Northwave vs Secureworks
Northwave and Secureworks are both Services firms that work with your existing tools. Northwave targets Mid-market and Enterprise organizations, while Secureworks serves Mid-market and Enterprise. Northwave includes 2 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint, Network), compared to 4 for Secureworks (Endpoint, Cloud, Identity, Network).
Buyer brief
Northwave and Secureworks are both Services firms that work with your existing tools. Northwave targets Mid-market and Enterprise organizations, while Secureworks serves Mid-market and Enterprise. Northwave includes 2 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint, Network), compared to 4 for Secureworks (Endpoint, Cloud, Identity, Network).
Secureworks offers broader coverage (4 surfaces vs. 2). Northwave may suit teams that need depth over breadth.
At a glance
| FIELD |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Best fit | Benelux, DACH and Nordic buyers that want European MDR with a Utrecht SOC | Enterprise organizations wanting open XDR with existing CrowdStrike, Defender, SentinelOne, or Carbon Black EDR |
| Price | Custom quote | Buyer benchmark: median $91,350/yr |
| Response authority | 1/6 actions · Configurable | 4/6 actions · Configurable |
| Stack | Works with existing stack | Works with existing stack |
| Data access | Dashboards | Full query access |
| Warranty | None listed | None listed |
- Best fit
- Benelux, DACH and Nordic buyers that want European MDR with a Utrecht SOC
- Price
- Custom quote
- Response authority
- 1/6 actions · Configurable
- Stack
- Works with existing stack
- Data access
- Dashboards
- Warranty
- None listed
- Best fit
- Enterprise organizations wanting open XDR with existing CrowdStrike, Defender, SentinelOne, or Carbon Black EDR
- Price
- Buyer benchmark: median $91,350/yr
- Response authority
- 4/6 actions · Configurable
- Stack
- Works with existing stack
- Data access
- Full query access
- Warranty
- None listed
›› Detailed comparison
| FIELD | NorthwaveTECH-AGNOSTIC | SecureworksTECH-AGNOSTIC |
|---|---|---|
| ›› Fit | ||
| Target size | Mid-market, Enterprise | Mid-market, Enterprise |
| Sentiment | Mixed | Mixed |
| ›› Your stack | ||
| Approach | Works with your tools | Works with your tools |
| EDR integrations | Customer endpoint telemetry | CrowdStrike Falcon InsightMicrosoft Defender for EndpointSentinelOneVMware Carbon Black (Cloud & Enterprise)Sophos EndpointTaegis Endpoint Agent (native) |
| SIEM integrations | Customer log sources | Taegis XDR (native Next-Gen SIEM) |
| Coverage | EPEndpoint: CoveredCloudCloud: LimitedIDIdentity: LimitedSaaSSaaS: Not coveredNetNetwork: CoveredOTOT/IoT: Optional add-on | EPEndpoint: CoveredCloudCloud: CoveredIDIdentity: CoveredSaaSSaaS: Optional add-onNetNetwork: CoveredOTOT/IoT: Optional add-on |
| ›› Response | ||
| Response type | Active Remediation | Active Remediation |
| Approval policy | Configurable | Configurable |
| Response actions | Custom playbooks | IsolateContainDisable accountsCustom playbooks |
| IR included | Separate | ✓ Included |
| ›› Cost | ||
| Price range | Not published | Third-party buyer data reports a $91,350/year median buyer cost for Secureworks, with a visible public range from $15,200 to $421,751/year. PeerSpot reviews also report MDR/MXDR annual deals around $60K-$320K+ depending on environment. |
| Minimum seats | None | None |
| Breach warranty | – | – |
| ›› More details | ||
| Requires own agent | No | No |
| Endpoints | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| Cloud workloads | ~ Limited | ✓ Included |
| Identity | ~ Limited | ✓ Included |
| SaaS apps | Not offered | + Optional |
| Network | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| OT/ICS | + Optional | + Optional |
| Threat hunting | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| Response SLA | Not disclosed | ≤1 hour |
| 24/7 coverage | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pricing model | Custom quote. Northwave does not publish MDR package pricing. | Per-endpoint pricing, custom/quote-based. Three tiers: MDR, MDR Plus, MDR Enhanced. |
| Hidden cost warnings | Public pages do not publish response SLAs or named default response actions.. Rapid Response is a separate related service, so buyers should confirm what incident-response support is included in base MDR.. Cloud, SaaS and identity coverage are not named as clearly as endpoint, log and network telemetry.. Detection tuning depends on onboarding log sources and threat-based use cases, which may affect deployment effort. | Sophos acquisition completed Feb 2025, Taegis integration into Sophos Central underway with long-term platform consolidation likely. ~6% workforce reduction (~380 roles) in Feb 2025 post-acquisition, verify analyst continuity. Per-endpoint pricing varies widely ($70-$170/endpoint reported), negotiate hard |
