As covered in our previous blogs in our series on Modern MDR, Made Clear, security strategies are failing to help organisations safeguard their data and this is putting even more pressure on CISOs. Furthermore, while they are effective for day-to-day security, technical metrics fail to make an impact at board level because they don’t communicate the business risks clearly to C-suite executives.

Unlike a single project, building a future–ready detection and response programme is an ongoing journey. As the threat landscape evolves and enterprise environments become more complex, security operations must continuously adapt.

For CISOs, the challenge is knowing where to start and how to prioritise. The following steps offer a structured approach to help organisations assess their current state, identify gaps, and define a path toward measurable resilience.

1. Assess Current Maturity

The first step is to establish a clear understanding of where the organisation sits today. Using a detection, response, and prevention maturity model, CISOs should evaluate their current capabilities. The objective is to assign a maturity level, and identify specific gaps and constraints that are limiting performance.

2. Identify Exposure Management Gaps

With a baseline established, the next step is to examine how effectively the organisation is managing exposure. The goal is to move from reactive issue handling to a continuous, intelligence–led exposure management programme.

3. Evaluate Detection Coverage Against MITRE ATT&CK

Detection effectiveness should be assessed in terms of volume, coverage, and relevance. Mapping detection logic to the MITRE ATT&CK framework provides a structured way to achieve this.

4. Review Data Lifecycle Efficiency

As data volumes grow, it is essential to ensure that telemetry is being used effectively and efficiently. This review often reveals opportunities to optimise cost without reducing visibility. In some cases, organisations are collecting large volumes of low–value data while missing critical signals elsewhere.

A well–optimised data strategy aligns telemetry with outcomes, ensuring that the right data is collected, retained, and analysed to support detection, response, and exposure management.

5. Map Security Operations to Industry Frameworks

To ensure they align with best practice, organisations should map their security operations against established frameworks such as NIST and MITRE ATT&CK, and Microsoft’s Secure Future Initiative (SFI) to bridge the gap between strategy and execution. The SFI advances the way Microsoft designs, builds, tests, and operates its technology to ensure that the company’s solutions meet the highest possible standards for security.

This mapping exercise will ensure that security programmes are not only aligned with recognised standards, but also implemented in a way that reflects modern operational realities. It also provides a common language for communicating security posture internally and externally.

6. Select the Right Operating Model

With a clear understanding of current maturity, gaps, and requirements, CISOs can make informed decisions about their operating model. This step should be guided by a number of factors, including available expertise and resources, required speed of improvement, scalability and flexibility needs, cost considerations and predictability, and the desired level of control and customisation. The chosen model should support continuous improvement as well as current–state operations.

Our guide, Modern MDR, Made Clear, describes how to plan and build the programme in eight phases. It also provides the ten key questions that CISOs should ask to develop a modern cyber security strategy, and secure the right partner for long-term protection.

Why not download the guide today to continue your cyber security journey?

You might also want to watch the complementary Modern MDR, Made Clear webinar on-demand.