A company can easily find itself offline for more than a week. Attackers can exploit vulnerabilities to penetrate the network and the encrypted backups, effectively negating the value of its nightly backups and leaving it in operational limbo.

The risk of a successful cyberattack today isn’t an “if”. It is not dependent on the size of the business or the market in which it operates either. What puts a South African company at risk is its very existence, and managing these threats comes down to having the right tools in place to detect and respond to them fast enough to protect the business.

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South Africa experienced more than six million online attack attempts and 10.3 million malware incidents in the first half of 2025. According to BDO’s Global Risk Landscape Report, companies are facing more than 2 000 attacks a week, up 14% year-on-year. Over the past year, Interpol detected 230 million cyberthreats, of which 219 million were malware-related, with ransomware and phishing leading the charge.

This is why companies want security solutions that put them on a significantly more stable footing. They want a cybersecurity service capable of outperforming traditional security systems such as security information and event management (SIEM), antivirus software and managed security service providers (MSSPs), and which gives them more confidence and control over their security posture.

Managed detection and response (MDR) has been that solution. Offering companies the ability to outsource their detection and response engine for 24/7 visibility and reduced dwell time, MDR is slowly changing cybersecurity from a cost centre to a strategic enabler. Globally, the MDR market is forecast to grow from around US$4.2-billion in 2025 to $11.3-billion by 2030 at a compound annual growth rate of 22%. Among the drivers for this growth are the increasingly sophisticated nature of attacks, the shortage of skilled cybersecurity professionals and a regulatory environment that is constantly evolving. Proactive monitoring is essential.

For South African companies, the dynamics of cybercrime are somewhat worse. Companies are dealing with the pressures of escalating ransomware and phishing incidents as well as a shortage of cyber talent. They also have to deal with new standards such as the Joint Standard on Cybersecurity and ICT Risk Management, which took effect on 1 June 2025.

Triple bind

The standard compels companies to adopt formal cyber-resilience plans, incident response protocols and board-level oversight aligned with King IV governance principles. Companies are caught in a triple bind of complex threats, less internal capacity and elevated governance and regulation.

It makes sense in light of the above numbers to have a solution with a positive track record. A recent Accenture report found that AI-embedded MDR reduced incident triage time by up to 60% and incident recovery time by 45%, outperforming legacy MSSP and SIEM models in measurable response efficiency.

MDR takes the overwhelming volume of alerts and noise that flood traditional systems and turns them into actionable intelligence. It blends automation and human expertise so that threats are not only identified but contextualised and prioritised. The model doesn’t replace security teams; it amplifies them and gives companies the coverage of a fully staffed 24/7 security operations centre (SOC) without the complexity or cost.

MDR is helping leadership teams make security a visible and strategic function. It provides the kind of continuous insight that helps with business decisions, budgets and boardroom priorities. As cyberthreats evolve faster than most organisations can recruit, train or retain the expertise they need, MDR has become the practical middle ground between control and capability.

With an integrated SOC, local cloud infrastructure and a strong partner network, Vox delivers MDR as part of a wider resilience framework that already supports its connectivity and cloud clients. The company focuses on giving South African businesses security that is visible and always on, with protection that evolves at the same pace as the threat. MDR forms a natural extension of what the company does best — connecting people, data and infrastructure securely and without interruption.