Mastering

Cybersecurity
with MDR:
The Ultimate Guide to
Managed Detection & Response
Introduction: A
Multilayered Preventive
Approach
The world is changing faster than many network defenders can handle. They face an
agile and determined adversary, armed to the teeth with the latest technology. As the
corporate attack surface expands with each new digital investment, the chances and
costs of a serious security breach increase. The average cost of a data breach globally
now stands at nearly $4.9m.

In order to manage these escalating risks, organizations should consider taking a

proactive, prevention-first approach designed to minimize the attack surface, reduce
cost and complexity, and enhance cyber-hygiene.

26.2%
More than half of breached organizations are facing high levels of security
staffing shortages. This issue represents a

between 2023 and 2024.

Source: IBM: Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024.

Threat actors need only to succeed once to cause significant damage. This is why the
most mature approach to corporate cybersecurity combines multi-layered prevention
with detection and response. However, the challenge many organizations face is that:

SKILLS GAPS AND KNOWLEDGE SHORTAGES impact their ability to run 24/7/365
security operations (SecOps).

THE COMPLEXITY of detection and response tools means some businesses might not
have anyone in house to operate them.

CYBER-THREATS ARE BECOMING MORE SOPHISTICATED and impactful, enabling

threat actors to achieve their goals more rapidly.

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BUDGETS ARE LIMITED, especially for large on-off purchases of detection and response
infrastructure and human operators.

COMPLIANCE PRESSURES are building, amplifying the negative impact of attacks in

case of non-compliance.

That’s why many organizations are turning to managed detection and response
(MDR). By doing so, they can gain access to the combined power of an expert third-party
SecOps team using sophisticated AI tooling for rapid response and threat containment.
The best MDR services will automate tracking and reporting for improved compliance
and continuous enhancements to cyber-resilience. This will free up in-house teams to
focus on higher value strategic tasks for the business.

$4.88
million
was the global average cost of a data breach in 2024, which is the biggest
jump since the pandemic.
Source: Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024.

Chapter 1: Why Your

Business Needs MDR
Today’s organizations continue to build out cloud infrastructure and applications, support
remote working, and expand their digital and traditional supply chains. That provides
more opportunities for highly motivated threat actors, who are increasingly leveraging
AI and automated tooling, “as-a-service” offerings and more to upskill, professionalize,
and amplify attacks. In this context, MDR is becoming a necessity for businesses of all
sizes.

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FROM PREVENTION TO MDR
In-house security teams are struggling to manage the volume, variety, speed, and—in
some cases—sophistication of threats facing their organization. Ransomware is among
the most serious. Ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) is a highly competitive underground
“industry” where gangs innovate continuously to bypass security controls and grow their
profits. According to British government security experts, the threat is expected to surge
as more adversaries get hold of AI tools.

every 2
The frequency of ransomware attacks on governments, businesses, consumers,
and devices is expected to rise to

seconds by 2031
Source: Cybercrime Magazine: Top 10 Cybersecurity Predictions and Statistics For 2024.

“AI services lower barriers to entry, increasing the number of cyber

criminals, and will boost their capability by improving the scale,
speed, and effectiveness of existing attack methods.“

James Babbage, Director General for Threats at the National Crime Agency.

Threat actors are using such tools to shorten the time it takes from initial access to
data theft or ransomware deployment. This is a challenge not just in the context of
ransomware but the full range of threats facing organizations—from crypto mining
malware and botnets to banking trojans and spyware.

The cumulative impact of these trends should focus IT security leaders on an inescapable
truth. Bad actors’ motivation to succeed is often greater than companies’ preparedness
via preventive measures. They go to great lengths to get into the corporate environment
unseen. That’s why organizations should balance prevention with detection and
response. This is what ESET’s prevention-first approach focuses on, by blending
multiple layers of security technology. It aims to protect by blocking malicious code or
actors from entering or damaging a user’s system.

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Phishing was the most costly and frequent attack vector in

€4.88 15%
2024, with a cost of and a

million share of all attacks.

Source: IBM: Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024.

However, if these measures are bypassed by sophisticated actors, there is fast and reliable
detection and response to mitigate advanced threats that manage to compromize a
system. Think of it as locking and bolting all your doors and windows, but then installing
motion detection alarms to catch suspicious activity if anyone does make it inside the
house.

