Live Network Traffic is the Missing Link: AI Can’t Detect What It Can’t See
AI is dominating cybersecurity conversations—and MSSPs are rushing to capitalize. Whether through SIEM platforms with built-in ML, or EDRs with AI-assisted investigations, the promise is clear: faster detection, smarter triage, and better outcomes. But here’s the hard truth—AI alone won’t save you if it doesn’t have complete data. And that’s exactly what many MSSPs are missing: real-time network visibility through NDR.
Network Detection and Response (NDR) isn’t just a complementary layer—it’s the core input AI needs to detect what logs and endpoints can’t see. Yet too often, it’s left out of MSSP stacks entirely, dismissed as complex or redundant. That’s not just a technical gap—it’s a business blind spot.
AI is Only as Good as Its Data
EDR and SIEM tools provide important telemetry—but they don’t capture everything. EDR can’t observe communications that don’t originate on the endpoint. SIEMs are only as effective as the log data they ingest—and logs are often incomplete, delayed, or inconsistently formatted. Even the best AI models can’t “fill in” those blind spots unless the underlying data is available.
That’s where live network traffic becomes critical. It is objective, real-time, and continuous. When AI is fed full-spectrum network data—from internal communications to outbound flows—it can spot lateral movement, exfiltration, and subtle anomalies that other tools simply miss.
Example 1: Account Takeover with Lateral Movement
An attacker compromises a legitimate user account. Behavior looks routine: login during business hours, access to familiar systems. EDR sees normal endpoint behavior. SIEM logs the activity—but nothing triggers.
Enter NDR: it picks up on the account accessing new subnets, querying resources it’s never touched, and communicating laterally in ways that break from established patterns. AI then flags this as suspicious—but only because the network data was there to see it. Without NDR, that AI detection never happens.
Example 2: Data Exfiltration Over Covert Channels
Now consider a data exfiltration scenario. An attacker uses DNS tunneling or encrypted HTTPS to quietly siphon data. EDR sees DNS requests or HTTPS traffic—nothing alarming. SIEM logs it—but unless you’ve prebuilt rules for that exact pattern, it goes unnoticed.
With NDR, AI detects the consistent outbound flow, the abnormal query cadence, the beaconing behavior. Again, AI only connects the dots because NDR made them visible.
The MSSP Business Case: Visibility + AI = High-Value Service
- Deeper Detection: Fill in the blind spots of EDR and SIEM with network-layer context.
- Better AI Performance: Give AI engines complete, high-fidelity input—maximize ROI on analytics platforms.
- Premium Deliverables: Offer rich threat reports with clear insights into MITRE ATT&CK coverage and behavioral anomalies.
- Stronger Compliance Positioning: Many regulatory frameworks require network monitoring—NDR enables verifiable, continuous visibility.
MITRE ATT&CK Mapping: Proof of Performance
A standout advantage of NDR is how naturally it maps to MITRE ATT&CK tactics—especially those missed by logs alone (e.g., lateral movement, command and control, exfiltration). When NDR powers your detection, you can produce credible, client-facing evidence that your AI systems are not just analyzing data—they’re seeing the full attack surface.
MSSPs can use this to create clear, repeatable proof-of-service in reports, QBRs, and executive briefings. This translates directly into retention, upsell opportunities, and renewal leverage.
Why Stellar Cyber
At Stellar Cyber, we’ve built our Open XDR platform to do what AI alone can’t: see everything. Our integrated NDR is always on, deeply embedded, and optimized to feed AI engines the raw, rich data they need to detect real threats. Unlike stitched-together platforms, Stellar Cyber delivers unified visibility across endpoints, logs, users, and network—all in a single interface designed for MSSP scale.
With support for MITRE ATT&CK reporting, multi-tenancy, and automated threat correlation, Stellar Cyber gives MSSPs the platform to offer AI-enhanced detection with real-time visibility baked in.
Because AI can’t detect what it can’t see—and Stellar Cyber makes sure you see it all.
