Managed Detection & Response (MDR) Services
When cyberattacks bypass preventive controls, the speed of detection and response determines whether you suffer a minor incident or a catastrophic breach. Petronella Technology Group, Inc. delivers 24/7 Managed Detection and Response (MDR) that combines expert threat hunters, advanced analytics, and decisive containment actions to stop attacks before they cause damage — without the seven-figure cost of building an in-house security operations team. Backed by 23+ years of cybersecurity expertise and CMMC-RP certified analysts.
Founded 2002 • 2,500+ Clients • BBB A+ • Zero Breaches • CMMC-RP
Q: What is Managed Detection and Response (MDR)? Managed Detection and Response is a turnkey cybersecurity service that provides 24/7 threat monitoring, expert-led investigation of suspicious activity, and active containment of confirmed threats across your entire environment — endpoints, network, cloud, and email. Unlike traditional MSSP services that generate alerts for your team to handle, MDR providers like PTG take decisive action on your behalf: isolating compromised hosts, blocking malicious IPs, disabling compromised accounts, and containing lateral movement in real time. MDR closes the gap between detecting a threat and stopping it, reducing mean time to respond from days to minutes. Schedule a free assessment →
Why Organizations Need MDR
Most organizations lack the staff, skills, and technology to detect and respond to sophisticated threats around the clock. The numbers reveal the severity of this capability gap.
What Our MDR Service Delivers
PTG's MDR service provides the complete detect-investigate-respond lifecycle, combining human expertise with advanced technology to protect your organization around the clock.
24/7 Threat Monitoring & Detection
Our security operations center monitors your environment continuously — every endpoint, every network segment, every cloud workload, every authentication event — around the clock, 365 days a year. We ingest telemetry from your existing security tools and infrastructure, correlating events across data sources to detect threats that any single tool would miss in isolation. Our detection engine combines signature-based rules for known threats, behavioral analytics for anomalous activity, and machine learning models trained on global threat intelligence to identify attacks at every stage of the kill chain. From initial reconnaissance and credential harvesting through lateral movement, privilege escalation, data staging, and exfiltration, our analysts see the complete attack narrative unfold in real time. This comprehensive visibility eliminates the blind spots that attackers exploit when security monitoring covers only endpoints or only network traffic but not the full environment where modern attacks operate.
Expert Threat Investigation
Every alert that passes initial triage is investigated by experienced security analysts who determine the scope, severity, and business impact of the detected activity. Our investigation methodology traces attacks from initial access through every affected system, identifying compromised accounts, laterally accessed resources, deployed persistence mechanisms, and exfiltrated data. Analysts use threat intelligence from global feeds, dark web monitoring, and industry-specific sources to attribute attacks to known threat actors and predict their likely next actions. Investigation findings are documented in clear, actionable incident reports that your team and leadership can understand — not cryptic log excerpts that require a cybersecurity degree to interpret. For complex incidents, our senior analysts conduct digital forensic analysis including memory forensics, disk imaging, timeline reconstruction, and malware reverse engineering to determine exactly how the attacker gained access, what they touched, and what they took.
Active Threat Containment & Response
Detection without response is just expensive alerting. PTG's MDR service includes active response capabilities that contain confirmed threats within minutes — not hours or days. When our analysts confirm a threat, we execute pre-approved containment actions immediately: isolating compromised endpoints from the network while maintaining forensic access, blocking malicious IP addresses and domains at the firewall level, disabling compromised user accounts and revoking active sessions, killing malicious processes and removing persistence mechanisms, and quarantining malicious files across all affected systems. Response actions are executed according to your pre-approved response playbook, which we develop together during onboarding and refine continuously based on your risk tolerance and operational requirements. For actions outside your pre-approved playbook, our analysts escalate to your designated contacts with clear recommendations and execute upon approval. This balanced approach delivers the speed of automated response with the judgment of human decision-making.
