Bridging the Cybersecurity Skills Gap with Critical Start’s MDR Expertise

During a recent webinar hosted by CyberEdge, Steven Rosenthal, Director of Product Management at Critical Start, shared actionable insights into how Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services can address increasing cyberattacks and resource constraints. Founded in 2012, Critical Start has become a pioneer in MDR services, monitoring over two million endpoints and delivering human-driven, comprehensive threat detection and response capabilities.

The Challenge: Invisible Threats and Security Gaps

Organizations today must maintain complete visibility across IT and OT environments. As Steve explained during the webinar, “What you don’t know, you don’t know—and you don’t know that that asset is not being monitored.”

Key security gaps outlined include:

• Unprotected or forgotten assets
• Incomplete telemetry from security tools
• Shadow IT deployments
• Outdated or misconfigured endpoint protection

These gaps often expose organizations, creating opportunities for attackers to exploit unmonitored entry points. Addressing these blind spots is critical to reducing risk and improving threat detection capabilities.

The Critical Start Difference: Human-Driven MDR

What sets Critical Start apart is our commitment to human expertise in MDR services. Unlike solutions that rely solely on automation, Critical Start operates multiple U.S.-based Security Operations Centers (SOCs) staffed entirely by real people, so no critical alerts are overlooked.

“You’re never going to have to call into our SOC, or we will never call you with any kind of AI or machine. It is actual people within our location.”

Our SOC operates 24x7x365 with an industry-leading “greater than 90% retention rate” among SOC analysts. This high retention fosters consistent expertise, institutional knowledge, and faster, more effective threat response. Critical Start’s MDR services are also available on the go with MobileSOC®, enabling you to take action against threats anytime, anywhere with capabilities such as host isolation, and email removal.

Comprehensive Signal Coverage: IT and OT Environments

One of Critical Start’s key differentiators is its ability to provide unified visibility across both IT and OT environments.

“We can converge the IT and OT environment visibility into one platform,” Steve explained, emphasizing that while many organizations focus on IT security, “they forget about the OT side of the house, and threat actors can get in.”

This comprehensive approach eliminates blind spots across operational and traditional IT systems, so no part of an organization’s infrastructure is at risk.

Proactive Risk Reduction with Continuous Monitoring

Critical Start’s MDR prioritizes continuous monitoring and validation, so security gaps do not develop over time. Key capabilities include:

• Regular endpoint protection audits to identify and address unmonitored assets.
• Verification of SIEM and MDR data ingestion so all critical logs are consistently received.
• Continuous health monitoring of log sources with automated alerts for anomalies such as zero-log ingestion or sudden changes in log volume.

Steve explained, “If we see something that’s not coming in, we correct that.” This proactive approach identifies threats, reduces downtime, and minimizes business disruption.

The Value of Proactive Threat Mitigation

During the Q&A session, Steve highlighted the importance of proactive threat mitigation and visibility checks. “Over time, we are constantly looking at your environment, doing those asset inventories, those asset visibility checks, and making sure that there’s no gap there,” he said. This proactive approach allows organizations to stay ahead of emerging threats, including advanced persistent threats, ransomware operators, and AI-based attacks.

Taking Action: Strengthening Your Security Posture

Organizations looking to close the cybersecurity skills gap and strengthen their defenses through MDR services should consider the following:

• Assess your visibility gaps: Identify unmonitored assets and ensure comprehensive signal coverage.
• Protect IT and OT environments: Unified visibility across both environments eliminates blind spots.
• Leverage human-driven MDR services: Experienced SOC analysts provide nuanced threat detection and response that automation alone cannot achieve.
• Implement continuous monitoring and validation: Ensure logs and telemetry are consistently collected and analyzed for anomalies.

Key Takeaways and Next Steps

Critical Start’s human-driven approach to MDR provides visibility and proactive risk reduction, helping organizations mitigate the risk of breaches and improve operational resilience. Discover how Critical Start’s Managed Detection and Response services can eliminate security gaps, enhance visibility, and proactively defend your organization against evolving threats. Contact our team of experts today to learn more.