In cybersecurity, it’s no longer a question of if you’ll be attacked, but when. That’s why partnering with a Managed Detection and Response (MDR) service provider is one of the fastest-growing trends in enterprise security.
But what should you look for when choosing a partner, and how do you know if you’re getting the most effective security service? Check out our checklist from global MDR providers to find out.
Checklist for finding the best MDR (Manage Detection and Response) partner or service provider:
1. Cloud-Native Platforms
Cloud-Native Platform: MDR service providers that leverage cloud-native architectures are best positioned to deliver flexible and scalable services. These next-generation platforms collect and enrich telemetry from a wide variety of data sources and provide researchers with rapid search capabilities. This also provides easier onboarding so that customers can quickly take advantage of the vendor’s advanced security technologies and begin receiving more effective alerts for critical threats.
2. Co-Managed SIEM
Co-Managed SIEM: Many organizations want the flexibility to own and control their own SIEM and log retention infrastructure. Service providers for Managed Detection and Response (MDR) should offer a combination of popular security software with continuous monitoring, advanced threat analysis, and management services. This helps customers improve and make the most of their investment in security software. In a perfect situation, businesses can smoothly switch from using a cloud service that is fully managed by someone else to a co-managed SIEM model. This change can happen without having to make any changes to their usual methods or learn new tools and dashboards.
3. Global SOC Services
24/7 Global SOC Services: Critical security events can occur at any time, day or night, including weekends and holidays. Look for a partner that has a team of security experts who investigate suspicious events, look for targeted attacks, and provide remediation advice 24/7. By selecting a leading MDR providers with global Security Operations Centers (SOCs), not only can they hire and keep highly skilled security staff, but they can also have a better understanding of the different dangers in the world. They can detect new threats that affect specific regions or industries and use that information to protect international organizations before those cyber threats spread to other places.
4. Advanced Threat Detection
Advanced Threat Protection means that the best service providers in protecting against cyber attacks use a mix of people, methods, and technology to find and prioritize signs of an attack or breach. Advanced threat detection should have the following parts: information about potential threats, studying real-life scenarios, understanding how the threats could impact a business, using a framework called MITRE ATT&CK, and having security experts available at all times to investigate any issues.
5. Proactive Threat Hunting
Proactive Threat Hunting: Threat hunting can be an effective way to detect targeted attacks. The traditional approach relies on experienced cyber professionals building hypotheses that model attack techniques and tactics used by adversaries. While that still plays a critical role, many MDR vendors today are improving the effectiveness of threat hunting by adding an element of machine learning to their quest for better security intelligence and greater accuracy.
6. Automated Response
Automated Response: One of the major differentiators of MDR service providers is their ability to automatically respond on behalf of their customers. This capability enables a faster response to credible threats and does not rely on internal equipment to make critical changes.
- By using a customer’s perimeter or endpoint platforms to automatically trigger response actions, they can quickly contain attacks before they cause damage.
- More advanced vendors can extend the integration of collection, detection, and response functions to technologies including DNS, authentication, WAF, and the cloud.
7. Risk Management
Risk management is really important for top leaders in an organization when it comes to understanding the risks related to cybersecurity. Look for a cybersecurity company that can give you regular updates on your security and compare your risk to others in your group. It’s crucial to have security experts who can assess how strong your security is and identify any weaknesses in your protection against threats.
8. A suite of cybersecurity services
Any risk can take a company by surprise. It is critical for management and employees to understand and respond to cybersecurity risks in a timely manner. MDR service providers are essential for companies to regularly report on the likelihood of risks. In addition, you can compare your risks with those of other companies to obtain market statistics. This way, you can expertly assess the threats to your company and always have ways to protect any weaknesses.
By the way, in comparing practices, this is the main reason why MDR is better than MSSP in the cybersecurity area.
9. Case Management essence
The company’s IT team necessarily includes cybersecurity specialists, who often have common cases with MDR providers. In fact, they need their help in effectively addressing cyber threats. This makes it easier and more efficient because your team always has access to experts and experienced methodologies. It gives you a better understanding of all the activities of MDR vendors. You can also easily track their performance metrics.
10. Compliance
Compliance: Many organizations must comply with compliance mandates and regulations such as PCI, HIPAA, and GDPR. To help achieve this, MDR service providers must have the flexibility to collect and archive log data in their customer’s preferred locations for a variety of retention periods. Service providers should also provide their clients with customizable dashboards and reports that monitor key metrics and potential policy violations related to compliance mandates. Top service providers get certifications to show that they follow strict rules to keep sensitive data safe.
UnderDefense approach
Another important factor to think about when analyzing MDR services is how many people are working to keep everything secure. You need enough coverage to have support all the time, and the right knowledge to make sure everything is working well during the detection and response processes.
UnderDefense MDR has over 500 experts who are always working to keep customers safe from advanced attacks. Threat detection and response experts work in six security operation centers (SOCs) located in Australia, India, the UK, Ireland, and North America. They are supported by a team of specialists in areas such as malware, threat intelligence, data engineering, data science, threat hunting, adversary tracking, and incident response.