occur within your system for various reasons. MDRs investigate and triage these issues to assess their threat potential and take the necessary actions to resolve them.
• Proactive Threat Hunting: While some cybersecurity services merely respond to detected threats, MDR includes the capability to actively hunt for them. Advisors and analyst teams proactively search for vulnerabilities and devise ways to address potential risks before they become critical issues.
• Minimized Response Times: With extensive expertise and 24/7/365 visibility, MDR not only reduces downtime between detection and mitigation but also proactively works to identify threats earlier. By addressing risks sooner, MDR helps ensure faster, more effective protection.
• Cost Savings: Outsourcing to a dedicated MDR provider significantly reduces the time, money, and resources required compared to managing security in-house, offering a more cost-effective and efficient solution.

MDR vs. Traditional MSSP Services

While both Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs)一another type of service provider in the cybersecurity space一and MDR services aim to enhance security, their approaches differ significantly.

MSSPs offer third-party security services to strengthen an organization’s risk posture, but they often stop short of providing comprehensive incident response. This is a critical distinction, as incident response is essential for the timely detection, isolation, and elimination of threats during a breach.

MSSPs typically focus on monitoring and providing security assessments, but when an alert is triggered, it’s often passed to the company’s internal IT team for further investigation and action.

In contrast, MDR services not only detect threats but also take a hands-on approach to actively track, investigate, and respond to incidents, offering a more robust and proactive security solution.

Selecting an MDR Provider

To fully leverage the advantages of an MSSP and the advanced capabilities of MDR, partnering with an MSSP that offers MDR solutions is a best practice. When choosing the ideal provider to address your organization’s specific needs, keep the following key factors in mind:

• Technology: Top-tier MDR services leverage robust technology, utilizing advanced tools to effectively prevent, detect, and respond to threats.
• Visibility: If you can’t see it, you can’t defend against it. A quality MDR provides full visibility into your endpoints, networks, and cloud devices to swiftly detect, contain, and mitigate threats.
• Tailored Solutions: A one-size-fits-all solution isn’t right for every business. The best MDR providers offer services tailored to meet your specific needs and priorities.
• Containment Capabilities: MSSPs typically only detect risks, but most full-service MDR solutions offer containment capabilities to curb threat-actor access and minimize damage and response time.
• Compatibility: Changing your existing technology systems can be costly and time-consuming, so select a provider already capable of working with your infrastructure.
• Services: Consider an MSSP offering all the cybersecurity services your business needs, such as a U.S.-based SOC, incident detection and response, and continuous monitoring, among others. Weigh various solutions to understand what may be a good fit for your business.
• Budget & Risk Alignment: Just as businesses have varying degrees of resources and risk tolerance, MDRs offer different levels of protection. Consider whether their service tiers best accommodate your unique risk posture.
• Scalability: Understanding how an MDR’s operations scale, including its ability to stay vigilant across clients and shifts, organize data and activity, and swiftly respond to threats.

Looking Ahead

As cyber threats grow in complexity and breach response times remain a pressing concern, the need for robust MDR services becomes paramount. Organizations must collaborate with providers capable of delivering comprehensive protection while maintaining the agility to respond to evolving threats.

Selecting the right MDR service enables organizations to substantially reduce their exposure to vulnerabilities, fortify their security posture, and ensure they are well-prepared to confront future cybersecurity challenges.

The post What Is Managed Detection & Response? appeared first on CyberMaxx.

During this 30-minute webinar, Neil McCann and Steve Wilson, CyberMaxx Sales Engineers, will be reviewing and discussing several common case studies our clients have experienced.

While we won’t be sharing the client for obvious reasons, we will be diving into the issues, the solutions, and how we tackled these challenges. We will also cover the process from detection or alert to resolution. They will also dive into the importance of the human element of MDR, and why a 24x7x365 SOC is critical to quick resolutions.

This webinar covers the following topics:

• Malware Detections, ransomware, abnormal traffic, and business email compromise
• MDR overview
• How to get to resolution fast

The post A Few MDR Case Studies: On-Demand Webinar appeared first on CyberMaxx.

What is the Blackbox Approach to Cybersecurity?

The Blackbox approach is a cybersecurity practice designed to simulate real attacks on networks. It helps organizations identify vulnerabilities so they can respond quickly to attacks. The key characteristic of this approach is that it is conducted with no prior knowledge of the internal workings of the system.

