Schrodinger’s Cat and the Quantum Breach Reality

If you don’t look inside your environment, you can’t know its true state—and attackers count on that. Think of your business like Schrodinger’s famous cat: both breached and not breached until you observe what’s really happening. That mindset shift changes everything about how you plan cybersecurity.

Why visibility beats assumptions

• Cyberattacks are no longer a matter of if but when. Without continuous monitoring and threat hunting, you may already have intruders dwelling in your systems.
• Real-world attackers don’t strike at random. Groups reportedly linked to the Marks & Spencer and Jaguar Land Rover incidents are said to have moved undetected for weeks, timing detonation for maximum disruption—proof that planning, not chance, drives modern campaigns.

Time is the attacker’s greatest weapon

• According to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025, the global mean time to identify and contain a breach is 241 days, with 181 days just to identify it. Longer dwell time means more damage when the payload finally triggers.

Locks, SOCs, or something smarter?

• Bigger locks (more preventive tools) help, but they won’t stop stolen or phished credentials, insider threats, or social engineering.
• Building your own SOC with EDR/XDR can work—if you have the people, processes, and skills. Most teams face a wall of telemetry, alert fatigue, and a skills shortage that turns noise into blind spots.
• Insurance adds pressure. More policies now require EDR/XDR, but running these tools well is critical for coverage to hold after a breach.

Why managed detection and response (MDR) is winning

• MDR pairs best-in-class tools with expert operators.
• Benefits include 24/7 monitoring, proactive threat hunting, rapid detection and containment, and structured remediation.
• It reduces dwell time and risk while easing compliance and insurance requirements. For example, ESET reports mean time to detect under 1 minute and mean time to respond under 6 minutes.

Reality check

• You don’t know you’re safe until you observe what’s inside your environment. Are you looking continuously?
• DIY EDR/XDR without the right skills can create noise that hides attackers. Do you have the expertise to separate signal from noise?
• In-house MTTD/MTTR is typically far slower than specialized providers. Do you know your numbers?
• Building and staffing a 24/7 SOC is expensive and slow. Is it realistic for your budget and timeline?
• MDR via MSPs/MSSPs scales to any organization size—even a single employee—bringing enterprise-grade protection within reach.

Bottom line
Assume a pre-breach state and act accordingly. Prioritize visibility, reduce dwell time, and resolve uncertainty with expert-led detection and response. That’s how you move from quantum uncertainty to measurable resilience.

Source: WeLiveSecurity