Threat detection is the process of identifying signals that point to a threat before it escalates into an incident. This can be done in various ways, the most common of which are outlined below.
With this method, security tools (such as antivirus or Endpoint Detection & Response) compare malware, suspicious IP addresses, hashes, and other indicators against a database. This database contains known threats and indicators, allowing malware, for example, to be quickly detected. The problem with this form of detection, however, is that security tools are blind to anything that hasn't been seen before. A new variant of ransomware created just yesterday will not appear in any signature database.
This isn't about what something is, but what it does. The system effectively learns what constitutes normal behavior for your organization. If employees usually log in between 8:00 AM and 10:00 AM from the Netherlands and then suddenly log in at 3:00 AM from Mexico, that is clearly an anomaly. When this happens, an alert is triggered, and action can be taken. This makes behavior-based detection the perfect complement, as it catches unknown attacks—provided that someone actually reviews the alert.
According to the M-Trends 2026 report by Mandiant, the global median dwell time (the time between an attacker's initial breach and their discovery) was 14 days in 2025, three days longer than the 11 days recorded in 2024.
The Sophos Active Adversary Report 2025 shows why continuous monitoring makes the difference. In isolated incident response investigations, the median dwell time was 7 days, and for non-ransomware incidents, it was as high as 11.5 days. For companies using an MDR service, the dwell time is lower than 7 days. Not because the threat was different, but because more signals are being monitored and actively acted upon by a team.
In practical terms, it can detect many threats. Think of DDoS, malware, ransomware, unusual login attempts, and more. Some of these threats are detailed below.
A login attempt from a country where your organization never does business. Ten failed attempts within a minute, followed by a successful one. An account logging in from Japan and then from Spain within two minutes (atypical travel). These are all examples of threats you want to detect early—threats that a firewall won't see.
A process that suddenly opens and rewrites hundreds of files (ransomware) or a script that repeatedly tries to connect to command-and-control infrastructure. Antivirus catches the known variants, but behavior-based detection also catches the lead-up to these types of threats and behaviors. After all, to get ransomware onto a system, the hacker must first gain access. That is why threat detection is so important: specifically to detect those activities early on.
Exfiltration is the term for data leaving the company without authorization. A workstation suddenly uploading ten gigabytes to an unknown cloud storage service in the middle of the night. Large volumes of data sent in small chunks to stay under the radar. This is often the final signal before an attacker strikes, yet it is the signal most organizations overlook because outbound traffic often receives less attention than inbound traffic.
A logical question for many business owners is: do you need threat detection in addition to a firewall and antivirus on your computer? The short answer is yes. This is because firewalls and antivirus software perform a different function than threat detection. They block what they recognize, but they do not assess whether individual signals collectively form an attack, and they do not intervene if no one is monitoring the alerts they do generate.
A firewall monitors the perimeter of your network. It determines what is allowed in and out based on pre-set rules. It is effective at blocking known traffic that shouldn't pass through. However, it is weak once an attacker is already inside via a valid account or is exfiltrating data using known protocols, as the firewall simply sees traffic that complies with its rules.
Want to know more about how that process continues once a threat is confirmed? Also read our blog about incident response.
Antivirus scans files for known malware signatures and blocks what it recognizes. This works well against known threats, but by definition, it misses anything not yet in the database. And in practice, an antivirus alert that no one looks at is not an alert at all.
Threat detection does not replace these tools one-to-one, but provides an additional layer of security. It collects signals from the firewall, antivirus, and other sources, correlates them, and assesses whether the overall picture points to an attack. Managed Detection & Response is often deployed to detect threats early across entire digital environments and to work in tandem with existing tools.
Detection without response is just an alert that goes ignored. That is where Managed Detection & Response (MDR) comes in. With this service, you get a team that monitors the signals and alerts generated by detection, both during and outside office hours, assesses them, and takes action.
This works in three steps:
The difference lies primarily in the service and the follow-up. Any company can collect as much data and information as they want. But if nothing is done with the resulting alerts, you might as well stop collecting and detecting. Someone needs to read those alerts, assess them, and take action. And not just on Monday morning. That "someone" is where MDR makes the difference: not an extra tool alongside what you already have, but the people who take action.
Curious about what this looks like for your organization? View the MDR packages and see exactly what is being monitored and at what rate.
