EDR vs. MDR vs. XDR: Choosing the Best Option

Address your distinct security needs with EDR, MDR, and XDR. These three technologies are the keys to securing your cloud, IT, network, and cyber environments. Combat threats and keep everyone safe.

Cyber threats are getting smarter and traditional security tools are no longer enough to keep your organization safe. EDR, MDR, and XDR are three distinct technologies that play a vital role in safeguarding your users and assets. Cyber security can be confusing and data volumes are growing as we speak.

77% of security experts say that data leaks will occur more with the increasing use of Generative AI tools across industries. If you worry about your company’s future, then enhancing cyber resilience is a high priority. Slow detection and response can cost you.

Over 50% of security leaders will invest in EDR, MDR, and XDR solutions. It’s important to note that these three solutions are similar but work differently.

Don’t wait around for your threats, because they won’t wait for you to act.

Explore EDR vs. MDR. XDR solutions with us, compare their differences, and find out which ones are right for you.

What is Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)?

Endpoint Detection and Response captures all endpoint activities and uses advanced analytics to pinpoint anomalous behaviors across them. Security teams learn about the visibility of their endpoints and receive alerts regarding malicious events through EDR tools.

Key Features of EDR

EDR offers the following key features to enterprises:

• Triages alerts and validates suspicious endpoint activities.
• Analyzes large data stores.
• Detects security events.
• Generates actionable threat intelligence.
• Generates appropriate and context-based threat mitigation responses.
• Gives deep visibility into multiple endpoints, including IoT devices, laptops, desktops, and others.

What is Managed Detection and Response (MDR)?

Managed Detection and Response (MDR) is a special type of Security-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering where you employ dedicated security professionals to monitor and mitigate threats. Unlike other security automation tools in your arsenal, MDR adds a human element.

These experts review and take instant action on security events that are normally not caught by your existing stack. For threats that are evolving or if your tools are not accustomed or aware of the latest development, MDR can identify and eliminate them. MDR is a great way to boost your overall security maturity levels across the enterprise.

Key Features of MDR

MDR brings security teams the following key features:

• MDR detects false positives and investigates alerts after it detects an incident. It provides proactive threat-hunting capabilities.
• It organizes security events, categorizes and prioritizes them, and lists them according to their risk levels. This helps security teams take action on the most critical ones first.
• MDR provides instant remediation and response to security events within a customer’s network.

What is Extended Detection and Response (XDR)?

XDR provides threat detection and response for cloud security tools, services, endpoints, and networks. It is an extension of traditional EDR solutions. XDR works best in complex and hybrid cloud environments and many companies request it as a software-as-a-service (SasS) offering.

Key Features of XDR

Modern XDR solutions should offer security teams the following features:

• XDR solutions combine endpoint telemetry with data from logs and information security platforms. It detects a large number of threats, including evasive maneuvers which are normally invisible to other investigation methods.
• XDR applies context-based machine-driven analytics, reduces noise, and identifies the root causes of threats.
• XDR solutions also make smart recommendations and provide guidelines for queries and other response actions.
• XDR should be able to prioritize risks, guide responses, and generate multiple alerts.

Critical Differences Between EDR, MDR, and XDR

The following are the critical differences between EDR vs MDR vs XDR solutions:

1. In-house Expertise vs. Security Automation

There is no need to hire security experts from outside your organization when you use MDR. It consolidates the use of both XDR and EDR tools, plus adds human expertise on top. MDR accelerates multi-domain threat analysis and can help secure firewalls, cloud security posture, sensors, networks, and any other elements of the company’s IT Infrastructure.

2. Data Ingestion and Threat Visibility

XDR generates multi-domain security telemetry and streamlines security data ingestion, analysis, and workflows. It provides unified response capabilities and enables access to top-tier threat intelligence. XDR can enhance visibility across entire enterprises and provide detailed network traffic security analysis. Another key benefit of XDR over MDR and EDR is that it accelerates security operations and unifies organizations’ cyber security strategies.

