EDR vs MDR vs Antivirus: What Your Business Actually Needs

For decades, antivirus software was the standard endpoint protection for businesses. Install it, update the signatures, and you were covered. That model worked when threats were primarily viruses and worms that matched known patterns. Today's attacks use fileless malware, living-off-the-land techniques, and social engineering that traditional signature-based antivirus simply cannot detect.

If your business is still relying on basic antivirus as your primary endpoint security, you have significant gaps. That doesn't mean antivirus is useless. It still catches commodity malware. But it's the equivalent of a screen door when the threat landscape calls for a steel one.

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) is the next evolution. Where antivirus asks "does this file match a known virus signature?", EDR monitors everything happening on the endpoint: process execution, network connections, file system changes, registry modifications, and user behavior. When it detects suspicious activity, it can isolate the endpoint, kill the malicious process, and collect forensic data.

The catch is that EDR generates a volume of telemetry and alerts that someone needs to monitor and respond to. For a 50-person business, an EDR platform might flag dozens of events per day that require human analysis. If nobody is watching the dashboard, you've invested in detection without the response half of the equation.

Managed Detection and Response (MDR) solves the staffing problem. An MDR service pairs EDR technology with a 24/7 security operations center staffed by analysts who monitor your endpoints, investigate alerts, and take response actions on your behalf. When something suspicious happens at 2 AM, a human analyst is reviewing it, not an automated rule.

MDR services typically include threat hunting, where analysts proactively search your environment for indicators of compromise rather than waiting for alerts. This catches sophisticated attackers who are designed to operate below detection thresholds. For most small and mid-sized businesses, MDR provides the security posture of an in-house SOC at a fraction of the cost.

Not every business needs the same level of protection. A 10-person construction company with no regulated data has different requirements than a 10-person medical practice handling thousands of patient records. The decision should be based on the sensitivity of your data, your regulatory obligations, and the potential business impact of a breach.

For businesses handling healthcare, financial, or legal data, MDR should be the baseline. The regulatory penalties for a breach, combined with the business disruption, make the monthly cost of MDR a straightforward value proposition. For businesses with less sensitive data and lower regulatory exposure, a well-configured EDR solution with internal monitoring during business hours may be sufficient.

At Expert IT Operations, we've moved all our managed clients to EDR at minimum, and we recommend MDR for any practice or firm handling regulated data. The specific products we deploy depend on the client's environment, but we look for platforms that integrate well with Microsoft 365 security, provide straightforward reporting for compliance documentation, and have proven detection rates in independent testing.

Whatever you choose, the implementation matters as much as the product. An EDR agent installed with default policies and nobody reviewing the alerts provides a false sense of security. Proper tuning, policy configuration, and ongoing management are what turn a security product into actual security.