Could MDR save your business?

An escrow company in northern California was forced to close its doors and lay off its entire staff when cybercriminals nabbed $1.5 million from its bank account. 

After penetrating the network and finding a way into the firm’s bank account, the hackers wired $432,215 from the firm’s bank to an account in Moscow. That was followed by two more transfers totaling $1.1 million, this time to banks in Heilongjiang Province in China, near the Russian border.

The company recovered the first transfer but not the next two. They were shocked to discover that, unlike with consumer accounts, banks are under no obligation to recoup losses in a cyber theft against a commercial account. That meant a $1.1 million loss in a year when they expected to clear less than half that. Unable to replace the funds, state regulators shut them down just three days after reporting the loss.

Net result? The family-owned business lost its nine-person staff and faced mounting attorneys’ fees nearing the total amount of the funds recovered, with no immediate way to return their customers’ money.

The rules of the cybersecurity game have changed. It is no longer enough to detect malware and attempt to block or delete it. Today’s malware slips past most protective services and hides in your network looking for data to steal while searching for additional vulnerabilities to exploit.

MDR stands for Monitor, Detect and Respond and would have very likely saved this business had it been in place. 

MDR Monitoring services hunt proactively for evolving threats 24/7, maintaining full visibility of your entire network, looking not just for evidence of malware but for indicators of compromise, malicious behavior, and open risks.

MDR Detection then detects and isolates developing threats before they can spread laterally. After detecting suspicious activity, the affected device is isolated from the network while an analysis of the threat can be performed. 

MDR Response will neutralize and eliminate detected threats in real-time. Once Response is complete, the affected device is returned to the network. 

Do you need MDR? Like most business decisions, the answer comes down to risk avoidance. A Managed Services Provider can provide most MDR services for less than $25/month/device. In the case of our California escrow company, do you think they would have willingly invested $3,000 that year to avoid losing their entire business?