Sophos MDR services protect 26,000 organisations globally

Sophos has announced that its Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services now protect over 26,000 organisations globally, showing a 37% growth in its customer base during 2024.

This growth highlights an increasing demand for Sophos's proactive, expert-led security solutions. These solutions aim to protect organisations continuously against sophisticated cyber threats, including ransomware, business email compromises, and phishing attacks.

Sophos MDR includes a full suite of capabilities that extend beyond mere threat containment. It provides a full-scale incident response, such as root cause analysis and removal of malicious tools. A distinctive aspect of Sophos' offering is the inclusion of unlimited incident response services, meaning customers face no extra charges or time limits for incident response assistance. In addition, Sophos MDR Complete provides a breach protection warranty covering expenses up to USD $1 million.

Sophos has invested heavily in its MDR services, expanding analyst capacity, and incorporating AI-driven workflows alongside new features and integrations. Key enhancements include insights into the MDR team's actions, improved dashboard functionalities detailing key threat-detection tactics, and summaries of case investigations and account health checks.

Among its new features, Sophos has introduced proprietary detections for threats in Microsoft Office 365, independent of the user's Microsoft license, and developed integrations with third-party tools, including a new Backup and Recovery integration category.

Sophos also unveiled its Sophos Managed Risk service, powered by Tenable, providing a new option for attack surface vulnerability management. AI-powered workflows have been introduced to streamline operations, enabling faster threat response while enhancing analysts' ability to focus on threat hunting, account health monitoring, and detection engineering.

Rob Harrison, Senior Vice President of Product Management at Sophos stated, "Attackers are continuously advancing their tactics to outmanoeuvre traditional security defences. Our customers rely on Sophos MDR to help their organisations tackle today's threats 24/7 with full-scale incident response to remove active adversaries and conduct root cause analysis to identify the underlying issues that led to an incident. We're consistently evolving our solutions with new offerings and integrations, just like attackers are constantly evolving their tactics, so customers can disrupt threats before they escalate into destructive attacks."

Sophos has also added significant third-party integrations, enabling its MDR customers to ingest and analyse events and alerts from a broader range of tools. Customers have access to a new Backup and Recovery integration pack and Microsoft Office 365 Management Activity integrations, which enable the use of audit logs and security alerts across the Microsoft ecosystem.

The MDR service's efficacy was acknowledged through several accolades in 2024, including recognition as a leader in the IDC MarketScape assessments and awards for "Best Managed Detection and Response Service" and "Best Managed Security Service" at the SC Awards.

Sophos has shared insights from recent threat landscapes, including a release titled "The Bite from Inside," which explored changes in adversarial behaviour and attack techniques. The company also highlighted an upswing in Akira ransomware cases and detailed a sophisticated cyber espionage campaign in Southeast Asia.

Customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. One review from an assistant director of IT in the healthcare and biotech industry states, "Earlier, it was very difficult for us to manage the alerts and incidents generated by the tools and technology, but after MDR deployment, we have complete peace of mind." An IT manager adds, "Sophos MDR is a wonderful product and service by Sophos. You don't need a SOC after getting MDR."

Sophos' Managed Detection and Response services are projected to continue evolving to protect its growing global customer base against the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity threats.