Evolving MDR with artificial intelligence: the Versive acquisition

Since its inception eSentire has defined the Managed Detection and Response (MDR) category as a service offering a blend of process and human analysis that leverages technology to do the "heavy lifting" where most appropriate. We have continually evolved our "high tech/high touch" methodology, techniques to identify threats, and technology including full packet capture, rule-based systems, HTTP/S analysis/decoding, bandwidth analysis, and deep packet inspection.

A few years ago, a small group within eSentire, now known as the advanced threat analytics team (or ATA) began a project that uses human assisted machine learning (ML) to extend eSentire’s MDR capabilities. This continuously updated model has since identified new attacks including a crypto-currency mining campaign leveraging Kaseya’s Virtual System Administrator (VSA), an attack against a large legal firm most seemingly attributable to a nation state entity, to a wide variety of less-glamorous sources and vectors including penetration testing and weaknesses discovered in third-party software.

Now we mark another evolution of the MDR space by augmenting current eSentire offerings with additional AI, ML and deep analytics capabilities. Today we welcome Versive, leaders in cybersecurity AI to the eSentire team. We continue to recognize the need for human expertise within MDR and as the amount of data continues to increase along with the inevitable migration to hybrid or pure cloud services, it's necessary to blend skilled analysts with AI techniques (primarily ML) to manage the increased load.

To that end, eSentire recognizes that while there's still immense value in well-established investigative techniques, there's a growing need to further extend our ML capabilities. I've recently accepted the role as the Chief Innovation Officer, and with tongue firmly planted in cheek, my desire is to "QUANT EVERYTHING”, and I believe that the Versive team will help further accelerate our capabilities in this respect.

As such, we welcome Versive to the eSentire family!