Proactive Threat Hunting
MDR is not passive monitoring — PTG's threat hunters proactively search your environment for indicators of compromise and attacker activity that automated detection may have missed. Our hunting program is hypothesis-driven, using the MITRE ATT&CK framework to systematically test for techniques known to be used by threat actors targeting your industry and geography. Hunters analyze endpoint telemetry for living-off-the-land techniques (PowerShell abuse, WMI persistence, scheduled task manipulation), examine authentication logs for credential stuffing and password spraying campaigns, review DNS queries for command-and-control communication patterns, and search cloud audit logs for privilege escalation and resource creation anomalies. Each hunt produces findings that feed back into our detection rules, continuously strengthening your security posture. Threat hunting transforms your security from reactive — waiting for attacks to trigger alerts — to proactive, finding attackers who are already inside your environment before they achieve their objectives.
Threat Intelligence Integration
PTG's MDR service incorporates threat intelligence from multiple premium sources to enrich detections and prioritize investigation efforts. We correlate indicators of compromise from your environment against global threat feeds, dark web marketplaces, industry-specific intelligence sharing organizations (ISACs), and our own proprietary threat research. When a new vulnerability is disclosed or a threat campaign targeting your industry is identified, our team immediately deploys detection rules and hunts for related indicators across your environment — often before vendor advisories reach your inbox. Intelligence-driven detection means our analysts know whether the suspicious PowerShell activity on your domain controller is a sysadmin running a maintenance script or a known APT group's lateral movement technique, dramatically reducing investigation time and false positive rates. We also provide monthly threat briefings tailored to your industry vertical, helping your leadership understand the threats most likely to target your organization.
Incident Reporting & Compliance Documentation
Every detection, investigation, and response action is meticulously documented to satisfy compliance audit requirements, cyber insurance claims, and regulatory notification obligations. PTG provides monthly security operations reports covering threat landscape trends, detection metrics, response activities, and recommendations for security posture improvement. Incident reports include complete timelines, affected systems, containment actions, root cause analysis, and remediation recommendations in both technical and executive formats. For organizations subject to CMMC, HIPAA, PCI DSS, or SOX compliance requirements, our reporting maps security events and response activities directly to applicable control requirements, providing auditors with the evidence they need to verify continuous monitoring and incident response capabilities. This documentation has proven invaluable for clients filing cyber insurance claims, where detailed incident timelines and response evidence significantly accelerate claim processing.
How MDR Onboarding Works
PTG deploys MDR in weeks, not months. Our streamlined onboarding process integrates with your existing infrastructure and begins protecting your environment rapidly.
Discover & Plan
We map your environment, identify data sources, assess existing security tools, and define your threat profile. A customized deployment plan ensures complete coverage without disrupting operations or requiring wholesale technology replacements.
Integrate & Baseline
Telemetry collection agents deploy to endpoints, network sensors integrate with firewalls, and cloud connectors link to AWS, Azure, and GCP environments. Our detection engine baselines normal behavior patterns across your environment during the first two weeks.
Detect & Respond
24/7 monitoring begins with detection rules tuned to your environment. Pre-approved response playbooks define containment actions for common threat scenarios. Escalation procedures and communication channels are tested and validated.
Hunt & Optimize
Proactive threat hunting campaigns execute monthly using MITRE ATT&CK-based hypotheses. Detection rules are continuously refined based on hunting findings, incident outcomes, and emerging threat intelligence to strengthen your security posture over time.
Real-World MDR Scenarios
PTG's MDR service protects organizations against the most damaging attack scenarios affecting businesses today, from ransomware defense to supply chain compromise detection.
Ransomware Defense & Rapid Containment
Ransomware operators typically spend 4-21 days inside a network before deploying encryption — harvesting credentials, mapping Active Directory, disabling backups, and staging data for double extortion. PTG's MDR analysts detect ransomware precursor activity during this dwell time: unusual service account authentications, LSASS memory access, Group Policy modifications, shadow copy deletion, and reconnaissance of backup infrastructure. When precursor activity is confirmed, our team isolates affected systems within minutes, preserving your ability to operate while containing the threat before encryption begins. This proactive containment capability has prevented ransomware deployment in 100% of engagements where precursor activity was detected, saving clients millions in potential ransom payments, recovery costs, and business interruption losses.
