MSSP Security Delivery Benchmark 2026: Definitions and Methodology

Reviewed by ContraForce Security Operations Team · Updated 2026-08-12

The ContraForce MSSP Security Delivery Benchmark defines how ContraForce measures incident response speed, automation, ticket reduction, time to value, and delivery margin. The current figures are aggregated product telemetry and customer-reported operational outcomes. They are not an independent industry benchmark, and they should be interpreted with the scope and limitations below.

What this methodology covers

The measurement model follows the operational chain from incident creation to a delivered customer outcome:

An incident becomes available to ContraForce from a connected security control.
A Security Delivery Agent begins triage and investigation.
The agent gathers evidence and reaches a verdict within the configured Gamebook.
Permitted response actions run automatically or stop at a human approval gate.
The platform updates the system of record and preserves the investigation evidence.

This is a product-performance measurement. It does not measure the detection efficacy of Microsoft Defender XDR, Microsoft Sentinel, SentinelOne, CrowdStrike, or another connected control.

Metric definitions

Metric	Definition	Important limitation
Mean time to response	Mean elapsed time from incident availability in ContraForce to the first completed response outcome recorded by the agent	Different from containment time and recovery time
Automated triage and investigation	Share of eligible incidents for which the configured agent completes triage and investigation without an analyst performing those steps	Eligibility depends on integration coverage and Gamebook configuration
Ticket reduction	Reduction in incidents that require a new analyst-owned ticket compared with the provider's previous workflow	Baselines vary by provider and ticketing policy
Automated close rate	Share of eligible incidents closed by policy without analyst intervention	Applies only where customers have enabled the relevant autonomy level
Time to value	Time from completing a supported tenant connection to the first agent beginning work on an eligible incident	Excludes procurement, customer consent, and third-party licensing work
Margin expansion	Change in service gross margin reported by participating providers after deploying ContraForce	Influenced by pricing, labor cost, alert mix, and customer packaging

Current product telemetry

ContraForce currently publishes the following directional figures:

140-second mean time to response on a new incident
100% automated triage and investigation for eligible incidents
Approximately 85% reduction in tickets reaching an analyst
95% or greater automated close rate among top providers that enable the applicable policies
Approximately 10 minutes from a completed tenant connection to agents being ready to work eligible incidents
30% or greater margin expansion reported by participating managed security providers during the first quarter

These figures describe different populations. They must not be combined into a single universal outcome, and no result is guaranteed for a particular customer.

Data-quality rules

The public claim set follows five rules:

Stable event boundaries. A timing metric must identify its starting and ending event.
Eligible population. Automation rates include only incidents supported by the connected integration and an active Gamebook.
No silent denominator changes. If eligibility rules change, the metric begins a new version.
Customer outcomes are labeled. Margin and ticketing figures remain customer-reported outcomes unless directly computed from product events.
Claims expire. Commercial pages must link here and receive a documented review when the claim definition, population, or value changes.

What is not yet published

ContraForce does not currently publish tenant counts, incident sample sizes, distribution percentiles, confidence intervals, or customer-level datasets. Those details require privacy review and a repeatable anonymization process. Until they are available, the figures above should be treated as directional ContraForce telemetry rather than peer-reviewed or independently verified statistics.

Interpreting response metrics

NIST's current incident-response guidance treats response as part of broader cybersecurity risk management rather than a single speed number. Buyers should therefore evaluate response quality, evidence, approvals, containment authority, recovery coordination, and continuous improvement alongside elapsed time. See NIST SP 800-61 Revision 3.

Review cadence

The ContraForce Security Operations Team reviews this methodology quarterly and whenever a published claim changes. Comparison and resource pages should cite this page for ContraForce telemetry and cite vendor or standards documentation for third-party capabilities.

Questions to ask about any security benchmark

What events start and stop the clock?
Which incidents are eligible or excluded?
Is the value a mean, median, percentile, or best-case example?
Does automation mean a recommendation, an investigation, a response action, or closure?
Who supplied the data and who verified it?
Are the population size and measurement window disclosed?
Can the buyer reproduce the measurement in a proof of value?

Use these questions during evaluation and require the same standard from ContraForce and every other vendor.

Sources and review method

Product capabilities were reviewed against primary sources on 2026-08-12. ContraForce performance figures are product telemetry, not independent industry benchmarks.