Over the past decade, security incidents have increased in frequency and sophistication. A growing number of cyberattacks are sponsored by nation-states, while the attack surface continues to expand in a time of rapid digitalization. Organizations find it increasingly difficult to keep up to date with new developments in cybersecurity and to secure their business assets efficiently relying on in-house experts. In addition to this, performing effective threat detection and incident response requires a dedicated group of experts. The global lack of cybersecurity professionals makes it harder for organizations to acquire and retain this kind of talent. Furthermore, meaningful automation is still too underdeveloped to decrease the value of human expertise.

These factors have led to customers voicing their demands for more significant hands-on-keyboard approaches from service providers. Managed detection and response has made an impact by hitting every customer paint point in the cybersecurity industry. MDR provides a combination of security tools, controls, and human expertise to deliver proactive 24x7 monitoring of a security environment and perform detection and response. The service delivers its functions as a Security Operations Center (SOC) and includes Incident Response capabilities, as well as extensive Threat Hunting. MDR vendors have taken advantage of XDR to provide increased visibility and greater integration, as the evolution paths for both solutions continue to converge.

The MDR market is currently receiving an influx of new competitors. Some are pure-play cybersecurity companies, coming from the XDR or EDR space, adding a managed component to turn the solution into a service. MSSPs have also developed their own MDR services, looking to establish a long-lasting relationship with their customers, and deepening the threat detection and response they can provide. Furthermore, there are also professional services firms, and other security vendors jumping at the opportunity to increase their already broad portfolios with an MDR offering. In the long term, the scarcity of cybersecurity professionals will boost MDR market growth, as the issue will persist (and possibly deepen) for the rest of the forecast period. MDR currently offers a solution to the most pressing limitations and complications in the cybersecurity industry, and Frost & Sullivan expects this will ensure the success of the service in the next three years.