Managed Detection & Response (MDR) in Houston
Antivirus tells you something happened. MDR means a trained analyst sees it, decides whether it matters, and stops it before it spreads. Sentinel-Pros runs detection and response on your laptops, servers, and cloud accounts around the clock, and we are based here in Houston, so we can be in your office when a machine needs to be physically pulled off the network.
The Problem
Most attacks on Houston companies in the 5 to 150 employee range do not start with anything dramatic. Someone in accounts payable clicks a shipping notice, a contractor reuses a password that leaked years ago, or a remote worker's laptop picks up something on a home network. The software may generate an alert at 11 p.m., and nobody reads it until the next business day, by which point the attacker has been inside for ten hours looking for your file shares and your email. Meanwhile your customers, whether that is a Texas Medical Center health system, a major operator in the Energy Corridor, or a prime contractor near NASA Johnson Space Center, are sending security questionnaires that ask directly whether you have 24/7 monitoring and a documented incident response process. Answering honestly is uncomfortable when the truth is that alerts land in an inbox nobody watches.
The Solution
Sentinel-Pros deploys EDR and XDR sensors on endpoints, servers, and identity and cloud platforms, then puts human analysts behind them. Alerts are triaged by people who investigate what actually happened, not just a rule that fires and hopes you notice. When something is real, we contain it: isolate the endpoint, disable the account, kill the session, and call you with a plain explanation of what we did and why. Detection and response are delivered remotely because that is how you get coverage at 3 a.m., but Sentinel-Pros is a Houston firm, so on-site work in the metro is scheduled when hardware needs hands, evidence needs collecting, or leadership wants someone in the room.
Core Responsibilities
Detection Coverage
Human Investigation and Response
Proof for Customers and Regulators
Engagement Process
Scope and inventory
We find out what you actually have: endpoints, servers, cloud tenants, remote users, field devices, and which systems would hurt most if they went dark. Pricing is scoped on that discovery call as a fixed monthly retainer.
Deploy and tune
Sensors go out remotely to endpoints and cloud platforms. We spend the first weeks tuning out the normal noise of your business so alerts mean something, and we document what normal looks like in your environment.
Monitor and contain
Analysts watch and investigate around the clock. Real threats are contained under pre-agreed authority, and you get a call and a written summary rather than a raw alert dump.
Report and improve
Monthly reporting and quarterly leadership reviews. We close the gaps that keep producing incidents, such as unmanaged devices, shared logins, and unpatched remote access.
More for Houston Businesses
Common Questions
How is MDR different from the antivirus we already pay for?
Antivirus blocks known bad files and writes a log entry. MDR adds an analyst who reads that log entry at 2 a.m., checks what else the account or machine did, and shuts it down if it is real. The tooling matters less than the fact that a person is on the other end making a decision.
Can you actually contain an incident without calling me first?
Yes, within limits we agree on in writing before we start. Most clients authorize us to isolate an endpoint or disable a compromised account immediately, then call. Actions with broader business impact, such as taking a production server offline, wait for your approval unless you tell us otherwise.
Do you come on-site in Houston, or is this all remote?
Detection and response run remotely because that is the only way to cover nights, weekends, and holidays. Sentinel-Pros is based in Houston, so on-site support across the metro is available when a machine needs to be physically seized, evidence collected, or an executive briefing delivered in person.
What happens during a hurricane or a multi-day outage?
Monitoring does not depend on your office being open or powered. Our analysts work remotely and keep watching laptops and cloud accounts while your building is dark. Storm windows are also when phishing spikes with fake insurance, FEMA, and contractor messages, so coverage matters most exactly when your staff is distracted.
Our customer sent a security questionnaire asking about 24/7 monitoring. Will this satisfy it?
MDR directly answers the monitoring, detection, and incident response sections that show up in HIPAA vendor reviews, SOC 2 audits, CMMC assessments, and prime contractor questionnaires. We provide the documentation and evidence rather than leaving you to describe it from memory. If the questionnaire covers areas beyond monitoring, we will tell you plainly what is still open.
Ready to get started?
BOOK A CONSULTATIONManaged Detection & Response (MDR) for Houston, Texas
Houston's risk profile is not generic. A twenty person engineering firm in the Energy Corridor holds well data and bid documents that are worth money to competitors and to criminals who resell access. Clinics, imaging centers, research groups, and billing companies around the Texas Medical Center handle protected health information, and a ransomware event there is a HIPAA breach conversation with regulators, not just an IT problem. Freight forwarders, customs brokers, terminal services companies, and marine contractors tied to the Port of Houston sit in supply chains where a hijacked email thread can reroute a payment or delay a vessel, and facility security obligations make cyber incidents a compliance matter. Aerospace and defense suppliers in Clear Lake near NASA Johnson Space Center are working through CMMC expectations that assume continuous monitoring and a real incident response capability. Professional services firms in Downtown and the Galleria hold client funds, legal files, and financial records, and their clients now audit them. On top of all of it, hurricane and flood season means staff work from home, from hotels, and from trucks, on networks nobody controls, during the exact weeks when phishing pretexts about storm claims and emergency vendors are most believable. Detection has to follow the people, not the building, and someone has to be awake to act on it.
See the statewide overview of Managed Detection & Response (MDR) or all services available in Houston.