For Managed Service Providers (MSPs), cybersecurity is no longer just about prevention – it’s about detection and response at speed and scale. As cyber threats evolve, clients expect their MSP to not only block known threats but also detect the unknown, respond swiftly and minimize impact.

To meet this demand, MSPs must embrace both proactive and reactive threat detection strategies. These approaches are not mutually exclusive—they are complementary and together they form the backbone of a resilient, layered security posture.

In this article, we explore why both are essential, how automation and 24/7 monitoring enhance their effectiveness and how platforms like enhanced.io bring them together under one roof.

The two sides of threat detection

Let’s start by defining the difference:

Proactive threat detection

This is the hunt. It’s about staying ahead of attackers by actively looking for indicators of compromise (IOCs), suspicious behaviors and anomalies that may not yet have triggered alerts. Think of it as looking for trouble before it announces itself.

Key tactics include:

• Threat hunting

• Behavioral analytics

• MITRE ATT&CK-based detection

• Threat intelligence correlation

• Vulnerability management and attack surface monitoring

Reactive threat detection

This is the response. It kicks in once an alert or known event has occurred – malware is detected, an endpoint is compromised, or a cloud misconfiguration is exploited. Reactive detection focuses on responding quickly and effectively to minimize damage.

Key tactics include:

• Real-time alert monitoring

• Incident triage and investigation

• Automated response playbooks

• Forensic analysis

Why MSPs can’t choose one or the other

Most MSPs gravitate toward reactive detection because it’s tangible—there’s an alert, a ticket, an incident. It’s easy to report on and it aligns with traditional SLAs.

But that reactive posture alone is no longer enough.

Modern attacks, such as ransomware-as-a-service or supply chain compromises, often involve dwell times measured in weeks. If you’re only reacting to what’s already obvious, you’re likely missing early-stage activity – like privilege escalation or lateral movement – that could have stopped an incident before it exploded.

Proactive detection fills that gap by focusing on what hasn’t happened yet but could. It reveals early indicators, lets you harden systems before they’re targeted and supports more strategic risk management.

In short:

Proactive = reduce risk exposure
Reactive = reduce impact when attacks occur

MSPs need both to deliver complete, layered cybersecurity.

The role of 24/7 coverage and automation

Combining proactive and reactive detection isn’t just about process—it’s about scale and speed. And that’s where automation and 24/7 monitoring come in.

Why 24/7 monitoring matters

Threats don’t sleep and neither can your detection capabilities. Whether it’s a phishing email clicked at 2 a.m. or an attacker probing AWS infrastructure on a Sunday, MSPs must offer clients continuous protection.

Proactive threat hunting must be ongoing and reactive alerts must be triaged instantly—not “first thing Monday.”

With enhanced.io, MSPs get around-the-clock coverage from a dedicated SOC team that operates continuously to identify both emerging risks and active threats. This ensures early detection and rapid response—no matter when the threat arises.

The power of automation

Automation supercharges both proactive and reactive approaches. For example:

• Proactively, automation can continuously scan environments for misconfigurations, scan for vulnerabilities, or run scheduled threat hunts based on known IOCs.

• Reactively, automation can isolate infected endpoints, disable compromised accounts, block malicious IPs at the firewall and generate tickets—all within seconds of detection.

This isn’t about replacing human analysts. It’s about amplifying their efforts, reducing time to detect (TTD) and time to respond (TTR) and keeping your SOC efficient and focused on high-priority threats.

Prioritization through risk-based context

Another key to combining proactive and reactive detection is prioritization. Not every alert, vulnerability, or IOC deserves the same attention.

This is where risk-based context becomes critical. MSPs need visibility into:

• Asset criticality: Is this alert affecting a domain controller or a test server?

• Threat relevance: Is this vulnerability being actively exploited in the wild?

• Business impact: Does this cloud misconfiguration expose sensitive client data?

Platforms like enhanced.io use built-in threat intelligence and context scoring to surface the most urgent issues first—so your teams can focus on what matters most. This applies across both detection styles.

The single pane of glass solution

MSPs often struggle with fragmented visibility—multiple consoles, siloed tools and disconnected workflows. This not only slows down detection and response but also leads to missed threats and inefficient operations.

The answer is a Single Pane of Glass: one interface that consolidates alerts, telemetry, threat intelligence and response actions across all tools and client environments.

With enhanced.io, MSPs gain centralized visibility into:

• Endpoint, network and cloud activity

• M365 and identity events

• Firewall and threat intel feeds

• Threat hunting outcomes and incident response workflows

This unified view supports both proactive and reactive detection, making it easier for analysts to detect patterns, respond quickly and track incidents from start to finish.

A unified approach

At enhanced.io, we believe that MSPs shouldn’t have to choose between proactive or reactive security. That’s why we’ve built a platform—and a SOC service—that combines:

• Continuous threat hunting and vulnerability scanning

• Real-time alert triage and response automation

• 24/7 SOC coverage from cybersecurity experts

• Risk-based prioritization of threats and vulnerabilities

• Open integration across your existing toolsets

• Single-pane-of-glass visibility for streamlined operations

The result? MSPs can deliver enterprise-grade cybersecurity, tailored to each client, without drowning in alerts or relying on disconnected tools.

In cybersecurity, balance is everything. Relying solely on reactive detection puts MSPs permanently on the back foot. But going all-in on proactive hunting without the infrastructure to respond in real time is equally risky.

By combining both strategies, backed by automation, 24/7 monitoring and centralized visibility, MSPs can:

• Improve incident outcomes

• Reduce operational strain

• Strengthen client trust

• Scale more efficiently

Cybersecurity is no longer just about stopping attacks—it’s about managing risk intelligently and continuously. And that’s what enhanced.io helps MSPs do every single day. Let’s talk about how we can help you take a unified approach.