Business Email Compromise Detection
BEC attacks bypass technical controls by exploiting human trust — impersonating executives, vendors, or legal counsel to authorize fraudulent wire transfers, redirect payroll, or exfiltrate sensitive data. PTG's MDR service monitors email authentication logs, mailbox rule changes, impossible travel indicators, and behavioral anomalies that reveal account takeover. When a compromised email account is detected, our analysts disable the account, revoke active sessions, block associated IP addresses, and investigate downstream actions (forwarding rules, sent messages, accessed files) to determine the full scope of compromise. We also detect the more sophisticated BEC variants that involve real compromised vendor accounts sending legitimate-looking invoices with altered payment details.
Cloud Infrastructure Protection
Cloud environments present unique detection challenges: ephemeral workloads, API-driven access, complex IAM policies, and shared responsibility boundaries that create visibility gaps. PTG's MDR extends full detection and response coverage to your cloud infrastructure across AWS, Azure, and GCP. We monitor CloudTrail, Azure Activity Logs, and GCP Audit Logs for privilege escalation, resource creation anomalies, storage bucket exposure, IAM policy changes, and cryptocurrency mining. Our analysts understand cloud-native attack techniques — from SSRF-based metadata service exploitation to cross-account role chaining — and respond to cloud threats with the same speed and decisiveness as on-premises incidents.
MDR Questions, Answered
What is the difference between MDR and MSSP?
Traditional Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) focus on monitoring and alerting — they watch your logs, generate alerts, and pass them to your team for investigation and response. MDR goes further by including expert-led investigation and active response. When PTG's MDR service detects a threat, our analysts investigate it, determine scope and severity, and execute containment actions on your behalf. You do not need an internal security team to triage alerts. MDR is outcomes-focused: you engage PTG to stop threats, not just report them. This fundamental difference means MDR clients experience faster response times, fewer successful attacks, and lower total security operations costs than organizations relying on alert-forwarding MSSP services.
How quickly can MDR detect and respond to threats?
PTG targets a median time to detect (MTTD) of under 15 minutes for high-severity threats and a median time to respond (MTTR) of under 30 minutes for containment actions. Automated detection rules fire within seconds of malicious activity. Human analyst triage begins within 5 minutes for critical alerts. Containment actions — host isolation, account disable, IP block — execute within minutes of analyst confirmation. Compare this to the industry average of 204 days to identify a breach and 73 additional days to contain it. Our response SLAs are backed by contractual commitments and measured transparently in monthly reports.
Do we need to replace our existing security tools?
No. PTG's MDR service integrates with your existing security infrastructure rather than requiring wholesale replacement. We collect telemetry from your current EDR, firewall, SIEM, cloud platforms, email gateway, and identity provider. If you have gaps in telemetry coverage, we recommend cost-effective solutions to fill them. Our technology-agnostic approach means you retain control of your security stack while gaining the 24/7 monitoring, investigation, and response capabilities that make those tools effective. Most clients see improved ROI from their existing security investments because our analysts are actually using the data those tools produce.
What types of threats does MDR cover?
PTG's MDR covers the full spectrum of cyber threats: ransomware (including pre-encryption precursor detection), business email compromise, phishing and credential theft, insider threats, advanced persistent threats (APTs), supply chain compromises, living-off-the-land attacks, cryptocurrency mining, data exfiltration, cloud infrastructure attacks, lateral movement, privilege escalation, and zero-day exploitation. Our detection coverage maps to the MITRE ATT&CK framework, covering techniques across all 14 tactics from reconnaissance through impact. Monthly threat hunting campaigns specifically target techniques favored by threat actors in your industry vertical.
How is MDR different from an AI-powered SOC?
MDR and AI-powered SOC services are complementary rather than competing offerings. MDR emphasizes human expert investigation and response, augmented by technology for detection and automation. An AI-powered SOC leverages machine learning as the primary detection and triage engine, with human analysts providing oversight and handling complex investigations. PTG clients often combine both capabilities: AI handles the high-volume, pattern-matching detection work while MDR analysts provide the expert judgment, threat hunting, and active response that AI alone cannot deliver. The right combination depends on your environment complexity, threat profile, and compliance requirements.
Complementary Security Solutions
Stop Threats Before They Become Breaches
Schedule a free MDR assessment with PTG. We will evaluate your current detection and response capabilities, identify coverage gaps, and demonstrate how MDR can transform your security operations.
Serving Raleigh, Durham, RTP & Nationwide Since 2002 • CMMC-RP Certified • 2,500+ Clients