When cyber threats occur, the speed of intervention becomes critical and especially important. Using managed security services with always-on detection, real-time analysis and rapid response is proven to stop attacks before they become serious incidents. In a context in which organizations increasingly demand more specialized managed services, responsiveness makes the difference.
In this sense, the company WatchGuard Technologies has announced the expansion of its managed detection and response (MDR) capabilities with WatchGuard Open MDR. This addition builds on WatchGuard’s MDR service and extends 24/7 detection and response to compatible third-party tools alongside WatchGuard technologies, enabling MSPs to offer comprehensive managed security services across diverse customer environments without requiring them to make disruptive changes to their platforms. In this way, partners can scale their managed services while maintaining technological flexibility.
Enterprise level MDR
Most security vendors promise better results. In practice, they offer more tools, more noise, and more time wasted chasing the wrong signals. Open MDR takes a different approach: enterprise-grade protection designed for real-world, heterogeneous customer environments, powered by an SOC designed to boost the efficiency of managed services, eliminate distractions, highlight what matters, and act quickly when it counts most.
Open MDR brings together native WatchGuard integrations and third-party environments into a single operational view. For MSPs, this means faster onboarding, less friction during renewals, and the ability to standardize the delivery of managed security services across diverse customer environments without forced migrations. This standardization facilitates the profitability and consistency of the managed services offered to end clients.
Open MDR offers three key benefits for MSPs and their clients
- Less noise. More control. Open MDR highlights what matters and acts quickly when necessary, making managed services more effective.
- AI designed for real response. Proprietary AI/ML reduces noise, validates threats and initiates response actions in less than six minutes, with less than one false positive per month, elevating the quality of managed cybersecurity services.
- Business power for all MSPs. Open MDR helps smaller partners compete at enterprise scale, without the burden of building a SOC or forcing platform changes, making it easier to expand advanced managed services.
With Open MDR, WatchGuard MSPs and their clients get:
- Unified visibility across endpoints, identity, network, cloud, and productivity tools to standardize the delivery of managed security services.
- 24/7 expert monitoring and validation through the WatchGuard SOC, without the need to create or staff an internal SOC, optimizing managed services.
- Rapid, coordinated response that isolates threats before they spread and impact operations, a key pillar of modern managed services.
- Freedom from forced migrations, reducing onboarding friction and protecting long-term relationships with managed services customers.
- The result: enterprise-grade MDR capabilities without the complexity of large enterprises, allowing MSPs to offer high-value managed services.
“Open MDR represents the culmination of our MDR vision: to provide a single, complete MDR solution,” said Andrew Young, Product Manager at WatchGuard. “It allows partners to offer consistent, high-quality managed security services, without forcing drastic decisions or adding operational complexity.”
From threat signals to decisive action
Many organizations have security tools, but not the resources necessary to execute them as a true security operation. Open MDR changes that equation. The WatchGuard SOC monitors environments 24/7, validates threats and responds within minutes, strengthening MSPs’ managed services proposition. Proactive threat hunting, powered by AI, helps uncover hidden risks sooner, while clear reporting reinforces confidence in the managed services provided.
WatchGuard Open MDR is purpose-built for MSPs offering large-scale managed security services. Partners maintain control of the customer relationship, while WatchGuard operates behind the scenes as SOC, supported by dedicated Technical Account Managers (TAMs) for escalation, root cause analysis and ongoing security advice, reinforcing the value of managed services.
Key capabilities include cross-environment coverage of WatchGuard Firebox, AuthPoint, and EPDR, plus supported tools such as Microsoft Defender, CrowdStrike Falcon, Okta Workforce Identity, Microsoft 365, AWS, Google, and third-party firewalls, without the need to migrate tools, making it easy to deliver flexible and scalable managed services.
MDR contains the threats
“WatchGuard Open MDR allows us to deliver enterprise-grade protection with clarity and confidence, especially to our small and medium-sized customers,” said Don Lawson, technical solutions advisor at Sonit Systems. “It reduces alert fatigue, simplifies operations and provides peace of mind for our managed services customers, backed by the WatchGuard team supporting us well beyond implementation.”
WatchGuard Open MDR is purpose-built for MSPs offering large-scale managed security services
Open MDR builds on WatchGuard’s growing portfolio of MDR managed services. It follows the availability of Total MDR and the acquisition of ActZero in 2025, reinforcing the company’s long-term vision of offering open, platform-based managed security services.
WatchGuard Open MDR is available globally through the WatchGuard company’s network of MSP partners.
