Why MSSPs Need to Add Active Threat Management to Their Offerings

Cybercriminals and security vendors are engaged in a never-ending game of cat and mouse. Vendors study malware and attack techniques to prevent them, while hackers study signatures and IoCs to evade detection.

Security teams want set-and-forget solutions, like AV and next-gen AV. These are passive threat management solutions that rely on threat intelligence to detect known attacks. Unfortunately, passive solutions are limited when it comes to detecting unknown attacks. They leave organizations exposed to new malware variants, to fileless attacks and to insider attacks.

Forward-thinking MSSPs agree that organizations need to incorporate active threat management into their security strategies. They need to adopt a program of active threat investigation and mitigation. The challenge is the lack of investigative and mitigative talent available to staff their security teams. This is why successful organizations turn to forward-thinking MSSPs to satisfy these requirements.

Managed detection and response is a key piece of the equation for forward-thinking providers.  MSSPs have been doing managed detection and response (MDR) with continuous monitoring and detection at the network level, but, until recently, they have not been able to provide it at the endpoint. Given an increasingly mobile workforce, endpoint MDR is fast becoming a key component of MSSP services. And new endpoint detection and response (EDR) offerings help MSSPs remove the blind spot that previously existed on the endpoint.

EDR solutions give MSSPs the full endpoint visibility necessary to make critical decisions in their investigative process.  They provide visibility that was previously lacking and deliver confidence that the indicators being seen in traffic or logs are accurate. They allow MSSPs greater conviction in identifying false positive and false negatives. 

So, in today’s competitive and growing market, if MSSPs want to provide the full spectrum of services that clients are increasingly demanding, it only makes sense to deliver active threat management. And the best way to do it is  by expanding managed detection and response to the endpoint through the incorporation of best-in-class EDR solutions into their offerings. 

Thom VanHorn is Senior Director Marketing, CounterTack.

This guest blog is part of a Channel Futures sponsorship.