ESET launches MDR tiers in India: A step toward closing the cybersecurity talent gap

Cybersecurity firm ESET has introduced two new Managed Detection and Response (MDR) offerings in India: ESET PROTECT MDR for small and medium businesses and ESET PROTECT MDR Ultimate for large enterprises.

The launch signals a growing shift toward fully managed cybersecurity solutions, designed to address one of India’s most pressing issues: the shortage of skilled cybersecurity professionals.

Bridging the Cybersecurity Skills Divide

ESET’s APAC SMB Cybersecurity Report 2024 underscores the scale of the challenge:

• 43% of SMBs in India identified the absence of a dedicated cybersecurity team as a top concern.

• 88% reported experiencing at least one cybersecurity breach.
  

These findings highlight a crucial need for managed services that combine automated threat response with human expertise. The MDR tiers are positioned to offer continuous protection across endpoints, email systems, and cloud platforms, with added visibility into vulnerabilities and security posture.

For enterprises, ESET PROTECT MDR Ultimate expands this scope with customised threat hunting, remote forensic support, and advanced visibility into critical environments.

Inside the MDR Framework: Automation Meets Expertise

Both MDR tiers integrate real-time protection and threat response functions, blending AI automation with human-guided decision-making. According to ESET, its managed service delivers a mean time to respond (MTTR) of just six minutes, a marked contrast to the industry’s median breach detection time of over 24 days.

This shortened response window aims to minimise potential data loss and business disruption, providing organisations with a more resilient framework for incident containment and recovery.

The rapid increase in cyberattacks, including over 2 million incidents reported in India last year, has pushed many businesses to move from reactive to proactive defence models.

“Cyber threats are evolving faster than ever, and so must defence,” said Parvinder Walia, President of the Asia Pacific region at ESET. “Our AI-powered MDR services aim to deliver faster detection, intelligent automation, and guided human response, backed by ESET’s global threat intelligence.”

Addressing MSP Vulnerabilities and Responsibilities

Managed Service Providers (MSPs) face a dual challenge: protecting both client networks and their own systems, even as attackers increasingly exploit supply-chain vulnerabilities and remote management tools.

ESET’s MDR solutions are designed to function within MSP environments, enabling them to monitor and secure multiple client infrastructures from a single console. This unified approach helps reduce attack surfaces, enhance visibility across tenant environments, and strengthen compliance with growing data protection requirements.

The launch of ESET’s MDR services in India comes at a time when cyber-resilience is becoming a boardroom priority. For organisations constrained by staffing shortages or limited in-house expertise, managed response frameworks like MDR provide a way to maintain 24/7 vigilance without adding operational overhead.

The evolution toward AI-augmented security management represents not just a technological upgrade, but a structural change in how Indian businesses can handle an escalating threat landscape.

Conclusion

India’s cybersecurity ecosystem is evolving rapidly, but talent shortages remain a key vulnerability. ESET’s introduction of MDR services reflects a growing trend towardoutsourced expertise and automation-driven defence, offering organisations the agility to detect, respond, and recover before incidents escalate.

As cyberattacks become more sophisticated and persistent, such managed solutions could become the operational backbone of India’s next phase of digital resilience.

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