MDR vs. SOC: Full Comparison

Learn the key differences between managed detection and response (MDR) and security operations center (SOC), their features, benefits, and which solution best addresses modern cybersecurity challenges.

Evolving cyberattacks and changing regulations expose businesses to ever more risk related to data breaches and non-compliance. Thus, businesses need modern cybersecurity strategies. But there’s a debate among security teams regarding which solution best solves modern cybersecurity challenges: managed detection and response (MDR) vs. security operations center (SOC).

In this article, we’ll explain SOC and MDR, including their features, benefits, and limitations. We’ll also deconstruct key differences between the two approaches.

What Is MDR?

Managed detection and response is an outsourced continuous threat management service that uses security experts and technology for proactive, real-time attack detection and response. In particular, MDR vendors analyze endpoint data, system logs, and network traffic to identify potential security breaches and suspicious activity.

Key features of MDR

1. Technologies and automation — MDR relies on security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) platforms to coordinate and automate responses to security threats using predefined playbooks as a guide. It uses endpoint detection and response (EDR) and SIEM tools to collect and correlate data from firewalls, applications, and endpoint monitoring.
2. Human expertise — Security analysts investigate incidents and orchestrate effective rapid response actions. These security teams can, for example, block malicious traffic or isolate an infected system.
3. Threat Intelligence — MDR tools use machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze and transform raw threat data into actionable insights used to perform remediation measures.

What Is SOC?

A security operations center is a centralized command facility where a team of IT security professionals uses security tools and processes to assess, monitor, and remediate IT threats in real-time, across an organization’s systems, devices, and critical applications. Generally, you can build a SOC in-house, fully outsource SOC operations, or adopt a hybrid model by supplementing your own in-house SOC team with a managed security service provider.

Key Features of SOC

1. Human expertise — SOCs comprise team members as follows:

• Security analysts, who are the frontline team that monitors security events in real-time;
• Threat hunters, who use advanced analytical skills to investigate and remediate complex incidents;
• Security engineers, who configure and maintain SOC tools and technologies; and
• SOC managers, who supervise and train first and second-tier staff, develop and implement incident policies, assess incident reports, and manage vendor relationships, among other duties.

2. Tools and technologies — SOC teams use tools for SIEM, network security monitoring (NSM), (EDR), and intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDS/IPS) to manage and analyze security alerts across the network.

3. SOC processes — SOC includes workflows that ensure systematic handling of security incidents. For example, investigation workflows monitor and analyze cloud resources, network devices, databases, firewalls, workstations, servers, switches, and routers so the SOC team can take action based on real-time data.

What’s the Difference Between MDR vs SOC?

MDR is a service that organizations outsource to detect, monitor, and respond to cyber threats with minimal in-house involvement. In contrast, SOCs offer holistic oversight of an entire IT infrastructure and security system and require significant internal involvement throughout the setup and management of security tools and technologies.

Below is how MDR and SOC differ in their implementation, their cost, and their goals.

Goals: MDR vs. SOC

MDR goals

• MDR emphasizes threat hunting and incident response using advanced technologies. MDR is evolving into extended detection and response (XDR).
• It helps organizations manage high volumes of alerts while avoiding alert failure.
• It aims to mitigate threats without requiring much involvement from the company that outsourced security.

SOC goals

• Security monitoring and alerting: SOCs collect and analyze data to detect unusual patterns.
• SOC aims to provide the SOC team with a view of an organization’s entire threat landscape, including the traffic flowing between on-premises servers, software, and endpoints.
• Beyond threat detection and response, it addresses all security aspects of the company, including managing vulnerability, compliance, and infrastructure security.

Implementation: MDR vs SOC

As a managed service, MDR external providers integrate their services into your existing security infrastructure. MDR services require minimal setup on your part. On the contrary, SOC implementation is flexible. You can implement SOC internally, fully outsource it, or co-manage it with a third-party vendor. Compared to MDR, configuring SOC requires more direct involvement.

Cost: MDR vs SOC

MDR is cost-effective for small and medium-sized businesses. It operates on a subscription or service-based model, customized according to the needs of a business, so you can avoid paying for a technology tool you don’t need. MDR pricing is typically based on the number of endpoints, users, or network size.

On the other hand, SOC is an economical choice for large businesses. However, the cost depends on which SOC model you choose. Setting up an in-house SOC requires significant investment to procure hardware and software, hire staff, and set up and maintain hardware. You can save significant resources by opting for a fully managed or hybrid SOC service. SOC cost is based on either usage or number of endpoints. It can also use tiered pricing, a subscription model, or data ingestion pricing.

Benefits

MDR Benefits

• It helps discover and remediate threats early to reduce risk and minimize the impact on your business.
• It uses threat analysis to prioritize and improve incident response services.
• Additionally, it provides continuous monitoring of threats and protection from attacks 24 hours a day.
• It proactively scans for threats in systems and networks and takes action to mitigate damage.

