What is the Ideal RFP for MSSPs or MDR?

Understanding the nuances of Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) and Managed Detection and Response (MDR) is essential for organizations when crafting Requests for Proposals (RFPs). This glossary sheds light on their unique characteristics & applications and discusses whether you should make your next RFP for an MDR service provider or MSSPs.

MSSP and MDR: What's the Difference?

The difference between Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) and Managed Detection and Response (MDR) lies in their approach to cybersecurity. Traditional Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) uses firewalls, intrusion detection tools, and vulnerability scanning to monitor security events and send alerts to your team. In contrast a Managed Detection and Response (MDR) provider will not only conduct 24/7 threat detection and containment but will also act as an extension of your team and provide complete response – on your behalf.

Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs):

A Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) will remotely monitor network security events and send alerts to your team if they notice any anomalies. They deliver continuous security monitoring and asset management and they’re typically best used for threat prevention.

MSSPs also augment your internal security team's efforts by ensuring they detect cybersecurity incidents as they occur, reducing the impact and cost to your company. This allows you to focus your internal cybersecurity resources on cyber threats more likely to become legitimate security incidents.

However, there are many drawbacks to MSSPs, including:

• Alert fatigue
• Automated communication
• Lack of response capabilities
• Reactive approach to threats

Managed Detection and Response (MDR):

MDR providers prioritize 24/7 threat detection, investigation, and response capabilities by ingesting multiple signals across endpoint, network, log, cloud, identity, and vulnerability sources. This multi-signal capability is crucial to maintain full visibility across your entire attack surface.

MDR providers deliver fast, accurate containment and response actions on your behalf through a have a team of 24/7 SOC Cyber Analysts and Elite Threat Hunters who conduct deep threat investigations and proactive hypothesis-driven threat hunting to deliver original threat intelligence.

This results in the elimination of false positives, identification of real threats, and the development of novel detection models that MDR providers can apply at scale across their global customer base.

The RFP Process for MSSP and MDR Services

When drafting an MSSP or MDR RFP, it is essential to clearly define the scope, service level agreements, and compliance requirements to ensure the MSSP or MDR offerings align with the organization's needs. Your business should focus on the provider's security operations center capabilities, extended detection and response (XDR) platform, threat detection and visibility, technology integrations, response efforts and threat intelligence.

Questions to Ask In Your MDR or MSSP RFP

Asking the right questions in sales conversations when you’re evaluating MDR service providers is crucial to ensuring that the MDR provider can meet your organization's unique security requirements. It will allow you to gain a better understanding of an MDR provider's capabilities, service offerings, and ability to address your specific security challenges.

You should seek to identity whether an MDR provider or MSSPs is addressing five measurable components of your protection by asking questions that answer the following concerns:

• How is my provider leveraging data and lessons from ongoing MDR operations to reduce my risk over time?
• How does the provider alleviate complexity and resource constraints?
• How is my provider accounting for sensitive data and potential blind spots?
• How many threats am I able to automatically block?
• How fast is my provider able to investigate, respond and remediate identified threats?

Check out our "20+ Questions To Ask When You’re Evaluating an MDR Service Provider" for a full list of questions you can ask when conducting an MDR RFP or MSSP RFP.

Why Your Next RFP Should Be For Managed Detection and Response Services

Compared to MSSPs, there are significant benefits to engaging MDR services, including:

• Multi-signal ingestion
• Human involvement and expertise
• Swift and timely response

To delve deeper into the benefits and considerations of MDR and MSSPs, we invite you to download our comprehensive guide, From MSSP to MDR: Why Your Next RFP Should Be for Managed Detection and Response (MDR) or review our eSentire MDR vs other MDR service providers and MSSPs comparison.

Contact us to learn how MDR can help you build a more resilient security operation.