Open Systems, a leading cybersecurity and networking provider for the enterprise cloud, has redefined the managed detection and response (MDR) market with the launch of Ontinue, its new MDR division. Ontinue is the only managed extended detection and response (MXDR) provider that leverages AI-driven automation, human expertise and the Microsoft security platform to continuously assess and protect an organization’s environment and advance its security posture for digital transformation. Unlike other MDR services available today, Ontinue’s newly launched MXDR service, Ontinue ION, delivers Nonstop SecOps with 24/7, always-on protection. The Ontinue ION service has advanced capabilities baked into its platform that enable faster detection and response, a deeper understanding of a customer’s environment for more proactive threat protection and the ability to maximize current Microsoft security investments for greater efficiency.
“Ontinue ION improves security program efficacy and maturity, and liberates customers to embrace digital transformation, and to accomplish their business objectives confidently and productively.”
Redefining MDR to Deliver Nonstop SecOps
Despite existing MSSP and MDR solutions, organizations still struggle with three key challenges. The first is that they are slow to detect and respond to threats. The second is that they are reactive. Security teams spend most of their time firefighting, which keeps them from implementing stronger proactive measures that prevent many threats so there are fewer requiring detection and response. The third challenge is that they are inefficient. Security teams have myriad products that produce too many alerts, and they have too few people to handle those alerts – they need to do more with less.
These three challenges reflect the core challenge in security, which is that operationalizing security day in and day out is hard.
Delivering Nonstop SecOps requires a new operational model that redefines MDR to accelerate detection and response, improve proactive prevention and overall posture strength – and do all of this while maximizing efficiency and enabling teams to do more with less. This new operational model hinges on five key capabilities:
- Collaboration: Security is a team sport that requires Security, IT and even end users to be on the same page at all times. The Ontinue ION platform introduces a fundamentally different approach to the traditional customer interaction model. Instead of yet another ticketing system or portal, Ontinue ION embeds into Microsoft Teams to deliver critical dashboards to key stakeholders and enable real-time collaboration and access to information on any device at any time.
- Automation: Automation is the key to speed, accuracy and consistency. Ontinue leverages data science and AI to model expert cyber defender behavior and find opportunities for process optimization and automation. The result is fully automated threat detection, investigation and response for 70% of high severity incidents, and semi-automated workflows to help Tier 2 and Tier 3 defenders resolve more complex threats faster.
- Localization: One size does not fit all in security. Ontinue ION builds a model of each customer’s environment and operations in order to localize or “tailor” the service to their unique environment. Armed with this unique “structural context,” Ontinue ION is better able to prioritize efforts based on risk, reduce burden on their teams and respond to threats faster without causing collateral damage.
- Specialization: No one knows the Microsoft multi-cloud, multi-device control plane better than Ontinue. Rather than forcing customers to send their data to a secondary SIEM, Ontinue ION uses a customer’s own Microsoft Sentinel as the source of truth, allowing Security teams to maintain possession of their data. Ontinue’s hyper-focus on Microsoft empowers customers with capabilities to optimize Sentinel cost and maximize the value from their Microsoft Defender suite.
- Prevention: Every security team wants to be more proactive. Ontinue ION integrates continuous assessment and prevention activities into a virtuous lifecycle with reactive detection and response activities. Designated Cyber Advisors leverage insights from resolved incidents and threat hunts to prioritize prevention efforts that improve a customer’s security score, while Cyber Defenders prioritize incidents and responses based on information gathered during assessment activities.
“Ontinue is upending the MDR market by redefining what MDR services are capable of. Operationalizing security requires new, innovative capabilities that go beyond conventional MDR features into automation, collaboration and – ultimately – prevention. This is what the Ontinue ION platform delivers to customers – nonstop,” said Geoff Haydon, the Executive Chairman of Open Systems and CEO of Ontinue. “Ontinue ION improves security program efficacy and maturity, and liberates customers to embrace digital transformation, and to accomplish their business objectives confidently and productively.”
SOURCE: Businesswire