Take a look at the 2022 SC Awards, and you'll notice five finalists in the MDR (managed detection and response) category. Among the top-of-mind questions: How do those MDR security companies work with MSSPs, MSPs and other types of service providers?
Among some of the key takeaways for the 2022 SC Awards Finalists: The MDR service providers come in all shapes and sizes, from multiple regions, and from all types of financial backgrounds. Here's a look at those five MDR finalists -- sorted alphabetically -- along with MSSP Alert's take on their various partner engagements.
1. ActZero MDR (Menlo Park, California)
ActZero, founded in 2019, has 90 employees listed on LinkedIn. Point72 Hyperscale led a $40 million seed round in ActZero in 2020. By May 2021, ActZero had unveiled a Summit white label partner program for MSPs, MSSPs and VARs. Fast forward to October 2021, and ActZero expanded its MDR services to protect Microsoft 365, Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Workspace.
2. Bitdefender MDR (Bucuresti, Romania)
Bitdefender, founded in 2021, has 1,914 employees listed on LinkedIn. The company has more than 20,000 qualified partners and resellers, including distribution across 170 countries. Bitdefender launched an EDR solution for MSPs and MDR services for MSPs in 2020.
3. Castra (Durham, North Carolina)
The company -- which ranks as a Top 250 MSSP -- blends SIEM (security information and event management) with 24x7 MDR capabilities. Castra, founded in 2012, has between 51-200 employees listed on LinkedIn. The company has an 24x7, SOC2 Type I and Type II compliant and audited Security Operation Center located in North Carolina and redundant data centers throughout North America. Among the company's key honors: Exabeam named Castra as MSSP Partner of the Year for the Americas in 2021.
4. LogicHub MDR (Mountain View, California)
The company, founded in 2016, has 85 employees listed on LinkedIn. LogicHub has MDR, SOAR (security orchestration, automation and response) and XDR capabilities. The company's partner program -- designed for solutions providers and MSSPs, mostly emphasizes SOAR capabilities to modernize security operations.
5. Mandiant Managed Defense (Reston, Virginia)
The company, founded in 2004, has made multiple major moves in recent months. First came the breakup from FireEye in 2021. Next up, Mandiant's pending sale to Google Cloud. Fast forward to May 2022, and Mandiant now has 2,058 employees listed on LinkedIn. Among the latest additions: Dee Dee Acquista has joined the company as VP of channel sales -- a healthy sign that Mandiant continues to invest in its partner ecosystem amid the pending Google M&A deal. So what's next? If the Department of Justice approves the Google-Mandiant deal, next steps on the partner front could involve this MSSP partner program.
