MDR friction: what happens when alerts outpace analyst capacity?

TL;DR: An MSP scaled better by moving from a human-led MDR model to automated detection and response that reduced false positives, exposed MFA bypasses and recovered 30+ analyst hours each week, according to Coalition's case study. Alert fidelity, not raw alert volume, becomes the key operational variable when triage is the bottleneck.

Editorial analysis by NHI Mgmt Group, based on content published by Coalition: “How CentrexIT Closed Critical Security Gaps & Scaled Analyst Efficiency with Wirespeed ADR”.

Key questions

Q: How should security teams reduce false positives in cloud detection workflows?

A: They should attach identity, workload, and asset-criticality context to every alert before analysts see it.

Q: Why do blocked MFA or conditional access events still matter to defenders?

A: Because a blocked session can still prove that an attacker had a valid password or other identity material.

Q: What breaks when MDR platforms cannot distinguish admin tools from attacker activity?

A: They create unnecessary isolation, downtime and analyst fatigue.

Practitioner guidance

• Validate alert-to-ticket routing rules Separate genuinely actionable detections from informational events so the PSA only receives incidents that have passed correlation and triage thresholds.
• Test behavioural exclusions for admin tools Replace static hash-based exceptions with behaviour-based exclusions that recognise approved remote management actions across endpoints and sessions.
• Treat denied logins as compromise evidence When conditional access blocks a session but authentication succeeded, reset credentials, review the account and check for related access attempts.

Bottom line: This case study shows that MDR noise becomes a governance problem when analysts spend their time validating tickets instead of investigating threats.

Explore further

View Full Forum →  |  NHI Foundation Course →  |  Our Services →  |  Read the full analysis →