Let’s revisit the Asset Management company scenario—but imagine they had Email MDR SOC in place.

1. The Attack Begins

 An employee receives a phishing email from what looks like a trusted supplier. They click the link and enter their Microsoft 365 credentials into a fake login page. This not only provides the hacker with the employee’s credentials but also, at the same time, logs them into the account, bypassing multi-factor authentication and granting full access to the employee’s email and associated data.

What MDR SOC Would Do:

• The malicious link would have been flagged and blocked before reaching the employee’s inbox.
• Even if the credentials were stolen, an unusual login from a foreign country would have triggered an alert.

2. The Infiltration

 The hacker logs into the account, sets up forwarding rules, and begins monitoring emails.

What MDR SOC Would Do:

• Detect suspicious activity, such as rule creation or abnormal email behaviour.
• Immediately revoke the attacker’s session and reset credentials.

3. The Fraudulent Emails 

 The attacker sends fake invoices to the company’s clients, including the £30,000 scam. Additionally, they use specialized backup software to download all data from the compromised email account, gaining access to sensitive information and client communications.

What MDR SOC Would Do:

• Identify the mass email attempt as unusual behaviour.
• Block the emails from being sent and notify the security team.
• Flag the bulk data download as suspicious behaviour, halting the activity and triggering an investigation.

In this scenario, the breach would have been stopped at multiple stages, saving the company from financial loss, reputational harm, and further data compromise.

Traditional antivirus tools rely on known threat signatures, making them ineffective against modern, evolving cyber threats like fileless attacks and zero-day exploits. While advanced AI-based tools attempt to detect anomalies, they often produce disruptive false positives, creating unnecessary noise and hindering productivity.

Cybercriminals now use methods that evade static defences:

• Fileless Attacks: Hackers exploit legitimate system tools like PowerShell to execute malicious actions without leaving detectable malware traces.
• Zero-Day Exploits: Attackers take advantage of vulnerabilities in software that haven’t been patched or publicly disclosed. A prime example is the Log4j vulnerability, which exposed millions of devices to ransomware and spyware by exploiting a commonly used software library.
• Lateral Movement: Once attackers breach a single device, they traverse the network, escalating their privileges to access high-value systems and data.

Standalone Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) tools also struggle with these threats, often generating a flood of alerts that leave businesses overwhelmed and unable to distinguish genuine threats from false alarms. 

This is where Device-level MDR SOC makes the difference. By detecting unusual system behaviour, isolating compromised devices, and providing rapid remediation, MDR SOC bridges the gaps left by traditional tools. It offers the critical protection needed to safeguard endpoints during patching delays and beyond. 

Cybersecurity threats have outpaced traditional security tools. While firewalls, antivirus software, and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) remain important, attackers have adapted. Here’s why MDR has become indispensable: 

Email Attacks: Exploiting Trust 

Cybercriminals often target email systems to gain access to sensitive information or launch secondary attacks. Imagine this: 

An attacker gains access to an employee’s email account and waits. They observe ongoing conversations, gathering details to craft highly convincing phishing emails. One day, they impersonate the employee, sending a fake invoice to a client with new bank details. 

How MDR Helps: MDR systems monitor email behaviours in real-time. If unusual activity—like logins from unexpected locations or bulk email downloads—is detected, the SOC team investigates and locks the account before damage is done. This approach stops attacks before they can escalate. 

MFA Bypasses: The New Normal 

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is a strong defence, but it’s not infallible. Attackers now use advanced methods like MFA fatigue attacks or AI-driven phishing to bypass it. Consider this example: 

A hacker targets an employee with an MFA fatigue attack. By flooding the victim’s authentication app with repeated login attempts, the attacker frustrates them into unintentionally approving one of the requests. With access granted, the hacker moves deeper into the system, looking for high-value data or additional accounts to compromise. 

How MDR Helps: MDR is designed to spot unusual behaviours, such as a wave of failed login attempts followed by one sudden success. When this happens, the SOC team springs into action—revoking unauthorized access, notifying the client, and offering immediate steps to strengthen MFA protocols. This ensures that breaches are stopped before they disrupt your business.

Endpoint Vulnerabilities: A Growing Concern 

Your employees use multiple devices to access work systems—laptops, smartphones, and even personal tablets. Each device represents a potential entry point for hackers. 

