RSAC Fireside Chat: Shift left, think forward — why MDR is emerging as cyber’s silver bullet

With RSAC kicking off next week, the conversation is shifting—literally. Cybersecurity pros are rethinking how “shift left” applies not just to code, but to enterprise risk.

Related: Making sense of threat detection

In this Fireside Chat, I spoke with John DiLullo, CEO of Deepwatch, who makes a compelling case for how Managed Detection and Response (MDR) is filling that role.

DiLullo frames MDR as a three-part continuum. First, there’s proactive risk reduction—identifying configuration gaps, dormant tools, and soft spots in your stack before they’re exploited. Second is real-time detection and mitigation when something slips through. And third, when it hits the fan—full-scale incident response, already trained and ready.

This layered approach has broad appeal. DiLullo notes that roughly 25% of companies currently use MDR, and that number is expected to climb to 75–90% by 2030. Why? Because MDR delivers something rare: sharper visibility, reduced staffing strain, and—in his view—“instant ROI.”

When I asked DiLullo if MDR is the long-elusive silver bullet, he didn’t flinch. No, it doesn’t guarantee invincibility. But it does offer measurable ROI from day one, often reducing the need for large security teams while dramatically improving posture. And in an age of nonstop alert fatigue and shrinking CISO tenures, that’s a meaningful win.

To be sure, no single tool or service solves cybersecurity outright. But DiLullo’s framing suggests MDR may be inching closer to what many CISOs are quietly hoping for: a security investment that actually simplifies.

••Listen to the full podcast to hear how MDR is helping close major gaps in network defense.

I’ll keep watch and keep reporting.

Pulitzer Prize-winning business journalist Byron V. Acohido is dedicated to fostering public awareness about how to make the Internet as private and secure as it ought to be.

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(LW provides consulting services to the vendors we cover.)

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