What’s this all about and why would it be of any benefit to you? The first part is easy to explain but the second is a little more problematic. MDR is a cybersecurity service designed to help organisations, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), detect, investigate, and respond to cyber threats without needing their own large security team. That latter bit is important for an SME simply because they don’t have the expertise or resources to do this themselves, neither can they rely upon their local IT provider to do this for them, even if only because it almost certainly won’t be in your service contract.
What does it give you:
| Capability | Why it matters to SMEs |
| Around-the-clock monitoring | Cyber threats don’t stick to business hours – MDR providers watch systems 24/7. |
| Threat detection using modern tools | Uses advanced analytics, machine learning, and threat intelligence that SMEs typically can’t afford or manage internally. |
| Rapid Incident Response | Can remotely contain and remediate attacks before they spread. |
| Security expertise on demand | SMEs gain access to required expertise. |
| Proactive threat hunting | Identifies hidden attackers or early-stage breaches. |
| Compliance and reporting | Helps SMEs meet regulations (e.g., GDPR, Cyber Essentials, ISO 27001) with clear reports. |
The above describes a full service, SMEs do have the choice of selecting a full response or an alerting service which also gives guidance on what to do i.e. helps manage a response by you.
It’s important to understand what an MDR is not:
- Not a replacement for basic security hygiene (patching, backups, strong access controls)
- Not just a tool, it’s a combination of technology + human expertise
- Not “set and forget”, you still must collaborate on remediation decisions
So now we understand what MDR is, let’s look at why you might want it. SMEs are increasingly targeted by cybercriminals due to limited in-house security resources. An MDR service provides continuous monitoring, advanced threat detection, and rapid incident response, improving cyber resilience while reducing operational burden and cost. Implementing MDR will significantly reduce the company’s cybersecurity risk and support compliance, business continuity, and customer trust. And if you think this is all over the top let’s remember Knights of Old, they were an established trucking company who moved a lot of what you might call just in time goods, i.e. perishables. They were hit with a ransomware attack and went under in a frighteningly short time.
So just to crystallise the problem, current security controls are designed to be preventative and are largely reactive, with no proactive elements to them. They lack:
- 24/7 threat monitoring
- Real-time detection and investigation
- Specialised expertise required for modern cyber threats
- Rapid response capability to contain breaches
As a result, you potentially face::
- Increased probability of a successful attack
- Delayed breach response → attackers remain undetected for months
- Data exfiltration and business disruption
- Higher financial and operational impact if one occurs
- Non-compliance with data protection obligations (e.g., GDPR, industry standards)
- Reputational damage and loss of customer confidence
- Insurance coverage gaps (cyber insurers increasingly mandate MDR-level monitoring)
- Greater operational and legal fallout from incidents
The trick for many SMEs would be finding a solution that is suitable for them and just as importantly affordable. A good fit could be:
- Affordable subscription model with no costly infrastructure
- Bridges the cybersecurity skills shortage
- Improves resilience against ransomware, phishing, insider threats, and more
- Scales as the business grows
SMEs would also need to consider whether they need a full response service or an alerting service level. The latter is obviously cheaper and maybe more appropriate for many. The coverage they should be looking for needs to include:
- Endpoints (laptops, servers)
- Cloud workloads (Microsoft 365, Azure, etc)
- Identity services (Active Directory)
- Network visibility
- Email security
- Remote workforce monitoring
I hope that this provides food for thought as I know many SMEs will not have considered this type of service or if they have, they will have dismissed it as too expensive and probably over the top. And for many years this would have been just that. I first got involved with this back in 2002 and built several security operations centres over the years, including staffing levels and processes.
Generally, these have been way too expensive for an SME to consider. But that has changed now, there are services available which are designed for SMEs, and which are affordable and appropriate. Now I know you’ve been waiting for the pitch and here it comes. At H2 we provide such a service which is very affordable, and we are happy to stack it up against others. We offer a 14 day totally free trial, that covers your whole estate, i.e. not restricted to one or two systems, or departments, but your whole organisation.
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