The Problem with Traditional MDR
Source: NSB Cyber
Organisations are investing more than ever in cyber security monitoring. SOCs, MDR providers, endpoint tools and SIEM platforms have significantly improved visibility across environments. And yet, serious cyber incidents continue to occur.
The Issue is Timing
Most traditional SOC and MDR models follow a familiar process:
Activity → Alert → Investigation → Response
This model assumes that alerts are a reliable starting point for detection.
In practice, they are not. Alerts are a lagging indicator of attacker activity. By the time an alert is triggered, the activity has already occurred, and the attacker may have already progressed within the environment.
Detection Starts Too Late
Modern attackers often operate in ways that avoid early alerts. They may use valid credentials, move quickly across systems, and blend into normal behaviour. As a result, suspicious activity can exist well before it meets the threshold required to trigger an alert. When detection begins at the point of alert, organisations are already in a reactive position. The focus shifts from preventing an incident to containing one that is already underway.
More Alerts, Less Clarity
Traditional SOC models also generate high volumes of alerts, many of which are low value or ambiguous. This can make it harder to identify what truly matters, increasing pressure on teams and slowing effective response. As a result, effort is often focused on processing alerts, rather than prioritising meaningful threats.
A Model Built for Response
In our view, the challenge is not a lack of tools or capability, but the operating model itself. Most SOC and MDR services are designed to respond to alerts quickly and process volume efficiently. While important, this does not change when detection begins. We wanted to address this when building our Solution.
A Shift in Approach
We believe that improving outcomes requires more than a faster triage. It requires shifting detection earlier in the attack lifecycle, so suspicious behaviour can be identified, investigated, and acted on sooner.
Of course, this does not eliminate incidents altogether. But it supports better prioritisation, earlier intervention, and stronger overall resilience.
This is where our modernised SOC begins. Rather than waiting for alerts, we focus on identifying and disrupting threats early in the attack lifecycle.