3. EDR vs MDR vs XDR: Integrations

EDR, MDR, and XDR solutions can integrate seamlessly with firewalls, VPNs, and intrusion detection systems. They minimize the impact of security data breaches and deliver comprehensive protection.

EDR vs. MDR vs XDR: An Analysis of Key Differences

We’ve made a comparison table below to perform an EDR vs MDR vs XDR analysis:

Parameter	EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response)	MDR (Managed Detection and Response)	XDR (Extended Detection and Response)
Focus	EDR detects and responds to threats across all endpoints, such as laptops, servers, BYOD devices, and desktops.	MDR focuses on detecting and responding to threats across multiple layers, including the network, endpoint, and cloud security.	XDR detects and responds to threats across all layers, including networks, endpoints, clouds, and apps.
Scope	EDR covers a limited scope, it focuses on individual endpoints.	MDR covers a broader scope, including multiple layers.	XDR covers broader scopes that range from networks to apps.
Detection	EDR detects and alerts about endpoint-level threats.	MDR detects and alerts threats across multiple layers.	XDR detects and alerts on threats across all layers, and it provides a more comprehensive view of enterprise security posture.
Response	EDR gives automated response capabilities.	MDR delivers automated response capabilities, as well as human-led incident response.	XDR provides automated response capabilities, as well as human-led incident response and remediation.
Threat Intelligence	EDR includes basic threat intelligence feeds.	MDR provides advanced threat intelligence feeds and analysis.	XDR offers advanced threat intelligence feeds, analysis, and contextualization.
Integration	EDR integrates with your existing security tools.	MDR gives you centralized dashboards and security tool integrations.	XDR offers a unified security posture view and integrates with existing security tools; it also provides centralized dashboards.
Cost	EDR tools are more affordable, with lower costs per endpoint.	MDR solutions can be more expensive, with higher costs per endpoint.	XDR solutions are the most expensive; their fees depend on their coverage limits.
Complexity	EDR is simple to implement and manage.	MDR requires more expertise and resources.	XDR is the most complex option; it needs great skills and planning to execute and oversee.

EDR, MDR, and XDR Use Cases

Here is a list of the most popular EDR, MDR, and XDR use cases:

EDR vs MDR vs. XDR: Threat Remediation and Analysis

EDR solutions prevent phishing, malware attacks, ransomware, and provide advanced threat detection and response abilities. They detect malicious and unusual behaviors across all endpoints and secure sensitive data from cybercriminals. MDR provides 24/7 managed services for threat detection and response, security monitoring, threat hunting, and incident response. It provides access to the latest threat intelligence and gives deep visibility into the cloud and cyber security posture of organizations.

XDR incorporates threat analysis from multiple data sources, including cloud services, networks, and endpoints. It uses advanced analytics and automation to discover threats that are undetectable by siloed security tools.

1. Coverage Areas and Environments

EDR is great if you have limited network visibility; you can employ MDR for larger and more complex environments that are situated in faraway locations. XDR covers environments that use cloud-based platforms and services. It detects and responds to multi-vector attacks and tactics. XDR responds to advanced threats too like APTs and nation-state attacks.

2. Compliance

EDR meets HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and GDPR compliance policies easily. MDR assists with SOC 2 compliance, ISO 27001 framework, and maintains NIST standards. XDR deals with CMMC standards and matures cyber security. It complies with CSF standards and satisfies regulations like AWS Well-Architected Framework and Azure Security Center.

Consolidating EDR, MDR, and XDR for Better Security with SentinelOne

SentinelOne protects your enterprise by consolidating EDR, MDR, and XDR features. If you couldn’t decide between these tools, you’d be glad to know that SentinelOne offers them all! It’s the world’s most advanced AI-driven autonomous cyber security platform. You get complete cloud and endpoint protection with Singularity™ Endpoint, including the ability to secure your entitlements, identities, devices, and more.

Singularity™ XDR AI Platform offers unprecedented speed, infinite scalability, and advanced threat response capabilities. It maximizes visibility across your entire cloud estate and resolves critical issues associated with connected security ecosystems. SentinelOne simplifies your container and VM security, regardless of location. It offers maximum agility, and flexibility, and ensures continuous compliance. With Active Directory and Azure AD protection, you can upgrade your threat detection and secure all identity-based surfaces.