How Blackbox Security Works

The Blackbox approach relies on automated systems and predefined models to identify and mitigate security threats. It operates as a closed system, which means that clients have minimal insights into the processes and methods used for threat detection. They must rely entirely on the cybersecurity provider to maintain security.

Limitations of Blackbox Security

While Blackbox security can be effective in detecting external threats, it offers limited visibility in threat detection and how decisions are made. Clients cannot influence the detection process, and there are limited options to customize settings to meet their needs.

This lack of transparency can cause issues if an attack is mishandled. Primarily, it can make it difficult for the client to hold the security provider accountable.

Understanding the Glassbox Approach

The Glassbox approach to cybersecurity offers the visibility that Blackbox security cannot provide.

It offers organizations a clear insight into threat detection activities and cybersecurity processes.

How Glassbox Security Operates

The Glassbox approach in cybersecurity offers transparency in threat detection. Clients can view and understand the processes and methodologies behind threat detection and mitigation.

This provides a deeper insight into the system’s operations and allows clients to make more informed decisions about their security.

Advantages of the Glassbox Approach

The Glassbox approach in cybersecurity increases client trust in their security provider. It does this by offering real-time data on the inner workings of cybersecurity mechanisms.

Clients can also customize settings based on their specific needs, which enhances flexibility and improves collaboration with their security provider.

This approach also strengthens the partnership between the provider and the client, as it allows them to both actively engage in security measures.

Why Transparency Matters in Cybersecurity

As cyber threats grow increasingly sophisticated, visibility and transparency are becoming an essential part of maintaining robust defenses.

Building Trust Through Visibility

The Glassbox approach in cybersecurity builds trust by keeping clients informed. Specifically, it allows them to see exactly how threats are detected and mitigated.

This transparency empowers clients to understand and trust their security measures and fosters confidence in the system.

Improved Incident Response and Decision-Making

Increased transparency also improves incident response and decision-making within organizations. With access to real-time insights, clients can make informed decisions and modify response protocols as necessary, fostering a more agile security posture.

The CyberMaxx Difference: Why We Choose the Glassbox Approach

At CyberMaxx, the Glassbox approach aligns with our client-centric philosophy and commitment to providing effective, transparent cybersecurity solutions.

Providing Real-Time Visibility

CyberMaxx’s Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services fit seamlessly into the Glassbox approach. Our MDR services are designed to help organizations streamline their security efforts and detect, investigate, and respond to threats in real-time.

Providing real-time visibility means our clients can hold us accountable and verify that the system is functioning correctly. It builds a stronger relationship and promotes greater peace of mind.

Empowering Clients with Insight and Control

CyberMaxx is committed to empowering clients through transparency. In addition to providing organizations with the opportunity to identify and mitigate threats, our MDR services also provide insight into why the threats were detected.

This information helps clients understand why specific responses were triggered and ultimately allows them to feel confident in their organization’s security posture.

Choosing the Right Security Approach for Your Organization

You can determine which approach is right for you by considering key factors such as visibility, trust, and control.

Assessing Your Security Needs

When deciding between Glassbox vs Blackbox security, it’s important to evaluate your organization’s security goals. While some organizations prefer transparency, others are comfortable with the Blackbox security limitations.

Glassbox security is best suited for organizations that value transparency, customization, and real-time insight into their security environment. Complex organizations or those in regulated industries must provide detailed evidence of regulatory compliance.

Blackbox security may be suitable for organizations that prefer a simplified, automated approach to threat detection. It can be sufficient for organizations that are comfortable with limited visibility in threat detection.

Why Glassbox Security Benefits Modern Organizations

As the world becomes more interconnected, transparency is becoming essential for modern organizations. The Glassbox approach to cybersecurity is invaluable for those who prioritize transparency and for those who want to take an active role in their security measures.

By offering detailed insights into threat detection and response processes, Glassbox security allows modern organizations to collaborate closely with security providers, helping them more effectively achieve their security and compliance goals.

Over time, this approach fosters a proactive stance on threat detection. That helps organizations identify vulnerabilities and respond to threats more quickly and effectively.

The Importance of Increased Visibility in Threat Detection

The Glassbox approach in cybersecurity boosts visibility and accountability. It is supported by CyberMaxx’s transparency-first philosophy, delivering trusted, effective security solutions for confident security management.

The post Glassbox vs. Blackbox: Which Approach Provides Better Security for Your Organization? appeared first on CyberMaxx.