These days we know it all too well, Anti-virus and Firewalls are not enough. Attackers continue to advance, using increasingly sophisticated techniques to infiltrate organizations. They invest significant resources in conducting reconnaissance to learn about organizations and to develop techniques specifically designed to bypass the security defenses being used. IT staff know about the problem, but they lack the time, expertise, and budget to properly watch all their ever-changing on-prem and cloud infrastructure for threats. They are also bombarded by a flood of security products and services that all promise different outcomes and do not know what to do. What they need is a solution that works with the security products and infrastructure that is already in place. A service that proactively watches their on-prem, cloud, and hybrid infrastructure for both threats and vulnerabilities and gives them actionable information backed by skilled security analysts.
Managed Detection and Response (MDR)
MDR (Outsourced Threat Detection and Response Expertise)- Managed detection and response (MDR) providers deliver services for buyers looking to improve their threat detection, incident response, and continuous monitoring capabilities. In addition to security event monitoring focused on internet and network perimeter, ingress-egress traffic only, MDRs examine lateral (east-west) movement, once an attacker is inside the organization. MDR providers leverage advanced threat defense, along with security analytics, which can be expensive, difficult to obtain, and hard to sustain for many organizations, especially small or midsize businesses (SMBs) and small enterprises.
An MDR provides advanced persistent threat (APT) detection, insider threat, and threat intelligence capabilities for clients requiring more in-depth (tier 3 and above) security services.
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) is a subset of MDR focused on monitoring and securing endpoints within an organization’s network. EDR services primarily consist of matching security events against patterns of known malware and quarantining devices as needed. Often, the in-house security staff is responsible for remediation of the endpoints and bringing them back online.
SOC-as-a-Service
SOC (The Solution Small-to-Midsize Enterprises Need) - SOC As A Service, also commonly referred to as Managed SOC, Cyber Threat Monitoring or Managed Detection and Response delivers powerful threat detection, incident response, and compliance management in one fully managed service. It combines all the security capabilities needed for effective security monitoring across cloud and on-premises environments: asset discovery, vulnerability assessment, intrusion detection, endpoint detection and response, behavioral monitoring, SIEM log management, compliance reports, and more.
A SOC-as-a-Service provider acts as a full-function Security Operations Center (SOC), providing services like an MDR provider. However, this is not always the case. Before taking advantage of a SOC-as-a-Service offering, it is important to ensure that the services provided match your organization’s requirements.
The Difference: MDR vs SOC
1. MDR is a subset of SOC. MDR focuses on endpoint detection and response with the added capabilities of SIEM solutions whereas SOC is a security solution focusing primarily on real-time log collection and correlation with the added capabilities of endpoint detection and response.
2. Managed Detection and Response (MDR) is an IT cybersecurity service that detects intrusions, malware, and malicious activity in your network and assists in rapid response to eliminate and mitigate those threats. Quality MDR services have a very light footprint on your network and use a combination of human analysts and technology to eliminate false positives, identify real security threats, and develop incident responses in real-time. Whereas MSSP is the predecessor to MDR. Managed security service providers (MSSPs) monitor network security events and send alerts when anomalies are identified. MSSPs do not investigate the anomalies to eliminate false positives, nor do they actively respond to security threats.
3. By comparison, an MDR uses its own SOC, solutions, and infrastructure whereas an MSSP will take incident and event data from a client’s SIEM and monitor it 24/7.
4. In a traditional SOC, the MSSP generally monitors and notifies users or makes changes to managed equipment - which rarely includes the endpoint. A critical capability of true MDR is to do something when a security incident occurs. Specifically, contain or eliminate the threat. If your MDR doesn't come with a networking component or EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response Agent) which can kill processes, shut down ports, or change VLANs, then the best they can do is tell you what happened.
5. MDR is not about outsourcing firewalls, servers, or rack space. It is about finding 10% of security problems that bypass traditional firewall and anti-virus security and responding to them. That means collecting data from your tools and your endpoints to find out if you can or have been breached, not managing them, and alerting you (SOCaaS).
Conclusion
Most medium-sized enterprises (MSEs) look to MDR to find the threats that Firewalls and AV do not capture. Combining threat intelligence, endpoint/network data, security hygiene and anomaly information is what MDR is all about. Making a case for MSS (SOCaaS) requires buying technology, hiring qualified people, and training and retaining them. Leveraging such services on point products is typically not scalable, nor can an MSE use them to ensure their minimal cybersecurity budget keeps them secure.
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