Cyber Resilience in Action: A Guide for Mid-Market Firms

Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting mid-sized businesses, recognizing their limited resources and security expertise. In fact, 88% of these firms have expressed significant concerns about cyber disruptions, compared to 42% of other organizations, according to a recent PYMNTS report.

Cyber threats, ranging from ransomware to Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) and bot attacks, can be both highly disruptive and extremely costly. Downtime costs can average $250,000 per hour across industries and exceed $1 million per hour for mid-size to larger enterprises. In the industrial control systems sector, the costs are even higher due to the 24x7 operational nature of these systems.

Mid-market firms cannot rely solely on prevention. Instead, they must prioritize cyber resilience–ensuring they can respond and recover quickly when an attack happens.

While Security Operation Centers (SOCs) can provide that needed infrastructure, historically, mid-market firms have been underserved by traditional providers. With the right SOC partner bringing a modern SOC approach to the challenge, mid-market organizations can enhance their cyber defenses and overall resilience.

All SOCs Are NOT the Same

Security has always been a reactionary process, with organizations implementing short-term measures in response to attacks. However, as threats have evolved, so too has the approach to cybersecurity. Detecting threats is just the first step. Businesses also need a rapid response and recovery plan to minimize downtime. Yet the SOC industry is overcrowded with inadequate offerings.

Many SOCs provide Managed Detection and Response (MDR) with a lowercase “r.” Instead of real response and recovery, they merely provide email notifications about an alert or a critical issue that needs a response. It’s not a true response—they’re taking automated alerts and dumping them back on clients, who often lack the expertise and scale to go through thousands of alerts from an automated tool, or the ability to immediately know how to respond.

According to Gartner^® in their “Market Guide for Managed Detection and Response” a mandatory feature for MDR providers is: “The availability of immediate remote mitigative response, investigation and containment activities (such as quarantining hosts), beyond alerting and notification, delivered and coordinated by service providers’ staff and preapproved by end users.”¹

Putting the R Back in MDR

CTG brings a modern, proactive approach to cybersecurity to ensure mid-market organizations have easy access to the latest cyber innovations and proven expertise, delivered through the Cegeka Modern SOC network, our parent company’s established cybersecurity infrastructure that reduces the risk of business disruption.

CTG provides full-spectrum MDR, ensuring that mid-market organizations not only detect threats, but get back to business quickly with CTG R² (Response and Recovery) capabilities when a disruption occurs. Our security operations analysts and experts provide clients with white glove service for day-to-day operational issues and to build long-term resilience strategies.

However, because not all SOCs are created equal, and often cater to larger enterprises, it is important for mid-market companies to keep a few key capabilities top-of-mind when seeking a partner:

• 24x7 monitoring and coverage: Continuous surveillance to detect and respond to threats at any time.
• Hybrid threat hunting: Proactive AI-assisted threat detection with human oversight to ensure contextual understanding of each threat.
• Incident response and recovery: Comprehensive support for managing and recovering from security incidents, not just monitoring and detection.
• Expert analysis and guidance: Skilled security analysts to interpret security alerts and provide actionable insights that enable expert-led decisions and remediations.
• Intelligent orchestration: Integration of SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response) platforms to streamline security operations and accelerate responses.

When an attack happens, you need more than just an alert. You need a partner that helps you fight back and protect your business before the next one strikes.

While mid-market organizations face significant cybersecurity challenges, the right partner can enhance their defenses and cyber resilience, while transforming cybersecurity from a cost center to a business innovation enabler.

At CTG, a Cegeka Group Company, we provide real responses and recovery, not just alerts. Our Modern SOC solutions are built for mid-market businesses that need 24x7 security operations, expert guidance, and response capabilities—without complexity. Take the first step today and learn more about how we can help your organization identify gaps in your security strategy.

¹Gartner, Market Guide for Managed Detection and Response, By Pete Shoard, Andrew Davies, Mitchell Schneider, Angel Berrios, Craig Lawson, 24 June 2024

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.