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Managed Detection and Response

How can an MSP offer 24/7 MDR without building its own SOC?

By , CEO, CybaVerse. Last reviewed

An MSP offers 24/7 MDR by partnering with an MDR product that includes a round-the-clock SOC and delivering it under its own brand. The MSP keeps the client relationship and onboarding; the provider's analysts watch, triage and contain threats out of hours.

This page is part of our managed detection and response for MSPs guide.

Why doesn't building your own SOC make sense for most MSPs?

Building a SOC means staffing analysts on every shift, paying for detection engineering and tooling, and carrying that cost before the first contract is signed. For most small and mid-sized MSPs, buying a channel-built MDR product delivers the same 24/7 outcome faster, with predictable cost and no recruitment risk.

QuestionBuild your own SOCPartner with an MDR product
24/7 analyst coverYou hire and roster every shiftIncluded in the MDR service
Time to first clientMonths of hiring and toolingDemo, then onboard
Detection engineeringYour responsibilityProvider's responsibility
Brand and client relationshipYoursYours, with the provider staying in the background
Upfront costHigh, before revenueSubscription aligned to clients

A 24/7 security operations centre needs analysts on every shift, detection engineering, threat intelligence and tooling to correlate signals from endpoints, identities and cloud services. For a small or mid-sized MSP that means hiring for a skill set that is scarce, paying for night and weekend cover, and carrying that cost before the first security contract is signed.

In discovery calls we hear the same concern again and again from MSPs: they want to sell serious security, but they do not want to hire a team of engineers to deliver it, and they do not want security work bouncing back onto their own engineers. Buying MDR as a product, rather than building it, solves both problems.

How do you add 24/7 MDR to your MSP, step by step?

Follow these seven steps to go from no security offering to a repeatable MDR service. They cover the responsibility split, vendor choice, existing tools, response permissions, escalation, first-client onboarding and outcome reporting, in the order most MSPs find works best.

  1. Step 1: Decide what you will own and what the MDR provider will own

    Write down a simple responsibility split before you look at vendors. Typically the MSP owns the client relationship, licensing, onboarding, user changes and recovery work such as rebuilding a device. The MDR provider owns 24/7 monitoring, triage, investigation, containment within agreed limits and escalation. Being explicit here prevents the most common complaint about MDR: alerts that arrive with no clear owner.

  2. Step 2: Choose a channel model that does not compete with you

    Ask every provider whether they sell direct to your clients, whether you can register deals, and how far the service can carry your brand. A channel-only provider means security strengthens your relationship with each client rather than handing it to someone else.

  3. Step 3: Check the provider works with the tools your clients already have

    Most MSP client books are mixed. Some clients run Microsoft Defender, others Sophos or another EDR tool. Look for an MDR service that ingests what is already deployed so you are not forced into a rip-and-replace project for every client.

  4. Step 4: Agree pre-approved response actions with each client

    Speed matters most in the first minutes of an attack. Agree in advance which containment actions the SOC can take without waking anyone up, such as isolating a laptop or disabling a compromised account, and which need a call first, such as isolating a server.

  5. Step 5: Set up escalation contacts and ticketing

    Decide who gets called for a critical incident at 3am, and make sure incidents land in your PSA or service desk so your engineers see them in the queue they already work from.

  6. Step 6: Onboard a first client, then templatise

    Start with one friendly client, deploy the agent, connect their Microsoft tenant and existing security tools, and agree their response settings. Turn what you learn into a repeatable onboarding checklist for the rest of your book.

  7. Step 7: Report outcomes, not alert counts

    Clients renew when they can see risk going down. Report on incidents handled, vulnerabilities closed and posture improving over time, rather than raw alert volumes.

What mistakes should MSPs avoid when adding MDR?

Most failed MDR rollouts trace back to four avoidable mistakes: buying detection without response authority, skipping the responsibility split, treating every client the same, and measuring alert counts instead of outcomes. Check your plan against each before onboarding your first client.

  • Buying detection without response authority. If the SOC can only advise, your engineers still do containment at 2am.
  • Skipping the responsibility split. Unclear ownership is the root of most MDR frustration.
  • Treating every client the same. Critical servers, VIP users and regulated clients need their own response rules.
  • Measuring the wrong thing. Alert counts go up when coverage improves. Track closed incidents and reduced exposure instead.

Where does CybaOps fit for an MSP?

CybaOps is the CybaVerse MDR platform, delivered through MSPs, backed by our UK-based security operations centre. An MSP can see it in a demo and then onboard clients itself, keeping the client relationship while the SOC watches every environment around the clock. Thinkmoney's CISO, Glenn Sproule, chose CybaVerse for its SOC.

  • Our UK-based security operations centre monitors customer environments 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
  • CybaVerse offers three MDR packages, CybaCore, CybaEdge and CybaOne, sold through MSPs and resellers.
  • CybaCore is our AI-enabled MDR package, with 24/7 UK cyber operators, continuous monitoring, identity threat detection and response, and a monthly allowance of incident response.
  • CybaEdge adds unlimited incident response, threat hunting and premium identity threat detection and response, delivered by our UK SOC.
  • CybaOne adds SIEM, an external penetration test and dark web monitoring to everything in CybaEdge.
  • MSPs can run CybaOps across all their customers from one multi-tenant platform.
  • CybaOps works with the security tools you already have, including Microsoft Defender, Sophos and the other EDR tools you already use, so you do not have to rip and replace.
  • Incidents are worked as cases in CybaOps, so every alert, action and note sits in one record your team can see.
  • The CybaOps Remediation Engine is live today: it can fix security issues automatically, so gaps get closed rather than just reported.
  • CybaVerse is certified under the NCSC Cyber Incident Response (CIR) scheme at Standard Level.
  • CybaVerse is ISO 27001 certified.

Partner commercials are covered on the CybaVerse partner page.

24/7 MDR without a SOC

How an MSP offers 24/7 MDR without a SOC

An MSP offers 24/7 MDR by partnering with an MDR product that includes a round-the-clock team of human analysts and delivering it under its own brand.

01 Your tools

Multi-tenantPartner / MSP CustomerCustomerCustomer+
CybaOps by CybaVerse

24/7 MDR without a SOC

02 The 7-step path

  • Role-based access
  • UK-based analysts
  • ISO 27001

03 Outcomes

Explore

Hover or tap any part of the diagram to see what it does.

  • MDR in
  • CybaCore
  • CybaEdge
  • CybaOne

What else do MSPs ask about offering MDR?

These are the follow-up questions MSP owners ask most when planning a 24/7 MDR offering without their own SOC.

Do I need security analysts on staff to sell MDR?

No. With an MDR product that includes a 24/7 SOC, the provider's analysts handle monitoring, triage and containment. You need someone who understands the service well enough to onboard clients and act on escalations.

Will my clients know who the MDR provider is?

That depends on the provider and how far its platform carries your brand. How incident communications are handled (directly to the client or through you) should be agreed during onboarding.

Do clients have to replace their antivirus or EDR?

Not usually. CybaOps works with the security tools clients already have, including Microsoft Defender, Sophos and the other EDR tools you already use.

How quickly can I onboard the first client?

It depends on the client's estate and the tools to connect. Onboarding one client first is the quickest way to learn the steps and timings before rolling out to the rest of your base.

Do I need to become a security specialist to offer MDR?

No. Partnering with an MDR product lets you offer a 24/7 outcome without building or staffing a SOC, while you keep the client relationship.

What should you do next?

See how the platform works on the CybaOps Platform page, or read about the partner model on the Partner page.

See multi-tenant MDR and how the CybaVerse SOC works cases.

Book a CybaOps demo