MDR vs MSSP: who actually stops the attack?
An MSSP tells you something happened. MDR does something about it. Here is the difference in practical terms, and how to tell which one your business needs.
What an MSSP actually delivers
A managed security service provider runs and tunes your security tools and forwards the alerts they generate. The output is a queue: notifications, tickets, and monthly reports. When an alert fires at 2:00 AM, an MSSP typically escalates it to your team and waits for you to decide what happens next.
What MDR adds on top
Managed detection and response owns the alert to resolution. Analysts triage it, investigate the surrounding activity, and take action inside your environment: isolating hosts, killing malicious processes, and revoking compromised access. You get an incident timeline instead of a to-do list.
Where BlackBunker sits
BlackBunker is MDR delivered from a 24/7 security operations center staffed entirely by US military veterans on US soil. No offshore tier-one queue, no alert-only handoff, no waiting for business hours. One contract covers endpoint, identity, email, dark web, and deepfake defense, and typically replaces eight to twelve point tools.
How to choose
If you already have an internal team that can act on alerts around the clock, an MSSP may be enough. If nobody is watching after 6:00 PM, or your alerts land in an inbox until Monday morning, MDR with live analysts is the model that closes that gap. SOC as a service starts at $3,500 per month.