WatchGuard Launches MDR Service, Helps MSPs Accelerate Cybersecurity Service Delivery

Amid rising customer demand for MDR, the new offering allows MSPs to offer 24/7 threat detection and response services to customers without the burden of building and managing an in-house SOC.

SEATTLE – Oct. 24, 2023 – WatchGuard® Technologies, a global leader in unified cybersecurity, today announced the launch of WatchGuard MDR, a new 24/7 cybersecurity service purpose-built to make MDR vastly more accessible to managed service providers (MSPs) working to address soaring customer demand for managed cybersecurity delivery. The new service is managed by an elite team of cybersecurity experts and powered by AI. It requires no investment in a traditional security operation center (SOC) infrastructure, advanced technologies, or security experts, which addresses the pressures of scarce cybersecurity professionals and funding faced by MSPs.

“WatchGuard’s new solution has effectively super charged our managed security services business by allowing us to effortlessly tap into the immense potential of MDR and offer it as a value-added service to customers,” said Raul Zayas, president of ZTek Solutions. “By removing the burden on us to create a modern SOC, WatchGuard MDR expedited our ability to give customers what they need the most: top-notch, comprehensive cybersecurity backed by industry-leading cyber experts to ensure a resilient defense against evolving cyber threats. Not only has WatchGuard put us in the fast lane in that regard, they also make it all incredibly simple to do through their Unified Security Platform architecture to help ensure we stay ahead of the curve.” 

Highly customizable and scalable, this new MDR service further strengthens WatchGuard’s Unified Security Platform architecture, providing advanced threat detection and response capabilities on top of WatchGuard EDR, EPDR, and Advanced EPDR that empower MSPs to build out robust, comprehensive security offerings for their customers. It comes with the support of WatchGuard’s automated Zero-Trust Application Service, Threat Hunting Service, advanced security analytics, threat intelligence, and a dedicated team of skilled cybersecurity analysts that monitor, detect, and respond to threats 24/7.

“As a 100% channel-driven company, we wanted to deliver an enterprise-class MDR solution that would allow our MSP partners to expand their business without the expense of building their own SOC or adding to the challenges they already face in finding cybersecurity talent,” said Andrew Young, chief product officer at WatchGuard Technologies. “We are dedicated to supporting our MSP community, and the launch of WatchGuard MDR represents another milestone in the long-term trusted relationships we build with our partners. Not only does this service help MSPs break through existing barriers to entry for delivering managed security services – it allows them to capitalize on a growing opportunity with an innovative new solution we’ve purpose-built for them specifically.”

Key Features and Benefits

WatchGuard MDR is the ideal choice for service providers looking to elevate the security posture of their customers, expand their portfolio, and generate recurring revenue streams with zero investment in modern security operations center (SOC), sophisticated and expensive AI-based technology, and scarce cybersecurity experts. Capabilities include:

• 24/7 Endpoint Activity Monitoring and Data Collection – to provide real-time and retrospective monitoring using event data captured by WatchGuard EPDR or Advanced EPDR in WatchGuard’s modern SOC.
• 24/7 Proactive Hunting and Detection – to reduce time to detect and mitigate threats using AI, machine learning, and other advanced techniques to identify indicators of attack, while WatchGuard’s MDR threat hunters search for threats lurking in endpoints.
• 24/7 Investigation and Validation – to minimize the impact of potential threats by relying on WatchGuard experts to quickly investigate and accurately validate incidents to determine their nature and severity.
• Immediate Incident Notification – to provide prompt notification with key insights such as affected machines and tactics used when a validated incident occurs so MSPs can take immediate action.
• Options for Mitigation and Guidelines for Remediation – to give MSPs the flexibility to choose the strategy that works best for their business. They can rely on their own team with guidance from WatchGuard experts on how to contain and remove traces of an attack, restore data, patch vulnerabilities, and install additional controls. Or they can outsource the initial response and the containment through endpoint isolation to automated playbooks developed by WatchGuard MDR experts.
• Weekly Security Health Status Report and Monthly Activity Reporting – to build trust with customers by providing regular reports on their security status, which service providers can customize to better engage customers with their MDR service and provide valuable feedback throughout the process.

For more information about WatchGuard MDR, click here.