Cybercriminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated, agile, and fast. For managed service providers (MSPs) supporting small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) with cybersecurity services, staying ahead of these adversaries is crucial. One of the most effective ways to do so is through round-the-clock threat hunting.

In this blog, we’ll explore why constant threat hunting is essential, the challenges MSPs face in providing it, and how OpenText MDR can help overcome these challenges while offering SMBs the protection they need.

The critical edge of 24/7 threat hunting

The pace of cyberattacks has never been faster. Modern threat actors are well-organized and highly skilled, using a range of attack methods to infiltrate systems, escalate privileges, and exfiltrate valuable data. The days of simplistic attacks that can be thwarted by basic defenses are long gone. Today’s adversaries employ advanced tactics like cross-domain attacks, use of stolen credentials, and sophisticated social engineering campaigns to infiltrate systems.

In addition to their increasing sophistication, adversaries are also incredibly fast. Breakout time, the window of time it takes for an attacker to gain initial access and the point at which they can move laterally to other critical systems, can be measured in minutes.

Given this reality, each minute lost in detection can give attackers the critical time they need to entrench themselves deeper within the organization’s environment. That’s why faster detection and response times are essential, delaying the response only increases the damage. That’s where 24/7 threat hunting becomes indispensable for MSPs looking to stay one step ahead of cybercriminals and protect their SMB customers.

Proactive threat hunting is the key to proactively identifying suspicious activity. It’s not just about waiting for an alert; it’s about actively searching for hidden threats in real-time. Threat hunting involves a combination of human expertise and advanced technologies that continuously analyze system data, identifying suspicious patterns or behaviors. By leveraging threat intelligence, threat hunters can spot emerging tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) used by adversaries, often before they’re seen in traditional threat intelligence feeds.

The challenge of building 24/7 threat hunting
in-house

While 24/7 threat hunting is undeniably essential for protecting SMBs, building and delivering this capability in-house presents significant challenges for many MSPs. Providing round-the-clock monitoring and expert threat hunting requires not only advanced technology but also skilled cybersecurity professionals—resources that can be costly, complex to manage, and hard to scale. Here are some of the main challenges MSPs face when trying to provide 24/7 threat hunting:

• High financial investment
  A fully staffed threat hunting team with a security operations center (SOC) requires significant financial investment. In-house teams need to be equipped with advanced security tools, threat intelligence, and continuous training.
• Complexity of management
  Threat hunting is not a simple task. It involves gathering and analyzing vast amounts of data from a range of endpoints, networks, and cloud to identify and track suspicious activity. With the growing number of tools and services available, managing these resources can quickly become overwhelming. MSPs may lack the expertise to tie everything together or the time to continuously monitor and analyze threat hunting data.
• Resources
  Maintaining 24/7 monitoring requires ongoing staffing, training, and operational management, which can stretch MSP resources thin. It’s hard to find skilled professionals who can perform threat hunting and respond to incidents in real-time. Cybersecurity talent is in high demand, and the shortage of skilled security experts makes it even more difficult for MSPs to maintain a robust in-house security operation.

Given these challenges, how can MSPs continue to provide best-in-class security services to their SMB customers? The answer lies in outsourcing to a fully managed solution that offers 24/7 threat hunting without the need for large internal teams or heavy financial investment.

That’s where OpenText MDR comes in.

OpenText MDR: The MSP solution for 24/7 threat hunting

For MSPs looking to provide round-the-clock threat hunting without the overhead of building an in-house solution, OpenText MDR offers a fully managed detection and response service that provides continuous monitoring, expert threat hunting, and rapid incident response—backed by a 24/7/365 SOC.

Here’s how OpenText MDR addresses the challenges MSPs face:

• Comprehensive, scalable SOC
  OpenText MDR comes with 24/7/365 coverage staffed by experienced cybersecurity professionals. This means MSPs can offer their clients continuous monitoring and rapid incident response, without the need to invest in expensive infrastructure or manage the in-house complexities.
• Expert threat hunting
  At the heart of OpenText MDR’s threat hunting is our team of security experts who work around the clock, 24/7, to proactively hunt for emerging threats. Leveraging a combination of AI-driven analytics and real-time data analysis, our threat hunters can identify suspicious activity and potential risks long before they escalate into full-blown attacks. With a deep understanding of adversary tradecraft and advanced threat intelligence, our experts are equipped to detect sophisticated attack methods. This combination of human expertise and cutting-edge technology enables our team to spot attack patterns as they emerge.
• Integrated SIEM & SOAR capabilities
  OpenText MDR combines cloud based SIEM and SOAR capabilities in one platform. This integration simplifies threat detection, prioritization, containment, and enables remediation through automated and customizable workflows, enabling a swift and coordinated response when a threat arises.
• Seamless integration with existing tools
  OpenText MDR integrates with over 500 security tools and services, allowing MSPs to leverage their existing investments while enhancing their capabilities with advanced threat detection and response. This collaborative approach streamlines the process, making it easier for MSPs to implement and manage without starting from scratch.
• Cost-effective solution
  Instead of investing heavily in tools, infrastructure, and talent to build an in-house solution, MSPs can rely on OpenText MDR as either a fully managed or co-managed service. This enables MSPs to offer cutting-edge protection to their SMB clients at a fraction of the cost and complexity of running their own SOC.

By partnering with OpenText MDR, MSPs can provide their SMB customers with proactive, 24/7 threat hunting and comprehensive protection against sophisticated cyber threats. This simplifies security, allowing MSPs to stay competitive while ensuring their clients are safeguarded without the burden of building and managing an in-house threat hunting team.

Ready to empower your SMB customers with 24/7 threat hunting and advanced security?
Contact us today to learn more.

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