XDR is a key asset here. It enables security operations (SecOps) teams to gain
unparalleled visibility into their IT environment from a single pane of glass, and spot
anomalies indicating threats via high-fidelity alerts. XDR is an evolution of EDR, which
optimizes threat detection, investigation, response and hunting in real time.

XDR unifies security-relevant endpoint detections with telemetry from security and
business tools such as network analysis and visibility (NAV), email security, identity and
access management, cloud security, and more. It is a cloud-native platform built on big
data infrastructure to provide security teams with flexibility, scalability, and opportunities
for automation.

XDR ENABLES YOU TO ANSWER SEVERAL KEY

QUESTIONS ABOUT A CYBERATTACK:
How did it start?
Where did it start?
When did it start?
Which endpoints are infected?
Is it contained?
How do we prevent it in the future?

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Most importantly, it can help you take rapid remedial action to resolve incidents before
they severely impact the organization.

However, even with the help of XDR, SecOps teams face major challenges from an
organizational perspective—especially skills gaps, tool complexity, budget and resource
constraints, and integration of tooling; not to mention a rapidly evolving threat
landscape. That’s why many are turning to MDR; the most effective way to detect and
contain ever-changing, sophisticated threats.

HOW MDR ADDRESSES CONTEMPORARY THREATS

Although MDR varies from provider to provider, it should include at least some variation
of the following:

• 24/7 Threat Monitoring and Detection:

Continuous monitoring of an organization’s network, endpoints, and cloud
environments.

• Proactive Threat Hunting:

Unlike traditional security measures that react to alerts, MDR involves proactive
threat hunting which helps in identifying APTs and zero-day vulnerabilities.

51%
is the number
of organizations that have formally established threat hunting methodologies in 2024, compared to 35% in 2023.
Source: SANS: The Evolution of Enterprise Threat Hunting: Detailed Insights from the SANS 2024 Survey.

• Expert Analysis and Response:

The expertise of security professionals allows for nuanced analysis and rapid
decision-making, which is crucial for addressing complex security incidents.

• Global threat intelligence:

Accurate, current and relevant telemetry collected from across the globe provides
actionable intelligence for rapid incident response and optimized threat hunting.

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 60%
Organizations using telemetry can achieve up to a

improvement
in their ability to manage vulnerabilities and threats compared to those relying solely on traditional security measures..
Source: Forrester: The Four Steps for More Proactive Security, 2024.

• Continuous Improvement:
By analyzing past incidents, using advanced threat intelligence, focusing on real
threats, and providing regular security health checks and reports, MDR services
help prevent the recurrence of similar attacks by enabling teams to improve cyber-
resilience.

KEY FUNCTIONS OF MDR

MDR can bring tremendous benefits for organizations that want to mitigate cyber risk,
but don’t have the in-house resources effectively helping them to close skills gaps, save
costs and enhance detection and response. A high-performance solution should enable
organizations to:

Monitor
Experienced threat hunters keep track of the entire customer IT environment,
and actively monitor malware and APT groups to provide the highest level of
situational awareness.

Detect
Threat actors have countless ways to sneak through perimeter defenses, but by
leveraging behavioral analytics, they can be spotted for rapid remediation.

Triage
An initial assessment and categorization of alerts filters out false positives and
gathers necessary information.

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 Prioritize
Intelligent analytics rank these alerts by severity to ensure the most critical
threats are addressed first. This is a critical phase of the MDR workflow, given
how many IT teams struggle with alert overload.

Investigate
Automated tools and human expertise combine to dig deeper into alerts,
performing data and log analysis in order to understand their nature and scope.
They will need to calculate whether an alert is a true positive or not, and what steps
must be taken to resolve it.

Respond
An effective MDR service will either provide basic response actions to block and
contain the threat, or containment and full remediation of any compromized
systems. The latter could entail a password reset, patching specific endpoints, or
even reimaging computers.

The benefits of outsourcing detection and response are

simple but compelling:
• The MDR provider takes care of all management of the back-end technology, freeing up staff to
focus on high-value, strategic tasks rather than drowning in security alerts.

• The MDR provider may also optimize the backend technology to align with each customer’s risk
profile and infrastructure.

