Why whole-of-network visibility is now the MSP baseline

For years, MSPs delivered “good enough” security by focusing on endpoints-AV, EDR, patching, email filtering... but attackers adapted faster than the stack.

Today:

• 80% of breaches involve identity compromise

• Cloud and SaaS environments are prime targets

• Lateral movement begins minutes after initial access

• Legitimate admin tools are the preferred attack method

• VPNs, firewalls and edge appliances are exploited constantly

None of this triggers classic endpoint malware behaviours.

If your tooling only watches what happens on the device, you can’t see what happens between devices, across accounts, or inside cloud services.

And when something slips through those cracks?

The MSP is the one the client holds accountable-not the tool vendor.

What "whole-of-network coverage" actually means in practice

Most MSPs hear this phrase and think it means “collect more logs.”

It doesn’t.

Whole-of-network coverage means:

• You capture telemetry from endpoints, identity, firewall/VPN, cloud, SaaS, network flows, server logs, OT/IoT and email.

• You correlate it automatically so you don’t drown in data.

• You detect attack chains that span multiple systems.

• You receive context-rich alerts that your team can actually action.

With endpoint-only security, each system is an isolated island. But with whole-network coverage, everything becomes a connected story.

Real-world attacks MSPs miss without whole-network visibility

Here are the attack paths your EDR cannot and will never catch-because the activity does not occur on a single endpoint, or does not look malicious from a device-level perspective.

These examples are taken from very common SMB incidents.

1. MFA bypass leading to cloud account takeover

The attack:
Attacker uses MFA fatigue, token theft or OAuth abuse to compromise a Microsoft 365 admin account.

What the endpoint sees:
Nothing. No malware, no suspicious process, no abnormal file behaviour. The entire attack happens in the cloud.

What happens next:

• Mailbox rules created to hide attacker emails

• SharePoint files exfiltrated

• MFA methods changed

• Additional admins created

Why MSPs get blamed:
“You manage our security. How did you miss this?” Without identity + cloud telemetry, you simply couldn’t see it.

2. Lateral movement using legitimate Windows tools

The attack:
Attacker steals one set of credentials and uses SMB, WMI or PowerShell Remoting to explore internal systems.

Endpoint view:
Looks like a technician doing normal admin work.

Whole-network view reveals:

• Impossible travel between logins

• Unusual authentication paths

• Lateral access to servers never touched before

• Privilege escalations and credential harvesting

Why this matters:
Lateral movement is the stage where attackers find the DC, disable backups and detonate ransomware. If you only detect ransomware at the endpoint, it’s already too late.

3. Rogue devices and shadow networks

The attack:
Someone plugs in an unmanaged NAS, printer, Wi-Fi access point or IoT device.

Endpoints see:
Absolutely nothing.

Network layer sees:

• New MAC addresses

• Internal scanning

• Unencrypted services

• Brute-force attempts

These devices are now one of the easiest ways for attackers to breach SMBs.

4. VPN or firewall exploit compromises the perimeter

The attack:
A vulnerability like Citrix Bleed, FortiOS SSL VPN or SonicWall exploitation gives attackers direct access.

Endpoint behaviour:
Totally normal until the attacker reaches them.

Network and identity behaviour:
Unusual VPN sessions, impossible travel logins, configuration changes.

Why MSPs suffer:
Clients assume you should have seen “suspicious activity” even though the endpoint never generated a signal.

5. Quiet insider abuse

Not every attack uses malware. Sometimes a disgruntled employee:

• Copies data to cloud storage

• Creates hidden forwarding rules

• Accesses directories they shouldn’t

• Uses privileged accounts out-of-hours

Endpoint tools cannot interpret intent. Whole-network coverage can.

How whole-of-network visibility reduces your workload and liability

MSPs don’t just want more alerts-they want fewer, but better ones.

With enhanced.io’s Open XDR platform:

1. All telemetry is unified and correlated

You don’t need to become a SIEM engineer. You receive a single, clear attack narrative instead of 40 separate alerts.

2. The platform automatically detects multi-stage attacks

Example:
MFA bypass → mailbox rule change → SharePoint access → external IP exfiltration

EDR cannot connect these dots. Open XDR does it automatically.

3. You get a security team behind you-without hiring one

We provide:

• 24/7 monitoring

• Alert triage

• Investigation

• Recommended actions

• Threat validation

• Monthly reporting

You focus on your clients, not running a SOC.

4. You get audit-ready evidence that protects your MSP

Reports show:

• What was monitored

• What was detected

• Actions taken

• Identity + lateral movement coverage

• Improvements month over month

If there is a breach, you can demonstrate duty of care.

Before vs. After enhanced.io

Why MSPs choose enhanced.io instead of assembling this themselves

You could stitch together SIEM, NDR, IAM monitoring, log aggregation, cloud analytics, SOAR and compliance reporting.

But doing that means:

• 7+ new tools

• 100+ hours of integration work

• Hiring or training analysts

• Managing false positives

• Managing correlation rules

• Maintaining storage costs

• Running 24/7 coverage

Most MSPs look at this and say:

“We can’t build this. But we absolutely need the outcomes.”

That’s exactly the gap enhanced.io fills.

Modern attacks don’t live on the endpoint, but in the gaps between identity, cloud, network and device activity. Whole-of-network coverage isn’t enterprise-grade anymore - it’s the only realistic way MSPs can protect their clients and themselves.