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The Top 10 Essential Capabilities You Want From Your MDR Provider

Critical Start, a Managed Detection and Response (MDR) cybersecurity solutions provider, has released a guide to help enterprises scale up their cybersecurity programs and better mitigate cyber risks. The guide, titled "MDR Providers Decoded: A Comprehensive Guide to Evaluating the Top 10 Capabilities Your Provider Needs," offers an in-depth analysis of essential MDR service capabilities that can help companies navigate the growing industry.


According to Critical Start, the average cost of a data breach in 2022 was around $9.44 million, underscoring the need for effective security programs. With MDR services and security operations centers as the last line of defense against catastrophic breaches, they have become the centerpiece of organizations' overall security strategy. As a result, Gartner predicts that by 2025, 60% of organizations will be actively using remote threat disruption and containment capabilities delivered directly by MDR providers.


Critical Start identified three fundamental security questions that many organizations face, leading to a list of the ten most critical requirements needed to maximize the value received from MDR vendors. These include the most effective detection and response solution per dollar invested to reduce risks, offloading security workloads while maintaining operational command and visibility, and viewing security maturity while sharing measurable improvements with stakeholders.


Randy Watkins, Chief Technology Officer at Critical Start, said, "Security leaders grapple with these fundamental security challenges, which can significantly affect the efficacy of their security programs. While MDR services provide an essential layer of defense, not all services are created equal. That's why Critical Start has compiled a concise and easy-to-digest analysis to help companies make informed decisions and choose the most effective MDR for their business."


Critical Start's analysis highlights some of the key factors that companies should consider when selecting an MDR provider, including a contractual Service Level Agreement (SLA) of one hour or less for every alert, every alert actioned across multi-provider EDR, XDR, and SIEM, direct collaboration with professional SOC analysts, full visibility and response actions via MobileSOC 24x7, rules of engagement tailored to the environment, and provable metrics, peer benchmarking, shared customer learnings, and best practices.


As the MDR market continues to experience unprecedented growth, projected to reach $4.6 billion by 2026, the importance of selecting an effective MDR provider cannot be overstated. With this guide, enterprises can navigate the expanding industry and reduce their cyber risks effectively.


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