CRITICALSTART® Enhances MDR with Integrated Asset Inventory & SOC Signal Assurance

PLANO, Texas, Aug. 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Critical Start, a leader in Managed Detection and Response (MDR) cybersecurity solutions and a pioneer in Managed Cyber Risk Reduction (MCRR), is announcing an enhancement to its MDR offerings. Customers of Critical Start's MDR services will receive enhanced asset inventory and management capabilities for no additional cost.

According to the 2024 Gartner® Market Guide for Managed Detection and Response (MDR), "increasingly, MDR buyers are asking providers to extend their requirement beyond the detection of and response to threats, to include the proactive identification of threat exposures and preemptive security responses."

While MDR is crucial, it cannot operate in isolation. MDR effectiveness and consistency hinge on complete signal coverage. The 2024 Critical Start Cyber Risk Landscape Peer Report survey found that 83% of organizations experienced a breach requiring attention within the last two years despite having traditional threat-based security measures in place.

The report highlights the symbiotic relationship between MDR and preemptive security elements. This integrated approach involves maintaining a comprehensive inventory of all IT assets to detect vulnerabilities and ensures all endpoints are protected and monitored for suspicious activities. Enhancements in Critical Start's platform capabilities include:

• Asset Inventory: Integrates with an organization's security and asset data sources to build a complete and normalized host inventory within the Critical Start platform
• Endpoint Security Coverage Gaps: Provides continuous monitoring to identify gaps in endpoint security coverage for both missing and stale/broken security agents.
• Asset Criticality: Defines and manages critical hosts to prioritize security alerts and vulnerability remediations.
• SIEM Health Monitoring: Monitors anomalies in log sources (spikes or drops in logs or suddenly no logs being ingested at all).
• EOL Systems Identification: Identifies end-of-life (EOL) operating systems across endpoints and highlights systems vulnerable to security risks, enabling the team to prioritize patching, upgrading, or decommissioning.

Integrating these features and capabilities into MDR reflects Critical Start's commitment to delivering advanced cybersecurity solutions that not only detect and respond to threats but also proactively mitigate organizational risks.

Elevating MDR Effectiveness with Comprehensive Asset Inventory and Asset Criticality

Integrating asset inventory into Critical Start's MDR solutions helps ensure the SOC receives all expected signals, significantly enhancing detection and response capabilities. By including this capability with MDR, organizations can have confidence that assets are accounted for and monitored, reducing the risk of shadow IT and unmanaged devices that could serve as entry points for cyber attackers.

According to Critical Start's 2024 Cyber Risk Landscape Peer Report, only 29% of survey respondents report having full asset visibility. Limited visibility into assets connected to the network leaves organizations exposed around the clock and security leaders unsure of their true level of risk exposure. Critical Start's Cyber Operations Risk & Response™ (CORR) platform leverages this enhanced visibility to identify, prioritize, and address security coverage gaps, including misconfigurations, improper access controls, a lack of security tooling, and more, fortifying defenses against multi-vector threats.

Addressing these challenges helps optimize resource allocation by prioritizing security efforts in the most vulnerable areas. According to Critical Start Peer Insights, between 40% and 60% of organizations maintain a basic asset inventory using manual processes or tools, but only up to 70% of critical assets are identified, leaving significant visibility gaps that attackers can exploit. Critical Start's proactive risk mitigation leads to a reduced attack surface and a more resilient security infrastructure.

"At Critical Start, we are committed to not only detecting and responding to threats but also proactively reducing our customers' risk exposure," said Rob Davis, Chief Executive Officer at Critical Start. "In our experience, a main source of initial compromises is unmonitored infrastructure. By integrating comprehensive asset inventory and criticality into our MDR solutions along with identification of endpoint security gaps, we empower organizations with unparalleled visibility to ensure the greatest risk reduction for a breach."

Critical Start started rolling out these new enhancements in a phased approach to new and existing customers on August 1, 2024. Customers will also get access to planned upcoming capabilities that further reduce risk, including vulnerability scanner coverage gaps, external-facing asset identification, and asset tag management to identify critical business applications and processes.

For more information on Critical Start's enhanced MDR offerings, visit: Critical Start MDR.

About Critical Start

Organizations today face the challenge of optimally aligning their cyber protection measures to reduce the risk of breaches and business disruptions. CRITICALSTART^® Managed Detection and Response (MDR) is the foundation to Managed Cyber Risk Reduction, which improves security operations outcomes and minimizes the probability and impact of breaches. Utilizing their Cyber Operations Risk & Response™ platform, they integrate industry-leading tools and proactive cybersecurity intelligence into the Security Operations Center (SOC) — such as comprehensive asset inventories, EDR coverage gaps, asset criticality, MITRE ATT&CK^® Mitigations, and vulnerability management. Their security operations team evaluates and responds to threats, vulnerabilities, and risks, while conducting extensive threat intelligence research. Supported by a human-led risk and security operations team with over 10 years of MDR experience, Critical Start empowers businesses to protect their critical assets, demonstrating a measurable return on investment.

The platform offers maturity assessments, peer benchmarking, posture and event analytics, and robust response capabilities. This approach ensures that organizations achieve optimal cyber risk reduction for every dollar spent, enabling them to confidently reach their desired risk tolerance levels.

For more information, visit criticalstart.com. Follow Critical Start on LinkedIn, @CRITICALSTART, or on Twitter, @CRITICALSTART. Follow Critical Start on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, Instagram.

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SOURCE Critical Start