Modern enterprises have plenty of security tools. However, most still lack visibility that matches how cloud, SaaS, identity, and AI systems actually behave.
Real Cloud Detection & Response (CDR) platforms exist to close that gap (Read the 10 capabilities a real CDR platform must have here).
But not all CDR platforms are built for the same reality. Some are posture tools with alerts. Others are legacy detections wrapped in cloud branding.
This checklist is designed to help you step past mere feature lists and evaluate CDR vendors based on real operational needs.
Use it to pressure-test whether a platform can actually reduce impact.
1. Deployment Model: Can It See the Whole System?
Checklist
☐ Agentless-first visibility across cloud control planes and SaaS
☐ Ability to ingest telemetry from existing EDR agents (no new agent sprawl)
☐ Coverage for SaaS, serverless, and identity providers where agents can’t run
Why it matters for CDR platforms to see across systems
Modern attacks don’t live on endpoints. They move through APIs, tokens, roles, and permissions. If a vendor’s visibility stops where agents stop, attackers have already won.
2. Visibility Coverage: Are There Any Blind Spots?
Checklist
☐ Multi-cloud visibility (AWS, Azure, GCP)
☐ Identity telemetry across IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS (Okta, M365, Salesforce)
☐ Workload coverage: VMs, containers, serverless, ephemeral instances
☐ Storage, database, and API activity visibility
☐ Networking logs and configuration changes
Why it matters for CDR platforms to have complete visibility
Attackers exploit gaps between systems. A CDR that can’t correlate identity, SaaS, and cloud control planes is watching fragments and not attacks.
3. Detection Philosophy: Does AI Reduce Noise or Add Hype?
Checklist
☐ AI-driven triage that investigates signals before analysts see them
☐ Cross-domain correlation (identity + runtime + configuration + API)
☐ Automatic attack path reconstruction
☐ Machine-speed detection that scales with cloud velocity
Why it matters for AI to functionally reduce noise
Analysts need clarity to support decisions, not alerts and raw signals that increase fatigue.
4. Identity Awareness: Is Identity Treated as the Perimeter?
Checklist
☐ Native identity event ingestion and analysis
☐ Detection of credential misuse and privilege escalation
☐ Visibility into identity chaining across SaaS → cloud → workloads
Why it matters for CDR platforms to include identity
In cloud environments, the network is irrelevant if attackers have valid credentials.
If identity telemetry isn’t central, detection is fundamentally incomplete.
5. AI Infrastructure Security: Does the Platform Understand AI Workloads?
Checklist
☐ Detection of prompt injection and jailbreaking attempts
☐ Monitoring for model tampering or unauthorized access
☐ Visibility into AI pipelines, training data, and hosted models
Why it matters for a CDR platform to understand AI systems
AI systems are becoming production infrastructure. A CDR blind to AI behavior won’t see attackers weaponizing it.
6. Response & Containment: Can It Act Without Breaking the Business?
Checklist
☐ Near-real-time response for compromised identities (token revocation, account suspension)
☐ Integration with SOAR and SOC workflows
☐ Context-preserving investigative pivots after containment
☐ Business-impact-aware response actions
Why it matters for CDR platforms to intelligently contain compromises
Fast response without context causes outages. Slow response causes breaches.
CDR must balance both.
7. Integration: Does It Strengthen Your Existing Stack?
Checklist
☐ Feeds enriched context into SIEM, EDR/XDR, and SOAR
☐ Supports investigation, forensics, audit, and threat hunting workflows
☐ Acts as an intelligence layer
Why it matters for a CDR platform to work with your existing investments
CDR should be the brain for cloud security, not another dashboard your team ignores.
8. Risk-Aware Prioritization: Does It Surface What Actually Matters?
Checklist
☐ Asset criticality awareness
☐ Blast-radius and attacker-accessibility analysis
☐ Clear prioritization of the “critical few” incidents
Why it matters for CDR to prioritize based on risk factors
Cloud environments generate endless anomalies. Only a few represent real business risk.
9. Forensic Readiness & Hunting: Can You Investigate on Your Terms?
Checklist
☐ Long-term data retention independent of native cloud limits
☐ Unified audit trails across cloud, identity, and workloads
☐ Threat-hunting capability with custom queries and pivots
☐ Post-incident reporting that feeds detection improvement
Why it matters for your CDR to enable and enrich investigations
Alert-only tools answer what happened. CDR should answer how, why, and what to change next.
10. Real-World Performance: Can It Scale in Production?
Checklist
☐ Proven enterprise deployments across large, distributed environments
☐ Predictable telemetry ingestion and storage costs
☐ Deep vendor expertise in cloud investigations
☐ Roadmap alignment with emerging threats (AI-driven SaaS abuse)
Why it matters for your CDR to work at every scale
Demos are controlled environments.
Attackers aren’t.
Final Lens: How to Make the Decision
Don’t choose a CDR platform by counting features.
Choose it by asking one question: Does this platform measurably reduce time-to-detect, time-to-respond, and blast radius across our most critical cloud, SaaS, and identity paths?
The real role of CDR isn’t to prevent attackers from entering.
It’s to ensure that when they do, they leave with nothing.
LAST UPDATED:
January 22, 2026
Take the next step in choosing the right CDR platform
If you’re ready to strengthen your cloud security program, start by checking of all the boxes of a real Cloud Detection and Response platform. Mitiga’s AI-native platform gives your team the panoramic awareness, attack decoding, and containment needed for true cyber resilience.
Let them come.
We’ll help you make sure they get nothing.
