Most small and mid-market companies do not need another security tool sitting in a dashboard nobody watches. They need someone reading the alerts at 2 a.m., deciding what is real, and stopping the attacker before encryption spreads. Our managed detection and response service gives your business a 24/7 security operations team, modern endpoint and identity telemetry, and a documented response playbook tied to your environment.
TL;DR: Managed detection and response replaces noisy alerts and unread reports with around-the-clock human analysts, real containment authority, and clear evidence of what happened and why.
Who this is for
This page is written for owners, controllers, and IT leaders at Pittsburgh-area organizations between roughly 25 and 500 employees who already know that antivirus and a firewall are not enough. You may have cyber insurance renewals asking pointed questions about EDR and 24/7 monitoring, a compliance obligation you cannot defer any longer, or an internal IT team that simply cannot staff nights and weekends.
- Mid-market firms whose insurer or prime contractor now requires continuous monitoring.
- Healthcare, legal, financial, and manufacturing operations with regulated data.
- Companies running Microsoft 365 and a mix of cloud and on-prem workloads.
- Internal IT teams that want a security partner, not a replacement.
What managed detection and response includes
MDR is the productized combination of three things working together: telemetry from your endpoints, identities, and cloud tenants; a detection engineering layer that turns that telemetry into high-fidelity alerts; and human analysts with the authority and tooling to respond. Buying any one of those three alone tends to disappoint. We deliver the full loop.
24/7 monitoring and threat hunting
Your environment is watched continuously by analysts, not just software. Alerts are triaged against threat intelligence and behavioral baselines, and our team conducts proactive hunts for indicators that automated rules miss, including identity abuse, suspicious OAuth grants in Microsoft 365, and lateral movement patterns that precede ransomware.
Endpoint, identity, and cloud telemetry
We deploy a modern EDR agent across servers, laptops, and virtual desktops, and we ingest sign-in and audit logs from Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. Identity is where most breaches actually start now, so we treat conditional access, MFA fatigue, and token theft as first-class detections rather than afterthoughts.
Active response, not just notification
The difference between MDR and a glorified alerting service is whether someone is allowed to act. With your pre-approved runbooks, our analysts isolate compromised hosts, disable accounts, revoke sessions, and block indicators across the fleet during the incident, not the next morning. You get a phone call and a written timeline; the attacker gets cut off.
Reporting that an auditor and a CFO can both read
Every month you receive a report covering detections, response actions, coverage gaps, and recommendations, written in plain language. For regulated clients we map evidence to HIPAA, CMMC, PCI, or SOC 2 control families so your audit prep stops being a fire drill.
Buying detection without authorized response is buying a smoke alarm with the speaker disconnected.
How we approach MDR differently
Pittsburgh has no shortage of providers who will resell a security platform and call it done. Our practice is built around three opinions that shape every engagement.
First, identity is the perimeter. We invest as much in detections for Entra ID, conditional access, and SaaS OAuth as we do in endpoint, because that is where modern intrusions actually begin.
Second, MDR should integrate with the rest of your IT operations. Because we also run managed IT and cloud infrastructure practices, when an analyst isolates a finance workstation at midnight, the same team that supports that user can rebuild it the next morning without a finger-pointing handoff.
Third, AI belongs in the SOC workflow, not the marketing copy. Our AI practice helps us automate enrichment, summarize incident timelines, and accelerate analyst triage, which means faster containment and a service that stays affordable for mid-market budgets. We are equally happy to advise clients on safe internal use of AI tools, since shadow AI is now a real data-loss vector worth detecting.
Why PGH Networks
We are headquartered in the Pittsburgh metro and serve clients across Allegheny, Washington, Butler, Westmoreland, and Beaver counties, including Pittsburgh, Cranberry Township, Robinson, Monroeville, Wexford, Canonsburg, and the Strip District. Local presence matters during an incident: when an executive laptop needs to be physically collected for forensics, we can be on site, not on a plane.
Our team carries the certifications you would expect of a security partner, and we work day-in and day-out with frameworks that matter to regional buyers, including HIPAA for healthcare and behavioral health clients, CMMC for defense supply chain manufacturers across western Pennsylvania, PCI for retail and hospitality, and SOC 2 for SaaS and professional services firms. We are also one of the few regional MSPs with a dedicated AI workflows and advisory practice, so security and productivity initiatives can be planned together rather than fighting each other for budget.
Get a tailored proposal
Every environment is different, and a credible MDR proposal should reflect your actual endpoint count, identity platform, compliance scope, and existing tooling. We will scope a fit in a single working session, share transparent pricing, and outline a 30-day onboarding plan with no pressure to switch your other IT services.
Frequently asked questions
How is managed detection and response different from a SIEM or antivirus?
Antivirus blocks known malware on a single device, and a SIEM collects logs you still have to interpret. MDR is the staffed service that uses modern endpoint, identity, and cloud telemetry to detect attacker behavior and then actually responds on your behalf, 24/7.
Do we need to replace our current EDR or security tools?
Usually not entirely. We support the major endpoint and identity platforms and will tell you honestly whether your current stack is sufficient, needs tuning, or should be consolidated. Many clients keep their existing licenses and add our service on top.
How fast can you onboard us?
Standard onboarding is about 30 days from signed agreement to full 24/7 coverage, including agent deployment, log integration, runbook approval, and a tabletop walkthrough. Urgent situations, such as a post-incident or insurance-driven deadline, can be accelerated.
Will MDR satisfy our cyber insurance requirements?
In nearly every case, yes. Our service addresses the continuous monitoring, EDR, and incident response controls that insurers and prime contractors are now asking about, and we provide attestation letters and evidence packs for renewal applications.
Do you only sell MDR, or can it be bundled with managed IT?
Both. Many clients use us solely for MDR alongside their existing IT team, while others bundle it with our managed IT, cloud, and AI services for a single accountable partner. Pricing is the same either way.