The enterprise cybersecurity market has a great variety of solutions for detecting and responding to advanced threats. Many of these solutions share similar names, making it difficult to pinpoint their capabilities and use cases. 

Managed Detection and Response (MDR) and Extended Detection and Response (XDR) are a good example. These two distinct solutions are not actually in competition with one another—in fact, they can augment one another in valuable ways. Understanding what makes them unique is the first step towards leveraging them effectively. 

Managed Detection and Response (MDR) is a service 

MDR is a service that relies on both technology and human expertise. The service offers round-the-clock threat monitoring with established detection and response workflows. This helps organizations catch threat actors who successfully bypass prevention-based security controls. 

How MDR works 

An MDR vendor operates its own Security Operations Center (SOC) and staffs it with its own analysts. The team actively monitors network logs and security alerts for the organization’s customers. Some MDR vendors provide reports of suspicious activities and let their customers conduct the appropriate incident response action. Others take initiative and respond to incidents on their own. 

Why choose MDR? 

MDR vendors provide substantial value to organizations that would otherwise have to build and deploy their own SOC. Partnering with an MDR vendor provides access to technologies and product expertise that may be infeasible to obtain in-house. This is especially true when it comes to implementing new security products like Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) platforms. 

Different MDR vendors bring different specialties to their customers. Many MDR vendors provide platform-specific expertise. This eliminates the need for organizations to hire specialist security talent in-house and makes security operations more scalable overall. 

Extended Detection and Response (XDR) is a technology 

Extended Detection and Response (XDR) is a security product designed for detection and response workflows. It optimizes incident response on endpoint devices by drawing additional context and telemetry from third-party sources. This accelerates the security team’s ability to catch and address advanced threat activity. 

XDR is the evolution of an earlier technology called Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR). Early EDR solutions were successful at catching malware and other threats on laptops, servers, and mobile devices. However, they did not provide context into threat activity in other parts of the network, making them vulnerable to advanced attack techniques like privilege escalation and insider threats. 

How XDR works 

Building on the foundation of EDR technology, XDR adds an additional layer of context to threat detection and response. Instead of looking at individual network assets in isolation, it draws from additional data sources to make better judgements about the activities it observes. 

Some XDR solutions also support advanced automation and machine learning to mitigate attacks rapidly. Instead of waiting for an analyst to manually investigate and respond to a potential threat, XDR solutions can execute automated playbooks according to predefined actions based on threat severity. The ability to analyze telemetry data from multiple sources helps reduce false positives and ensure smooth security operations. 

Why choose XDR? 

XDR enables security teams to dramatically improve incident response performance. Instead of manually addressing potential threats on endpoint devices, analysts can configure XDR tools to take automated action based on additional telemetry data.  

They can use this additional context to eliminate time-consuming false positives and focus on the highest priority threats first. This boosts important metrics like Mean Time-to-Detect and Mean Time-to-Respond.  

However, to get the most out of XDR technology, security leaders must configure the solution appropriately. Running an XDR solution in its default configuration places strict limits on the value it can generate for the security team. Enterprise XDR implementations often involve custom configurations designed to meet the organization’s specific security needs and risk profile. 

Comparing XDR vs MDR for enterprise cybersecurity 

Both MDR and XDR share the same broad goal—improving threat detection and response operations. But since one is a product and the other is a service, they do this in different ways.  

• Integration. XDR integrates seamlessly with other tools and platforms in the security tech stack. It uses advanced analytics and machine learning to connect security events to one another and enable swift, automatic action. MDR also integrates a wide set of security technologies, relying on specialist expertise to continuously fine-tune communication between platforms. 

• Analytics. Both XDR and MDR provide varying levels of advanced analytics data. While XDR programmatically gathers data from other sources on the network, MDR employs analysts to contextualize security events and understand them on a deeper level. This process can also be enhanced with a SOC automation platform, bridging the gap between AI-powered insight and human expertise. 

• Investigations. Enterprises that only deploy XDR must commit in-house security talent to conducting investigations, fine-tuning the detection model, and ensuring operational security success. MDR vendors include investigation as a service, giving the security team ample information about potential threats so they can respond appropriately. 

• Proactive threat hunting. As a detection and response technology, XDR does not enable proactive threat hunting operations on its own. It can provide data that augments these operations, but it still falls on expert human analysts to use tools like XDR to conduct them. 

The integrated solution: Combine XDR with MDR 

The main difference between XDR and MDR is that one is a technology while the other is a service. That means the two solutions do not actually compete with one another. Many organizations rely on MDR vendors to implement, configure, and operate XDR platforms with on-demand specialist expertise. 

This eliminates the need to commit internal team members to security configuration tasks. The MDR vendor already has its own SOC and operational talent. It can include XDR in its security tech stack alongside other valuable technologies like Network Detection and Response (NDR) and SIEM.  

This three-pronged approach ensures no single tool is wholly responsible for generating alert data on its own. Passing every security event through each pillar of the SOC Visibility Triad ensures operational security excellence against a wide range of threats. Reputable MDR vendors make this possible by making enterprise-scale security operations accessible to anyone. 

Deploy best-of-breed technologies with Lumifi as your MDR partner 

Lumifi is an MDR vendor that specializes in custom technology implementations and tech stack consolidation. We use a proprietary SOC automation platform to contextualize analytics data from XDR, NDR, SIEM, and more with validation and input from expert human analysts in our SOC 2 Type II-certified SOC. Optimize your security workflows with custom detection rules and 24x7x365 monitoring, detection, and response.