By: Prasenjit Saha, Executive Vice president and Global Cyber Security Business Leader, LTIMindtree

In the past few years, many businesses have accelerated digital transformation in almost every sector, including banking, healthcare, retail, government, IT, and manufacturing. As a result, more organizations are utilizing cloud services & applications and adopting remote/hybrid work cultures making the networks and systems more vulnerable to new-age cyber threats.

Managed Detection and Response (MDR) solution has emerged as an evolution from the unmet expectations of the older MSSP model. MDR raises the bar from the traditional MSSP model based on reactive security operations. MDR is a modern cloud-based delivery platform to anticipate, detect, and hunt complex cyber threats and provide an orchestrated response in near-real-time. It brings a proactive and turnkey solution for cyber security in modern times to investigate and contain threats.

MDR services are one of the fastest-growing areas of cybersecurity. In 2022, we saw a significant increase in MDR adoption among many small and large enterprises.

According to Industry experts, “ Managed Detection and Response (MDR) is one of the fastest markets recognized by buyers. Interest in the market will continue to grow in the coming years.” Gartner estimates that by 2025, the MDR market will reach USD 2.15 billion in revenue with a 20.2% CAGR, and 50% of organizations will adopt MDR services to safeguard their systems and networks.

What is driving the growth of MDR?

Shortage of skilled cybersecurity professionals

Having the skilled resources and the right technology is the recipe for a robust cyber defense; however, businesses are falling short of skilled cyber security professionals. The dearth of skilled cyber security professionals is a significant concern for businesses and one of the main drivers for MDR services adoption.

MDR helps businesses to bridge the talent gap and allows them to focus on cyber threat detection, prevention, hunting, and response.

Budget constraints

The increasing complexity of cyber threats, combined with the rising costs associated with protecting against them, has led many organizations to look for better value solutions. In today’s economy, budget restrictions often force organizations to look for more cost-efficient ways to secure their business. MDR services provide an affordable solution for organizations looking to protect their data without breaking the bank. This efficient approach can save time and money while ensuring maximum protection against emerging threats.

Reliance on cloud

To accelerate their digital transformation, businesses are increasingly turning to cloud-based solutions such as Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services for their computing and storage needs. This has led to a significant surge in demand for managed detection and response (MDR) services as organizations look to protect themselves from cyber threats.

Organizations are embracing MDR services due to the advanced capabilities they offer in cyber threat detection inside a network or system. It combines multiple layers of technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, behavioral analytics, and automated threat hunting with 24/7 human expertise.

MDR offers faster detection and response

MDR provides an effective way to quickly detect, investigate, and respond to security incidents, cutting down on costly downtime. With MDR solutions, organizations can enjoy faster detection and response times compared to traditional threat detection methods, which are often slower and less effective. MDR offers real-time visibility into an organization’s IT environment. This helps them identify threats faster and more accurately than ever before. MDR also provides automated responses based on pre-set rules or incident triggers so that remediation efforts don’t require manual intervention every time.

Data sovereignty- government regulations and compliances

Data sovereignty is an increasingly important concept as governments and organizations strive to protect their data in the digital age. Increasing requirements from the regulatory environment have driven the demand for MDR. MDR solutions enable maintaining data sovereignty principles by country and respective industries with a cloud-native MDR conforming to the regulations.

How MDR helps in combating more complex cyber attacks

MDR services provide 24/7 monitoring and analyze network traffic, system activity, user behavior, and more, helping identify threats before they cause damage. Additionally, MDR service providers can help automate incident response processes, such as identifying affected devices or systems and isolating them from the rest of the network.

Here is what the outlook for MDR services will look like,

OT monitoring with MDR will come more into the prevalence

In 2023, organizations should expect a rise in MDR-based solutions that are tailored to meet the needs of operational technology (OT) networks. These solutions will include specialized hardware components that can be deployed both on-premises and in cloud environments for better scalability and cost efficiency.

Industry-specific MDR solution to gain popularity

All industries are built differently and have their nuances. Cyber attackers have increasingly utilized industry-specific threat vectors and attack surfaces to target organizations. At the same time, regulations also vary for industries. This calls for MDR offerings to bring industry-specific use case integration into the overall detection and response mechanism.

For example – Healthcare service providers have been accelerating their digitalization journey, which also includes increasing the use of connected medical devices. This is one of the biggest reasons for increasing cyber-attacks in the healthcare industry. Healthcare organizations – small or big will leverage MDR as a turnkey solution for a robust cyber security solution to take advantage of 24/7 monitoring, speed of response, and contain the most advanced cyber threats.

Cloud providers will continue to build capabilities around MDR and enhance the MDR portfolio

In 2023, we can expect cloud providers like Amazon, Google, and Azure to continue building capabilities around MDR and enhancing their MDR portfolios.

The competition between these providers will drive innovation in the space as each company looks for ways to differentiate its services from its competitors. As a result, customers can look forward to more comprehensive offerings tailored specifically to their needs.

The following factors will continue to drive the MDR investments of cloud providers.

• The proliferation of cloud environments has led to a rise in the number of attack surfaces and endpoints.
• Cloud’s market share in the MDR space is expanding, creating a significant opportunity for cloud service providers.
• Cloud service providers seeking to deliver all services internally and acquire a larger share of the cloud services market.

Conclusion

The next few years will be critical for businesses seeking to secure their networks and systems. As the world moves increasingly towards digitalization and the use of cloud -based services, businesses must ensure that they protect their sensitive data from malicious attacks. One of the most effective ways to do this is through MDR. In 2023, more businesses are expected to adopt MDR as part of their security architecture due to its unparalleled scalability and efficiency.