SOC Benefits

• Security experts interpret event logs to find security issues such as configuration errors, policy breaches, and system changes and then offers recommendations for IT security improvement.
• Rapid response and proactive monitoring capabilities ensure system threats are detected as soon as they occur, reducing the risk of downtime and maintaining business continuity.
• SOC builds trust by showing customers and employees that their data is secure, which makes them comfortable sharing confidential information essential for business analysis.
• Finally, it allows you to customize security rules and strategies to comply with regulatory rules.

Limitations

MDR Limitations

• Since MDR is fully outsourced, a security breach of the provider’s system can disrupt your business.
• MDR has to integrate with your existing IT infrastructure. Cases of incompatibility can leave security gaps and inadequate security protection.

SOC Limitations

• There is a shortage of cybersecurity talent and competition for the available experienced cybersecurity professionals. Thus, for an in-house SOC, you need to deal with the issue of high employee turnover. Organizations choosing this route have to either spend heavily enough to attract and retain staff, especially senior analysts or invest in training tier-one SOC analysts.
• SOSs implement and deploy many tools, including monitoring, security, and incident response systems. Configuring, maintaining, and integrating these tools to work harmoniously with existing systems is challenging.
• SOCs handle large volumes of data, alerts, and logs. Data not properly managed to ensure integrity and quality may generate false positives or negatives. This means receiving alerts for activities that are not a threat, resulting in wasted resources and time.

MDR vs. SOC: 11 Comparisons

Aspect	MDR	SOC
Definition	Purely an outsourced service for proactive threat detection and response	Outsourced, hybrid or in-house facility that monitors, detects, and responds to IT threats across systems
Human Expertise	Outsourced security analysts who investigate and respond to incidents	In-house or co-managed multi-tiered team comprising security analysts, threat hunters, engineers, and SOC managers.
Integration	Integrates with SOAR, EDR, and SIEM solutions	Integrates with a host of security infrastructure tools, including SIEM, EDR, IDS/IPS, and NSM
Scope	Primarily focuses on threat hunting and incident response across endpoints, networks, and other integrated data sources	Offers a comprehensive IT security coverage, addressing all aspects, including network, cloud, endpoint, vulnerability management, and regulatory compliance
Deployment & Implementation	Outsourced service with minimal setup required	In-house or hybrid SOC requires more effort and resources to set up
Cost	Subscription-based and often cost-effective for small to medium-sized businesses	High upfront costs for in-house SOCs; fully managed or hybrid SOC models offer more predictable costs
Identity and Access Management Support	Often integrated with identity and access management (IAM) tools for endpoint security	Monitors IAM systems for unauthorized access, privilege escalation, and policy violations, crucial for organizations with high compliance needs
Compliance and Reporting	Often offers predefined compliance reports for GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, and SOX.	Provides customizable compliance reporting for GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOC 2, and ISO 27001
Data Sources	Collects and correlates data from endpoints, networks, SIEM, firewalls, and EDR	Gathers data from various sources, including on-premises, clouds, third-party services, endpoints, network devices, databases, and applications
Detection Methods	Relies heavily on AI-driven threat detection, including ML, and behavioral analysis	Uses signature-based detection, ML, and AI but also incorporates advanced human-led threat-hunting
Alerts and Notifications	Provides real-time alerts and notifications, typically prioritizing according to threat severity	Alerts and notifications are generated by SIEM tools, with SOC analysts triaging and investigating the threats before responding

When to Choose MDR vs SOC?

When MDR is suitable:

• MDR is a cost-effective option for businesses to access professional threat detection, prevention, and remediation services. If you have an existing in-house security protection team, you can use MDR to supplement it.
• Use MDR if your security needs exceed what you can independently manage. That is, it handles advanced protection so you can concentrate on your core business.
• Businesses with high security and regulatory demands consider MDR because it’s highly customizable.

You can choose SOC if:

• You have complex networks that require high service levels, like extensive monitoring and fast response times.

Final Thoughts

Organizations are shifting their IT security approach to MDR and SOC to reduce the impact of security incidents. MDR and SOC both help with IT threat detection and response, but they differ in many ways. You can use both MDR and SOC to optimize the security of your IT environment. This article provided key differences to help you decide between MDR and SOC, depending on your needs.

FAQs

Can I replace SIEM with MDR?

MDR layers on top of SIEM tools to ensure advanced proactive threat detection and correction. MDR augments SIEM capabilities but cannot fully replace its functions.

Can MDR replace SOC?

MDR cannot replace SOC. Instead, you can integrate SOC and MDR services. SOC provides a holistic IT security approach by coordinating cybersecurity operations and technologies, while MDR hunts and responds to IT security threats.

What’s the difference between EDR, XDR, MDR, and SIEM?

Endpoint detection and response (EDR) provides real-time security monitoring and analytics at the endpoint level. It protects end users and devices like servers, laptops, and smartphones from threats before they reach the network level.

Unlike EDR, extended detection and response (XDR) correlate data across many security layers other than endpoints. These include applications, cloud services, emails, and networks to help you detect advanced threats.

MDR uses advanced XDR technologies and outsourced expert analysis to provide a comprehensive threat detection and analysis service.

SIEM provides visibility into event data and activities happening within a network, enabling analysts to meet security compliance requirements, respond to threats, and manage network security.