Open Systems, a provider of managed detection and response (MDR) services and the 2022 Microsoft Security MSSP Partner of the Year, has announced the launch of MDR+ IoT, which extends the 24×7 security monitoring of its MDR+, a managed detection and response (MDR) service, to protect connected devices used in Internet of Things (IoT) and Operational Technology (OT) applications. By adding IoT and OT telemetry to MDR+, customers benefit from 24×7 detection and response that correlates alerts across their IoT, OT and IT environments for maximum visibility and protection as part of a holistic security programme.
Corporate adoption of IoT and OT devices has grown at breakneck pace as companies seek to improve their business, manufacturing and supply chain operations, but security for these devices lags far behind their IT counterparts. Typically monitored by bespoke security systems or not at all, these devices can suffer from vulnerabilities that blindside security teams and allow bad actors to breach company defenses. MDR+ IoT addresses this by using Microsoft Defender for IoT to ingest telemetry from customers’ IoT and OT devices so it can be monitored in line with IT assets within the context of the broader environment. By correlating signals from Defender for IoT with signals from the IT environment, MDR+ IoT can better identify true positives and alleviates the need for security teams to manage the thousands of alerts often generated by IoT and OT environments.
By securing IoT and OT devices alongside IT infrastructure, MDR+ IoT protects IoT and OT devices throughout the entire security lifecycle assessment, prevention, detection, and response. It allows customers to take full advantage of their Microsoft security investments by providing tailored, 24×7 monitoring while reducing attack surfaces and MTTR.
“MDR+ IoT addresses emerging threats we’re seeing across multiple industries. Mitigating security risks around IoT and OT is increasingly critical, particularly for organisations with mission-critical manufacturing and medical technology,” says Tom Corn, chief product officer for Open Systems. “Combining the strength of Open Systems’ MDR+, our MDR service, together with Defender for IoT allows us to minimise the threat surface across our clients’ entire infrastructures, using the same best practices, rigor and workflow that helped Open Systems win Microsoft’s Security MSSP of the Year for 2022.”
“The risk posed by unsecured IoT and OT assets continues to grow,” says Andrew Conway, vice president security marketing at Microsoft. “This integration of Microsoft Defender for IoT with Open Systems MDR+ service provides our joint customers with a compelling solution for discovering IoT and OT devices, and for monitoring them along with their IT assets. This comprehensive solution enables customers to better harden and protect all of their attack surfaces.”
The industry is already recognising the value of MDR+ IoT as shown by its winning a 2022 IoT Evolution Security Excellence Award.
The launch of MDR+ IoT follows yesterday’s announcement that Open Systems has achieved Microsoft verified Managed Extended Detection and Response (MXDR) solution status. By achieving this status, Open Systems has proven its robust MXDR services including a Security Operation Centre (SOC) with 24/7/365 proactive hunting, monitoring, and response capabilities all built on tight integrations with the Microsoft Security platform. This solution combines expert-trained technology with human-led services and has been verified by Microsoft engineers.
Open systems managed security services
Open Systems MDR+ is a next generation MDR service that provides organisations with the comprehensive cybersecurity capabilities of a world-class security operations centre (SOC). At the heart of MDR+ is Mission Control, a 24×7 global security operation that combines certified experts, exemplary processes and seamless technology that integrates with and extends the Microsoft 365 E5 security stack. This enables customers to mitigate threats and reduce risk by fully operationalising their existing security investments, shrinking their attack surfaces and shortening the mean time to respond (MTTR) to threats.
MDR+ is complemented by Open Systems SASE+, a fully managed secure access service edge (SASE) solution for securely and reliably connecting customers’ employees to the internet and cloud. Developed from inception with an integrated networking and security stack, the service’s cloud-native platform secures all enterprise edges, including endpoints, sites, physical and cloud datacentres and mobile users. Complementing this, its single-pass engine for SWG, SD-WAN, firewall, NDR and unified threat detection ensures line rate speeds due to no service chaining and improves security through integrated policy management and a software-defined perimetre.
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