Imagine an employee’s laptop is running outdated software, which is exploited by ransomware. The ransomware encrypts the device and begins spreading to shared drives.  

Alternatively, a malicious program could monitor keystrokes, silently capturing login credentials. These stolen credentials might then be sold on the dark web, enabling further attacks on your business or its partners.

With MDR in place, endpoint activity is monitored continuously for signs of compromise. Unusual patterns, such as rapid file encryption or unauthorized data transfers, are flagged immediately. The compromised device can then be isolated, stopping the attack before it spreads further, while SOC analysts take additional steps to secure your systems and prevent future breaches.

How MDR Helps: MDR monitors endpoint activity for signs of compromise. For example, if files are being encrypted unusually quickly, the system detects the behaviour, isolates the affected device, and alerts the SOC. The ransomware is contained before it spreads further. 

When they first appeared in the mid-1990s, phishing attacks involved instant messaging and email to obtain users’ passwords and hijack their accounts. However, with the advancements in technology, phishing went far beyond the old-school scam. Here are the most common types of phishing attacks you might encounter today.

Email phishing

Phishing emails are the most widespread form of phishing scams, where scammers send emails that mimic those you get from banks, online stores, or social media platforms. These emails typically urge you to follow links, which direct you to malicious websites designed to capture your login credentials or trick you into downloading malicious software.

Spear phishing

Spear phishing is a more targeted form of email phishing. Scammers gather information about their victims through social media profiles or company websites to create highly personalised emails that seem to come from a trusted source like a colleague or boss. Phishing attacks of this type are particularly dangerous since they’re more difficult to detect.

Smishing

Smishing involves sending fraudulent text messages that typically claim to be from your bank or a package delivery service. People trust text messages more than emails, making smishing a popular method among scammers.

Vishing

In vishing attacks, scammers use phone calls to trick you into sharing information. In most cases, the callers claim there’s a problem with your bank account or that you’ve just won a prize. They usually ask victims to provide their credit card data or convince them to make a payment.

Clone phishing

Clone phishing is when attackers create an identical copy of a legitimate email you’ve already received but with a link to a malicious website. For instance, if you previously received a tracking link from a delivery service, the attacker may resend a nearly identical email, claiming there’s an update. Because the email looks familiar, recipients are more likely to trust it.

Whaling

Whaling is a form of phishing scam targeted at high-profile individuals, such as CEOs, CFOs, or other top executives. These individuals have access to sensitive company data and large sums of money, so scammers spare no effort to craft convincing messages. For example, a whaling email might look like a subpoena or a request from a trusted partner, prompting the user to disclose confidential information or authorise financial transfers.

Quishing

Quishing uses QR codes to direct victims to phishing websites. Scammers place fake QR codes on posters, flyers, or even in emails.

HTTPS phishing

HTTPS phishing is when scammers create a site that looks identical to a legitimate one but uses “HTTPS” in the URL so that users think the site is secure. These websites may look like an online store’s or bank’s page, asking you to enter your login credentials or credit card information.

Pop-up phishing

As their name suggests, pop-up phishing attacks use pop-up windows that appear while you’re browsing the internet. They often mimic a security warning or system alert, urging you to click on a link or download a file.

Evil Twin phishing

Evil Twin phishing is a practice of creating fake Wi-Fi networks that look like legitimate public Wi-Fi hotspots. Once you connect to the fake network, attackers can intercept the data you send, including login credentials, credit card numbers, or other sensitive information.

Social media phishing

Social media phishing happens when scammers use platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn to send you messages that look like from a friend. In these messages, fraudsters usually ask you for money or offer to click on a link to take part in a survey.

When a laptop exhausts its available RAM, it starts using a “page file” on the storage drive as overflow memory. While this allows applications to keep running, it comes at a cost. Accessing data from an SSD or hard drive is far slower than accessing it from RAM. As a result, you may notice lagging, freezing, or long load times, even for simple tasks. The CPU is also forced to work harder, reducing overall performance and productivity.

On a system with 16GB of RAM, these performance hits are much less likely. More memory means fewer instances of the system needing to offload data to virtual memory, keeping your laptop running smoothly.

Reactive support, also referred to as break-fix support, is about resolving issues when they actually happen. Getting back to our example with an old server, reactive support would involve helping an organisation deal with the consequences of the failed server, for instance, attempting to recover lost data and setting up temporary solutions to minimise downtime.