Security teams have a lot coming at them right now. Attacks are moving faster, environments are getting more complex, and many teams are being asked to do more with less.
That’s why we’re excited to share that Sophos has been named a Leader in the IDC MarketScape for Worldwide Managed Detection and Response Services for Midmarket 2026 Vendor Assessment (#US52992326, July 2026).
The IDC MarketScape evaluates MDR providers based on both current capabilities and future strategy, looking at how well vendors help organizations detect, investigate, and respond to threats across increasingly complex environments. For midmarket organizations in particular, we believe the report offers a helpful view into which providers can deliver strong security outcomes without adding unnecessary operational burden.
We believe this recognition reflects the work we’re doing to help organizations strengthen their defenses with intelligence-led security operations, flexible service models, and open security architectures that work with the tools they already have.
According to the IDC MarketScape:
“Organizations of any size seeking a managed detection and response service with deep proprietary threat intelligence, flexible co-management engagement models, and a vendor-agnostic platform that accommodates existing security investments should evaluate Sophos’s MDR offering.”
Security operations built for today’s threat landscape
Sophos MDR protects more than 40,000 customers worldwide through a globally distributed security operations model backed by Sophos X-Ops, which brings together threat intelligence, threat hunting, detection engineering, and managed service delivery.
Our approach is simple: the best security outcomes come from combining AI with human expertise. Sophos MDR uses agentic AI to automate investigations and operational workflows, so analysts can stay focused on high-stakes decisions, novel threats, threat hunting, and customer guidance.
That gives customers security operations that can move quickly and scale, while still keeping the human oversight and expertise they expect from a managed service. Today, 52% of MDR cases are closed end-to-end by AI, and authorized fully automated responses can occur in as little as 89 seconds.
Open, flexible, and designed to work with your environment
Every organization’s environment is different. Sophos MDR is built to support both Sophos and third-party telemetry sources across endpoints, networks, cloud, email, and identity environments. Our vendor-agnostic architecture helps organizations get more value from the security investments they already have, rather than forcing them to start over.
Customers can choose the level of engagement that works best for them, from notification-only support to collaborative investigations and full response authorization. Modular capabilities including exposure management, next-gen SIEM, and identity threat detection and response also make it easier to expand coverage as needs change.
Intelligence that gets stronger with every threat observed
Threat intelligence powers the detections, threat hunts, and response actions that help Sophos MDR protect customers around the world. The Sophos X-Ops Counter Threat Unit (CTU) tracks ransomware operators, initial access brokers, and nation-state actors, generating intelligence that feeds directly into detection engineering, threat hunting, and response playbooks.
Combined with visibility across a large global customer base of over 625,000 defended organizations, that intelligence helps us quickly turn emerging threats into protections, detections, and response actions for customers around the world. All in real-time, all without fine-tuning.
MDR as part of a broader defense system
This IDC MarketScape recognition also comes at an exciting time for Sophos.
With the launch of Sophos Fusion, our AI-native cybersecurity defense system, we’re bringing together endpoint, network, email, cloud, identity, security operations, and advisory services within a single connected architecture.
Built for a threat landscape reshaped by AI, Sophos Fusion combines shared context, synchronized security operations, agentic AI, and intelligence that compounds across the environments it protects. As Sophos Fusion evolves, customers will get deeper integration across MDR, exposure management, identity protection, next-gen SIEM, executive guidance, and proactive risk reduction.
Learn more
Click here to read the report excerpt. For organizations looking for a managed detection and response service that combines deep threat intelligence, flexible engagement models, and an open platform approach, we believe this latest IDC MarketScape recognition reinforces the strength of Sophos MDR.
IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Managed Detection and Response Services for Midmarket 2026.
SOURCE: “Worldwide Managed Detection and Response Service for Midmarket 2026 Vendor Assessment”, July 2026, IDC # US52992326.
IDC MarketScape vendor analysis model is designed to provide an overview of the competitive fitness of technology and service suppliers in a given market. The research methodology utilizes a rigorous scoring methodology based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria that results in a single graphical illustration of each vendor’s position within a given market. The Capabilities score measures vendor product, go-to-market and business execution in the short-term. The Strategy score measures alignment of vendor strategies with customer requirements in a 3-5-year timeframe. Vendor market share is represented by the size of the circles. Vendor year-over-year growth rate relative to the given market is indicated by a plus, neutral or minus next to the vendor name.
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