| Data portability | Partial | Partial |
| Contract terms | Custom | Annual, Multi-year |
| Channels | PortalEmailPhone | PortalEmailPhone |
| Data access | Dashboards | Full query access |
| Dedicated analyst | – | ✓ |
| SOC regions | Europe | North AmericaEuropeAsia-Pacific |
| Onboarding | Northwave says implementation starts with a plan covering service elements, phases, planning and threat-based use cases, then onboarding log sources and processes. No standard public onboarding duration was found. | 30-45 days typical |
| Industry focus | Financial ServicesHealthcareManufacturingLogisticsTechnologyPublic SectorCritical Infrastructure | Financial ServicesGovernmentHealthcareManufacturing / OTEducationRetailTechnology |
| MTTD | Not published | Not formally published. |
| MTTR | Not published | Not formally published. 60-minute investigation SLA from case initiation to customer notification (service-level credits apply). |
| Community view | Northwave has limited MDR-specific public review volume. The public buyer case rests on European delivery, Utrecht SOC operations and the connection between MDR, CERT, red team and threat research. Buyers should validate response authority, cloud and identity coverage, pricing and escalation rules before signing. | G2 4.6/5 (48 reviews). PeerSpot 7.8/10 (#2 MSSP, #15 MDR). Glassdoor 3.5/5 with 64% recommending. Taegis achieved 100% visibility and 95% detection in MITRE evaluation. Product quality respected, but organizational stability is the concern after Sophos acquisition and significant headcount losses. |
| Compliance | NIS2ISO 27001GDPRTISAX | ISO 27001SOC 2 Type IIFFIEC Examined (Technology Service Provider)FIPS 140-3HIPAA/HITRUSTPCI DSSGDPR |
| Certifications | – | ISO 27001 (ISMS for Taegis infrastructure, Schellman-certified)SOC 2 Type II (security, availability, confidentiality)FFIEC Examined as Technology Service Provider (annually)FIPS 140-3 encryption complianceCOBIT alignmentNIST SP800-53 alignment |
| Founded | 2006 | 1998 |
| Data retention | Not published as a standard MDR retention period. | 12 months standard included. Extendable up to 48 additional months for a fee. |
| API available | – | ✓ |
| Website | Visit → | Visit → |
›› FAQ
What is the main difference between Northwave and Secureworks?
Northwave is a Services firm that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). Secureworks is a Services firm that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). SLA commitments differ: Northwave offers Not disclosed, Secureworks offers ≤1 hour. Northwave covers 2 attack surfaces in base pricing vs. 4 for Secureworks.
How do Northwave and Secureworks differ in response capabilities?
Northwave supports 1 autonomous actions (custom playbooks) and approval is configurable. Secureworks supports 4 autonomous actions (account disable, custom playbooks, endpoint isolation, network containment) and approval is configurable. Incident response is not included with Northwave and included with Secureworks.
How does Northwave pricing compare to Secureworks?
Northwave pricing: Not published. Secureworks pricing: Third-party buyer data reports a $91,350/year median buyer cost for Secureworks, with a visible public range from $15,200 to $421,751/year. PeerSpot reviews also report MDR/MXDR annual deals around $60K-$320K+ depending on environment.. Watch for with Northwave: Public pages do not publish response SLAs or named default response actions.; Rapid Response is a separate related service, so buyers should confirm what incident-response support is included in base MDR.. Watch for with Secureworks: Sophos acquisition completed Feb 2025, Taegis integration into Sophos Central underway with long-term platform consolidation likely; ~6% workforce reduction (~380 roles) in Feb 2025 post-acquisition, verify analyst continuity.
Should I choose Northwave or Secureworks?
Choose Northwave if: benelux, DACH and Nordic buyers that want European MDR with a Utrecht SOC. Choose Secureworks if: enterprise organizations wanting open XDR with existing CrowdStrike, Defender, SentinelOne, or Carbon Black EDR. Northwave is not ideal for buyers that need public MDR pricing or response SLAs before engaging sales. Secureworks is not ideal for buyers concerned about organizational stability after Sophos acquisition and significant headcount losses.
Daylight Security
AI-native MDR for buyers comparing active remediation across endpoint, cloud, identity, and SaaS. Daylight works with existing EDR/SIEM stacks and uses ChatOps-native collaboration, so it can be a useful third reference point in this comparison.