Cybersecurity is more than important to a managed security services provider's (MSSP) business, it IS the business. To be competitive, MSSPs must be leaders in cybersecurity technology and best practices.Extended detection and response (XDR) is a holistic approach to security that integrates cloud, on-premises and endpoint security. XDR includes endpoint detection and response (EDR) for monitoring and responding to threats against endpoints as well as malware protection, disk encryption, analytics, firewall, and identity-based access management. XDR collects activity data across multiple security layers to analyze it in real-time to detect threats, enabling security teams to respond more quickly.XDR solutions also increasingly include AI and machine learning (ML) in order to detect complex malicious behaviors and initiate a response faster than a human operator. AI can collate massive amounts of data from multiple sources, enabling them to detect malicious actors even if their behavior in individual cases is imperceptible — a critical capability in the ever-changing landscape of emerging threats.AI can be built into endpoints to prevent them from becoming vulnerable to new threats without recognized signatures. AI-enabled XDR can quickly detect suspicious processes or threats that seek to modify files or insert malicious code. (Find out more about AI in cybersecurity) A report on the XDR market, by MarketsandMarkets, predicts the global market for XDR solutions and cloud services will jump from $1.7 billion in 2023 to $8.8 billion by 2028. That’s an annual growth rate of over 38%, driven by the increasing complexity of securing hybrid IT environments, as well as the volume and sophistication of today’s cyber threats.Small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) are adopting XDR at the fastest rate, primarily because of its cost-effectiveness and relative ease of use. That rapid growth should encourage more MSSPs to provide managed XDR services for customers that need effective enterprise security but without the cost of in-house expertise or onsite servers that must be managed and maintained. Managed cloud-based XDR takes even more of the work out of XDR for smaller organizations that lack their own in-house expertise or the budget to purchase XDR licenses and additional hardware.