• With detection and response managed by a third party, there will be no need to pay hefty
salaries to attract and retain the best cybersecurity talent.

• Customers can benefit from their provider’s economies of scale, ability to attract the best talent,
and insight into other customer organizations and threat environments.

ESSENTIAL FEATURES TO LOOK FOR Speedy onboarding and fine-

IN AN MDR SOLUTION tuning
Detection rules, exclusions, and
With so many MDR solutions flooding parameters will need to be customized
the market, it can be challenging for each IT environment and the
knowing where to start. Consider a threats facing the organization. Faster
provider capable of offering at least the onboarding is desirable, but not to the
following: detriment of detection performance
which should be optimized from day one.

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→ Remember MDR protection will Seamless compatibility with
usually improve with time. diverse infrastructures
Effective integration with tools such
Speed
as SIEM, SOAR, ticketing tools, and many
Reduce your incident detection
others. Whether you have multi-OS
and response time from months to
environments, existing security software,
minutes with your MDR provider. You
or both on-prem and cloud setups, you
need to stop the attack in the initial
want to integrate without any issues.
phases (discovery, lateral movement,
persistence) before the payload is A comprehensive tech stack
executed. A key part of an MDR solution is
the underlying technology. It should
24/7 service
include endpoint or extended detection
Threat actors operate from all
and response (XDR), security information
time zones and often strike in the
and event management (SIEM), and
early hours or at weekends/during
security orchestration and response
public holidays. That means MDR
(SOAR). These should be either provided
must work round-the-clock. Indicators
by the MDR vendor or third-party tools
of compromize and attack must be
linked via APIs.
investigated immediately, in real time.
Automation and AI
Easy to use solution with
AI can play a great role in
a simple interface and low
identifying anomalous behavior and
learning curve
analyzing large volumes of data to find
This makes the solution accessible for
signs of compromize or attack.
even those new to IT security. Easy-
to-use dashboard gives a clear view of Automation can also rapidly execute
security status and important alerts. a set of actions to isolate systems
and contain threats. But these should
Customizable notifications and
always be viewed as assistive rather
advanced reporting options
than replacing the expertise of human
In order to automatically or on-
analysts.
demand receive reports about incidents,
the status of environment, and other Human intelligence
updates. As important as AI and automation
are, they have limitations that only
This makes it easy to present
human experts can address effectively.
cybersecurity status to executives,
Experienced cybersecurity professionals
receive timely alerts, and generate
can add contextual understanding of
actionable reports for audits and
behavioral anomalies flagged by the
compliance.

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→ AI to determine if an alert is truly customer should handle remediation/
malicious. This helps to reduce false mitigation once a threat has been
positives. Humans are also more capable discovered. IT buyers should look for
of adapting to new and emerging threats the offering which best aligns with their
in real time. requirements and in-house capabilities.

Threat intelligence Alignment

Regularly updated threat Ensure the MDR service
intelligence feeds, generated by operationally aligns with the
the MDR provider or third parties, are rest of the IT environment, such as
a key component of any effective MDR whether outputs integrate with ticket
service. Updates should be gathered management systems and internal
from telemetry and curated by expert workflows.
threat intelligence teams to reveal attack
A provider should be able to generate
methods and effective countermeasures.
incident reports and status updates for
Threat hunting full transparency.
Ongoing, systematic threat hunting
Compliance
should come as standard in any MDR
The MDR service must be able
service, in order to root out the more
to adhere to any data privacy,
evasive attacks.
residency, or retention requirements
Remediation that the customer might have, and any
There’s no established rule about stipulations demanded by insurance
whether the service provider or policies.

24%
The MDR market is expected to grow at a compound
annual growth rate (CAGR) of about

from 2024 to 2029.

Source: MarketsAndMarkets: Managed Detection and Reponse
(MDR) Market, 2024.

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Chapter 2: Implementing
MDR with ESET
ESET offers one of the fastest and most effective MDR services on the market. The key
to its power is a winning combination of human and machine. That means world-class
security research and threat intelligence—built on more than 30 years of expertise and
11 R&D centers—plus leading AI capabilities to identify anomalous behavior that human
eyes might miss.

Also, ESET MDR service delivery teams are spread across the globe what helps customers
bridge potential language barriers better and makes the whole experience smoother.

