Hackers Don't Sleep. Neither Should Your Defense

Sophos' Sunil Sharma on Why Faster Response Defines Modern Security Geetha Nandikotkur (AsiaSecEditor) • May 11, 2026

Threat actors now use artificial intelligence to accelerate reconnaissance, identify weak points and launch industry-specific attacks, forcing enterprises to strengthen detection and response capabilities beyond traditional security operations, said Sunil Sharma, managing director and vice president of sales for India and SAARC at Sophos.

See Also: AI Turning Tool Sprawl Into an Attack Surface

Speed is now the defining variable in cyber defense. With AI, the time to exploitation has been "reduced to six hours, eight hours and 12 hours. Hence, the response has to be in minutes rather than in hours," Sharma said.

That urgency is what managed detection and response, or MDR, is built to answer. Sophos' MDR capability aims to deliver investigation within 25 minutes and response within 30 minutes, covering the full cycle from detection to action, he said.

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