MSSP Definition
What is an MSSP?
An MSSP, or managed security service provider, is a company that specialises in providing cybersecurity services to other organisations, usually delivered through a Security Operations Centre (SOC).
These services include management of security technologies, threat monitoring, vulnerability management and incident alerting. Working with an MSSP can enable businesses to gain additional expertise to help them address gaps in knowledge and meet compliance requirements.
Customers can also make cost savings compared with investing in cyber security in-house, but many find that MSSPs doesn’t adapt quickly enough to the evolving threat landscape, and are too slow to deliver value.
MDR Definition
What is MDR?
Managed detection and response (MDR) is a specialist security solution that enables organisations to rapidly detect and respond to cyber threats across their network and endpoints.
MDR services adopt a fully turnkey approach in order to provide the people, technology and intelligence required as part of one overall service.
By bringing together human expertise, threat intelligence and a range of network, endpoint and cloud detection technologies in this way, MDR helps organisations to detect and respond to threats, strengthen their security posture, reduce their risk exposure and achieve an enterprise-standard cyber security capability at a fraction of the cost of establishing the same capabilities in-house.
The difference
MDR vs MSSP - what's the difference?
Unlike MSSPs, MDR services are turnkey – ensuring that they supply human expertise, threat intelligence and a range of detection technologies as part of one comprehensive service offering. In contrast, MSSPs often provide only some of the layers required, and it can be left to customers to fill the gaps.
Another notable difference between an MSSP and an MDR provider is how they approach threat detection. An MSSP tends to focus on alert triage and management rather than proactive incident investigation, incident response and remediation. MDR is much more proactive, providing actionable remediation guidance and automated playbooks to help organisations respond rather than just waiting for alerts to be generated.
MDR providers utilise the latest endpoint detection and response (EDR) platforms to hunt for, contain and isolate threats while the detection coverage of MSSPs is mainly focused at a network level. This is achieved through the management of firewalls, intrusion detection systems and SIEM tools. Unlike MDR providers, many MSSPs don’t offer solutions for cloud security monitoring – a requirement proving more and more important for customers of all sizes.
Benefits
Features
Reasons to choose an MDR service
Unlike other security monitoring services offered by legacy MSSPs, MDR doesn’t wait for attacks to happen. Protecting your business against the latest cyber threats demands a range of technologies to prevent attacks and gain visibility of malicious activity across your IT environment. However, investing in all the required technology and personnel and operating a security operations centre (SOC) 24/7 can be prohibitive for all but the largest businesses.
MDR is designed to address the evolving challenges of cyber security more comprehensively. Through the right MDR solution, companies can deploy, configure, maintain and monitor the latest prevention, detection and deception technologies in an affordable way. By supplying experienced SOC experts, the latest detection, deception and incident response technologies, and up-to-date intelligence for an affordable monthly subscription, MDR provides an advanced level of defence by hunting for, rapidly detecting and aiding remediation of threats.
| Service features | MSS | MDR |
|---|---|---|
| 24/7 network monitoring | ||
| 24/7 endpoint monitoring | ||
| Proactive human threat hunting | ||
| Genuine incident notification | ||
| Actionable threat mitigation guidance | ||
| A turnkey technology stack included | ||
| Advanced behavioural analytics | ||
| Threat disruption and containment (SOAR) | ||
| SLAs for detection and response |
Detect the threats of most concern to your business
MDR Use CasesWhy Redscan?
Why choose Kroll Responder for Managed Detection and Response?
Supplying the people, technology and cyberoffensive intelligence needed to detect and respond to current and emerging cyber threats.
- An outcome-focused approach
- Red and blue team security expertise
- CREST-accredited Security Operations Centre
- Technology agnostic
- CyberOps™ threat management platform
- Rated >9/10 for overall customer satisfaction
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