The Importance of Managed Detection and Response (MDR)

Organizations opting for a managed detection and response (MDR) partnership with firms like ForeNova seek an engagement that follows a successful and proven process rather than relying on rigidly structured or loosely assembled components and capabilities from different security vendors.  

ForeNova’s MDR service is a proven and successful model for many organizations, including Germany’s small-to-medium (SME) marketplace and the rest of the European Union (EU). The secret behind ForeNova’s MDR success starts with creating a repeatable and scalable process. ForeNova’s extensive experience and knowledge in the cybersecurity defensive protection market and its ability to deliver on service level agreements (SLA). 

Planning for an MDR engagement in 2025? Click here to schedule your initial consultation with the ForeNova MDR team today!  

Why Is Having a Proven MDR Engagement Critical for Client Success?  

Traditional IT and cybersecurity integrators looking for additional revenue streams began offering various managed service offerings. These offerings loosely became based on the solutions sold by the integrators and a bolt-on managed component based on monitoring, response, and remediation. In time, many of these integrators still needed to meet their SLAs. By failing to meet these SLAs, these integrators also lost the relationship with their existing clients. 

ForeNova’s approach toward MDR started with a commitment to focus 100% on this service first. When creating their MDR offering, the process originated with investing in security operations engineers with experience in automated incident response, a deep understanding of industry security frameworks including NIST and ISO27001, and becoming experts in various security tools, including endpoint security, network detection and response (NDR), and managing a security information event management (SIEM) platform. 

Mastering the tools and creating a workflow process for handling events based on a multi-tenant support model also became a key success factor for ForeNova.  

What are the Key Components Within a Managed Detection and Response Process? 

Within any MDR offering, several critical pillars help lead to a successful engagement model. These pillars include: 

Automated Threat Detection Based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) 

Legacy detection based on signature-based or first-generation behavior-based modeling cannot prevent adversarial AI cyberattacks. Hackers, like organizations, also invest in AI tools to improve the success of their attacks.  

Automated Incident Response  

As more hackers leverage tools, the greater the volume of attacks will continue to affect organizations. Automated incident response leveraging AI solves combat adversarial AI. AI-based attacks learn from their previous attempts and have the means to automate quick changes to their attack vectors. These automated adjustments bypassed most SecOps teams, which still rely on manual human intervention to address all inbound attacks.  

Integrating AI with Detection, Response, Threat Hunting, and Intelligence 

A core element of a successful next-generation MDR service is integrating detection response with threat hunting and intelligence. Powered by AI within all these pillars, successful next-generation MDR providers telemetry from the detection and incident response and feed this data into the threat-hunting and intelligence tools. The knowledge integration workflow improves detection and response by learning from previous attack patterns and creating more proactive response functionality.  

Previously, these pillars operated separately with considerable manual effort. ForeNova’s success in integrating these pillars helps provide a solution and a compelling overall MDR offering.  

Adding the MITRE ATT&CK Framework into the MDR Process  

MDR providers, like ForeNova, understand the valuable importance of the MITRE ATT&CK framework supporting their MDR strategy. The framework includes several domains with proven best practices, including playbooks.  

MITRE defined several known tactics and techniques used by hackers. The MITRE framework provides a comprehensive matrix for MDR providers to leverage, along with built-in rules and policies to help prevent these attacks from happening. MITRE also generates a heatmap showing where these adversarial behaviors and attacks will apply across the various components within the enterprise network. 

Another critical piece of the MITRE framework leveraged by MDR providers is the ability to recognize a kill chain attack. MITRE defines a kill chain based on Lockheed Martin’s original framework as an attack that starts with a series of vectors happening with a succession. Single-threat attacks only use one method, while a kill chain uses several.  

Leveraging MITRE, ForeNova can detect a single or full kill chain attack quickly. Based on this early detection, ForeNova’s automated incident response, including leveraging MITRE playbooks, can reduce the attack’s overall effectiveness.  

Another component of the ForeNova MDR service is access to their compliance guidebook. Within their published guidebook, ForeNova provides valuable information regarding compliance and privacy frameworks to assist organizations in better understanding these complex mandates.  