For business customers: ESET offers MDR in two tiers. ESET MDR is a powerful but
affordable service designed to meet the needs of SMBs starting from 25 seats. ESET MDR
Ultimate is a highly customized service tailored to the specific requirements and security
profile of enterprise customers.

It works like a seamless extension of the client’s IT function—whatever the vertical—

featuring full Digital Forensic Incident Response (DFIR). The result is enterprise-grade
MDR designed to see more and act faster, in order to proactively stop and contain
threats before they can cause any damage.

For MSPs: ESET understands that your business can also suffer resource constraints,
especially when working to support potentially hundreds of customers across a growing
attack surface. Your organization is an increasingly attractive target, for example as a
means for threat actors to remotely access client environments.

With ESET MDR, you can diversify your portfolio with rapid detection and response (in
potentially as little as 20 minutes) and optimize internal resources to continue offering
the best service possible for clients.

MDR AS PART OF HOLISTIC SECURITY

ESET MDR or ESET MDR Ultimate services can be purchased as part of specific ESET
PROTECT subscription tiers to support multilayered holistic security. These are more
comprehensive options combining products and services covering prevention, detection,
and response. Managed via a single pane of glass, these include:

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 ESET PROTECT MDR ESET PROTECT MDR
Ideal for small and mid-sized businesses
Ultimate
Ideal for enterprise-grade organizations

• Management Console
• Management Console
• Modern Endpoint Protection
• Modern Endpoint Protection
• Server Security
• Server Security
• Advanced Threat Defense
• Advanced Threat Defense
• Full Disk Encryption
• Full Disk Encryption
• Vulnerability & Patch Management
• Vulnerability & Patch Management
• Extended Detection & Response
• Extended Detection & Response
• Multi-factor Authentication
• Multi-factor Authentication
• MDR Service
• MDR Ultimate Service
• Premium Support Service
• Premium Support Ultimate Service

Conclusion
Cybersecurity is an essential part of organizations’ IT operations. Yet in most cases, it isn’t
their primary focus, nor should it be. They need to be able to concentrate on their core
business, and leave the battle against a diverse, determined, and growing cohort of threat
actors to the experts. This is where trusted security partners come in, bringing extensive
resources and decades of industry expertise.

MDR can offer a comprehensive solution by integrating prevention, protection, detection,

and response. Tailored services are available to meet the diverse needs of various
organizations, whether they are SMBs, MSPs, or large enterprises. It’s time to snuff out
cyber risk with expert assistance.

LEARN MORE ABOUT MDR

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 WHAT DOES A SUCCESSFUL
DEPLOYMENT OF MDR LOOK LIKE?
Electrical Consultants, Inc.
ECI is a premier design and engineering consulting firm specializing in power utility
and infrastructure projects. With over 37 regional offices across the United States and
Canada, ECI supports the engineering and construction of high-voltage, utility-scale
facilities, ensuring each project is approached with innovation, precision, and a dedication
to excellence.

ECI faced a significant staffing For ECI, the implementation of

challenge, with only a small ESET MDR was straightforward,
team dedicated to manag- requiring minimal adjustments
ing cybersecurity, making af- The ESET security team conduct-
ter-hours monitoring and quick response ed a thorough initial assessment and fine-
to threats particularly difficult. The or- tuned alert settings to optimize threat
ganization needed a reliable and cost-ef- detection. Throughout the setup process,
fective way to monitor and respond to an ESET engineer provided hands-on
threats around the clock to protect its support, ensuring a smooth and efficient
assets and operations. transition.

“ESET MDR has detected many threats and incidents that

we would have either missed or not responded to in as timely
a manner. In at least one instance, the MDR detection and
response kept a small incident from becoming a much larger
problem for our company.”

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This is ESET
Proactive defense. Our business is
to minimize the attack surface.
Stay one step ahead of known and emerging cyber threats with our prevention-first
approach, powered by AI and human expertise.

Experience best-in-class protection, thanks to our in-house global cyber threat

intelligence, compiled and examined for over 30 years, which drives our extensive R&D
network, led by industry-acclaimed researchers. ESET protects your business so it
can unlock the full potential of technology.

Multilayered, Cutting-edge AI World-renowned Hyperlocal,

prevention-first meets human threat intelligence personalized
expertise support

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