Singularity Cloud Workload Security protects your Kubernetes, servers, and hybrid cloud environments. It also secures assets in public and private clouds, including on-premises data centers.

Singularity Network Discovery uses built-in agent technology to actively and passively map networks, delivering instant asset inventories and information about rogue devices. It investigates how managed and unmanaged devices interact with critical assets; it also utilizes device controls from a unified interface to control IoT and suspicious or unmanaged devices.

Gartner says that 96% of organizations recommend SentinelOne for its EDR and EPP security features. There are no missed detections thanks to its record-breaking ATT&CK evaluation. Vigilance MDR accelerates SecOps and it offers 24/7/365 Managed Detection & Response (MDR) services. It records a 30-minute mean time to respond (MTTR), making it one of the fastest MDRs in business. No matter where you are in the world, SentinelOne’s human analysts add context using patented Storyline™ technology and save time in aggregating, correlating, and contextualizing alerts. Review all identified threats instantly and get extensive documentation delivered to you as part of your organization’s ongoing cadence.

You can also trigger forensic deep dives by using a mix of SentinelOne’s MDR + DFIR features which offers targeted threat hunting. Customize settings and security policies with the STAR module; you can create custom detection rules, automate response actions, and manage exceptions. SentinelOne Active EDR enables fast threat investigations and responds to security incidents. It integrates with BinaryVault, which is a secure cloud repository used to store and analyze suspicious files for future risk analysis and mitigation. Local telemetry streaming with Cloud Funnel gives security teams up-to-date information, even when they deal with remote or disconnected points.

Conclusion

We’ve explored the top EDR vs MDR vs XDR use cases and compared their critical differences. Whether you use EDR, MDR, or XDR, or a combination of all three, will depend on your business security requirements. Threats are evolving so your cyber and cloud security strategies will change too. If you’re too worried and want to future-proof your endpoint and cyber security, you can use SentinelOne. It adapts, is always available, and is very accessible.

FAQs

Is MDR better than XDR for protecting security applications?

XDR outperforms traditional MDR in many respects as it stitches together various data sources, like network traffic, endpoint data, and cloud logs for a complete understanding of possible threats. It offers more powerful threat detection and response features for handling complex security applications, that go beyond expert human-led analysis.

Can you detect fileless malware with MDR?

MDR detects some fileless malware, but it can’t catch all types.  It relies on traditional signature-based detection methods, which are not effective against most fileless malware since they don’t create any files on systems.

Can you secure servers with EDR?

Yes, EDR protects servers from cyber threats by monitoring and analyzing their activities. It can help keep sensitive information safe and prevent data breaches.

What is the difference between EDR and XDR?

EDR’s coverage is limited to endpoint devices. XDR is not limited to physical devices and scans networks, clouds, endpoints, services, and other data sources. XDR provides holistic security and gives a broader view; EDR is focused on endpoints only.

What is MDR vs XDR?

MDR features a third-party security team that monitors your networks and devices for cyber threats. XDR detects and responds to threats across multiple sources; it is a tool that uses security automation over human insight or intervention. But an MDR solution can make use of XDR and EDR tools, in addition to offering human-led supervision.

What is EDR and MDR?

EDR scans laptops, desktops, security logs, endpoint data, and IoT devices. MDR is a human-led security team that monitors your networks and devices for signs of various threats and malicious activities. They are both used to detect and respond to cyber attacks but differ in their approach. MDR is more manual while EDR is a technology that’s used in-house.

Does MDR have any limitations?

MDR won’t give a complete picture of your security environment. It also relies heavily on the expertise of the human analysts who are recruited to be a part of its services. If these professionals lack skill or are not knowledgeable in some security domains, then your enterprise can suffer. MDR takes ample time to set up for large-scale organizations and can be expensive. MDR services need to be in constant communication with internal teams and any delays can lead to false positives, unnecessary investigations, or unforeseen human errors. You may also have concerns about data ethics, controls, and ownership practices when sharing your information with your MDR service provider.