These compliance and privacy mandates include NIS2, TISAX, CERT-RMM, GDPR, ISO27002, KRITIS, SOC II, and SOX. Within each of the sections, ForeNova documents how their MDR services help organizations meet critical portions of these mandates.  

What are the Top MDR Functions All Organizations Should Look for in an MDR Solution?  

Understand the Success Rate for Detection 

Asking the MDR provider how they measure success in detecting next-generation attacks should be at the top of the list. How are these next-generation attacks prevented by each MDR? During the Proof-of-Concept (POC), organizations should test each MDR provider with adversarial AI-type attacks to validate their ability to detect and prevent them.  

Understand How MDR Providers send Notifications to their Clients 

When an MDR is providing its service, how does it notify a client? Do they send out notifications during or after a known material breach? What artifacts do they provide to the client? What is the current rate of false positives and false negatives? These elements are critical when evaluating an MDR provider. Too much communication creates more confusion, and less communication creates mistrust.  

Does the MDR Service Offer Containment Services?  

Ideally, the MDR provider can detect, monitor, contain, analyze, and respond with little or no latency. Every organization must understand the latency created within the MDR service offering. Latency measurement should be tested and validated during the POC.  

Is the MDR Provider Constantly Innovating? Or Staying Static? 

A critical piece all organizations need to evaluate when considering an MDR provider is understanding their strategy roadmap. Is the MDR provider investing their resources in next-generation capabilities, including adding cybersecurity offensive capabilities for organizations to consider adopting? Offensive tools or counter-hacking have shown limited visibility in the marketplace. However, some MDR providers have offered offensive tools to clients who will accept all legal responsibility. 

Are All MDR Providers Built to Support Everyone?  

Often, this question becomes part of the MDR conversation: is every MDR service offering designed to support any organization? 

The answer to this question will vary depending on who you ask. An MDR provider that claims to be built to handle any client, and any engagement rarely fulfills its SLA agreements. These MDR providers offer a generic service and often require additional funds from their clients when a change order to change the existing engagement occurs.  

An ideal MDR provider specializes in a specific market segment, like SME, and sometimes, they focus their efforts on supporting a specific vertical market, including finance, government, or automotive. Specialized MDR providers who develop their processes around a specific market deliver based on their SLA and develop newer capabilities based on changes to that market.  

What Makes the ForeNova MDR Process Different?  

Innovation is at the core of ForeNova’s success. Their continuous investment in their MDR process, including adding AI, ML, endpoint security, managed SIEM, and reporting, aligns with their client expectations.  

• Like other MDR providers, ForeNova continues incorporating MITRE frameworks to improve its offerings. Adopting MITRE into an MDR process requires considerable financial information, access to experienced SecOps engineers, and patience. 

• ForeNova’s investment in the MITRE framework and incorporation of AI and ML into detection and response became possible because of its commitment to delivering an innovating the MDR process with additional proven capabilities.  

ForeNova’s focus on SMEs in the EU and particular attention to the automotive sector demonstrates its awareness of the marketplace. In recent blog articles, ForeNova shows its commitment to supporting automotive clients, focusing on achieving the various maturity levels with the TISAX mandate. MDR is critical in assisting smaller automation supply chain firms with monitoring, detection, and response requirements required under TISAX. 

ForeNova’s Formula for Success: Focus, Specialize, and Exceed 

As a successful MDR provider, ForeNova focuses on delivering exceptional service based on next-generation detection, prevention, remediation, and reporting capabilities. ForeNova’s long list of successful clients includes automotive, chip manufacturing, healthcare, and publishing firms. 

Another value point from ForeNova is its pricing strategy. Demonstrating their market awareness, ForeNova’s pricing model aligned firmly with the SME marketplace. Keeping their costing model in line with SME market expectations proves to be a positive element when clients engage with ForeNova. 

Planning for an MDR engagement in 2025? Ready to start a POC? A call into ForeNova should be your first stop! Click here to schedule an initial consultation today!