Organizations continue to invest significant resources in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) to enhance their security, yet attackers are advancing even faster.
Modern threat actors have become skilled at exploiting blind spots beyond the endpoint, bypassing traditional defenses, and moving laterally through networks to reach valuable data without being detected.
As a result of these trends, the demand for network visibility has grown. Unmanaged devices, IoT systems, and other environments often require it when agent-based monitors fall short. Without visibility into these areas, attackers can escalate their privileges before security teams are even aware of a breach.
Many organizations trying to enhance their security face a big decision: should they invest in a dedicated network visibility tool such as Network Detection and Response (NDR), or would it be better to extend their existing EDR into an XDR approach that unifies endpoint, network, and identity telemetry into a single detection and response strategy?
Because attackers don’t scale down their tactics for mid-market organizations, they typically face the same threats as large enterprises. The key difference is that they normally have far fewer resources with which to respond.
Many mid-market organizations operate with limited budgets and lean security teams, which makes security a constant balancing act. Unlike large enterprises with dedicated resources for every domain, mid-market teams often struggle to manage multiple standalone security tools simultaneously.
Each tool often requires separate monitoring, configuration, and maintenance, resulting in operational complexity that quickly accumulates. This fragmented approach can lead to alert fatigue, slower investigation times, and gaps in threat detection. Combined, these issues can leave organizations struggling to respond effectively to an attack.
What most mid-market teams truly need is a straightforward solution that integrates seamlessly out of the box and delivers value immediately. It should provide broad detection across the organization, without the headache of requiring analysts to juggle multiple dashboards. Many lean teams are turning to XDR, which unifies detection and response across endpoints, networks, identities, productivity applications, and cloud, to simplify security operations.
Network Detection and Response (NDR) monitors network traffic to detect and respond to suspicious activity and potential threats. It evolved from traditional network-first tools, such as Network Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems (NIDS/NIPS), which were typically used in large enterprises with dedicated teams to tune alerts and feed Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solutions. The aim of these tools was to gain broader visibility across the network.
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR), which grew out of Endpoint Protection Platforms (EPP), is designed to detect and respond to threats directly on endpoints. Its goal is to provide granular visibility into where attacks may start or spread. Today, organizations of all sizes widely deploy EDR.
Unfortunately, both of these approaches had visibility gaps. NDR solutions began extending their monitoring closer to endpoints via lightweight agents to detect lateral movement within the network. And EDR solutions expanded beyond the endpoint to include signals from cloud environments, identity systems, and other sources, providing better visibility across attack surfaces.
Extended Detection and Response (XDR) then emerged to fill the gaps left by EDR and NDR. It unifies endpoints, networks, cloud, and identity telemetry into a single platform, enabling more accurate threat detection and faster response. This integrated approach also reduces operational complexity, which makes it easier for lean security teams to manage and protect their environments.
While NDR provides valuable network visibility, it may not be the right fit for smaller and mid-market organizations.
NDR can collect and connect data from various network sources, including traffic flows, firewall logs, and VPN activity. In theory, this enhanced visibility can help teams detect suspicious patterns more quickly than might be missed when examining each source individually, such as lateral movement or unusual traffic between unmanaged devices.
The problem for small and mid-sized organizations is that this depth often creates too much complexity. In many cases, these integrations require skilled analysts, further straining already-stressed security teams.
NDR can be effective in monitoring unmanaged devices, which attackers often use as entry points. The problem is that attackers rarely stop there. Their ultimate goal is typically to move laterally across the network to access valuable data, which often resides on managed user endpoints or servers.
While NDR can gather some information from endpoints via a lightweight agent, it cannot provide a comprehensive overview across all attack surfaces. As a result, NDR alone may not provide complete visibility into these endpoints, making it difficult to see the entire attack path.
EDR-derived XDR collects data from endpoints, network sensors, cloud services, and identity systems to provide a clear view of endpoint and network activity. This enhanced visibility makes it easier to detect suspicious behavior across the entire environment.
XDR makes it easier to spot real threats quickly by automatically connecting related alerts and reducing false alarms. For example, suppose an attacker moves through the network toward sensitive data. In that case, XDR links the network activity to the affected endpoint, revealing exactly where the attack is happening and what’s at risk.
Connecting related alerts like this helps your security team identify real threats more quickly and makes it easier to respond and address them. It also reduces alert fatigue, so your team can focus on genuine threats instead of wasting time.
XDR builds upon EDR by integrating incident analysis with centralized visibility. This approach provides your team with a comprehensive, integrated view of threats, eliminating unnecessary complexity regardless of your organization's size.
For mid-sized organizations facing advanced threats and limited security resources, the key challenge is not just collecting more data but being able to act on it quickly and effectively.
While NDR provides important insights into network activity, it often introduces complexity, requires specialized skills, and offers limited visibility into endpoints. On the other hand, EDR-driven XDR delivers a broader and more connected view across endpoints, networks, identities, and cloud environments through a single, integrated platform.
This unified approach helps reduce noise, streamline investigations, and allows your security team to focus on the incidents that truly matter. XDR enhances visibility, improves detection accuracy, and accelerates response, all without overwhelming your team with tool sprawl.
For security teams with constrained resources, XDR is more than a tactical upgrade. It is a strategic investment that strengthens your overall security posture and prepares your organization to face evolving threats with greater clarity and confidence.