MXDR: Make cyber resilience a priority with advanced detection and response

As we move through 2025, organizations around the world continue to prioritize cybersecurity as threats become increasingly sophisticated — and South African enterprises are no exception.

To improve cybersecurity, organizations need to shift from reacting to threats to proactively identifying and protecting their most important systems and weaknesses. One method that’s becoming more popular is managed extended detection and response (MXDR), which helps security teams focus on the areas that matter most.

How did we get here?

Cyberdefense technology and services have advanced significantly over the past three to four decades. Antivirus software emerged in the late 1980s, offering basic signature-based protection against known threats. As cyberthreats evolved and became more sophisticated, traditional antivirus solutions proved insufficient. This led to the development of endpoint detection and response (EDR) in the early 2010s, which provided real-time monitoring, behavioral analysis and response capabilities for endpoint devices.

However, as attackers began targeting broader parts of the IT environment — including networks, cloud services and identity systems — the limitations of endpoint-focused tools became apparent. This drove the evolution of extended detection and response (XDR), which integrates telemetry from multiple sources to provide unified threat detection, investigation and response across the entire attack surface.

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Pillars of strength or gaps in defense?

Traditional security architectures often rely on standalone tools, each addressing a specific threat vector or domain. While effective in isolation, these point solutions frequently lack integration, leading to fragmented visibility, inconsistent policy enforcement and operational inefficiencies.

MXDR addresses this challenge by consolidating telemetry from multiple sources — endpoints, networks, cloud services and identity systems — into a unified platform. This integration enables centralized monitoring, correlation and response, reducing detection gaps and improving incident response times.

Delivered as a managed service or security operations center (SOC) as a service, MXDR provides continuous oversight, expert analysis and proactive threat hunting. It offers organizations comprehensive visibility across both on-premises and cloud environments, without the overhead of managing disparate tools or in-house SOC infrastructure.

The next frontier: MXDR meets AI

The role of a traditional security analyst is demanding and repetitive, involving continuous monitoring of alerts and logs to identify potential threats. High alert volumes and frequent false positives can lead to fatigue and missed detections, especially as attackers increasingly use stealthy, low-noise techniques to evade detection.

MXDR platforms enhanced with AI are helping to address these challenges. AI models can process and correlate vast amounts of telemetry data in real time, identify patterns that may indicate malicious activity and prioritize alerts based on risk.

While AI is not perfect, it significantly reduces noise, improves detection accuracy and enables faster response. Rather than replacing human analysts, AI augments their capabilities — allowing them to focus on high-value investigations and strategic decision-making.

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AI also helps to streamline and expedite cyberincident response processes. The best MXDR services feature AI agents that can be trained for specific industries and even adopt clients’ own policies and governance rules, thus providing a highly bespoke, automated incident response.

Over the coming months, we can expect to see AI agents becoming easier to integrate into business processes and simpler for nontechnical users to engage with

Why are more South African organizations considering MXDR?

South Africa has a sizable economy and major corporations that could be lucrative targets for cyberattacks, However, the uncomfortable truth is that many South African organizations still lack mature security resources and controls. This gap leaves critical systems exposed and highlights the urgent need for scalable, comprehensive security solutions across both the public and private sectors.

Midmarket organizations — especially those in the retail, logistics and industrial sectors — are increasingly seeking managed security services as they contend with higher risks but lack the resources to build in-house solutions. The logistics sector is particularly vulnerable, as operational disruptions can lead to immediate financial losses and supply chain instability. This makes real-time threat detection and rapid incident response essential for maintaining business continuity.

Traditionally, large South African institutions, such as banks, have tended to manage their security internally rather than outsourcing it. However, more local banks are comparing the benefits of improving the effectiveness of their internal teams with those of consuming security a service — powered by AI and dedicated, trained analysts that share lessons globally.

Make NTT DATA your MXDR partner

In the crowded MXDR market, service quality and the ability to scale are what set providers apart. As a large global organization, NTT DATA brings expertise, resources and reliability, all essential for handling major cyberthreats. But our true differentiation lies in combining global scale with a local touch. Operating worldwide provides robustness while maintaining regional relationships, ensuring a personalized, high-touch service for clients across all industries — from small and medium-sized enterprises to large organizations.

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When NTT DATA’s global expertise meets the world’s premium security brand, Palo Alto Networks, that’s when the magic really happens.

Our integrated MXDR service, powered by Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSIAM, delivers seamless threat detection, remediation and protection across all layers — including applications, firewalls, identity management, networks and communications — without reliance on external partners.

Bringing these two powerhouses together allows organizations to take their detection and response capabilities to the next level.

Ultimately, this combination of global scale, personalized service and full-spectrum security solutions positions NTT DATA as a compelling choice for South African businesses.