WatchGuard MITRE ER7 Insights: Full Visibility, Prevention & Zero Friction
Every year, security teams and MSPs look to the MITRE ATT&CK Evaluations for one thing: clarity. Not marketing, but a transparent view of how endpoint products behave under real adversary tactics.
MITRE ATT&CK Evaluations Enterprise Round 7 (MITRE ER7) is no exception. In the Windows “Hermes” scenario, modeled after Mustang Panda activity, the data shows how WatchGuard delivers strong, reliable protection with lower operational burden for security teams and MSPs. WatchGuard’s results confirm that the WatchGuard Endpoint Security portfolio delivers strong, reliable protection with low operational burden for security teams and MSPs.
MITRE Does Not Name Winners. It Provides Truth.
These evaluations are not rankings. MITRE publishes detections, analytic depth, prevention results, and blocks on legitimate activity, as well as alert volume, side by side, so anyone can examine how tools behave under pressure.
For security teams and MSPs, that transparency is invaluable. It cuts through claims and shows real behavior.
MITRE ER7 focuses on the questions every security leader cares about:
- How much of the attack does the product see?
- Does it stop malicious activity early and cleanly?
- How many alerts does it generate for the team?
- Does it detect legitimate business activity as malicious?
WatchGuard Shines in MITRE ER7
After reviewing the full MITRE ER7 data set, one conclusion is clear. Whether you are an MSP managing many customers or a security team protecting a single environment, the results strongly reinforce the value of WatchGuard Endpoint Security. Three findings stand out:
- 100% Attack Visibility: In the MITRE ER7 Windows scenario, all steps were captured in all runs and 27 of 28 sub-steps were identified*. This provides full visibility into every attacker’s path. No blind spots and no guesswork. Analysts see the entire story enriched with tactics, techniques and correlated signals as incidents unfold.
*Results from MITRE Detection Evaluations with configuration changes in the Windows scenario. - 100% Threat Prevention: In the protection phase of MITRE ER7, WatchGuard stopped all malicious actions at the earliest stage. The attack never progressed and legitimate processes were not interrupted. This is full prevention that protects without slowing the business.
- Zero Operational Friction: MITRE ER7 includes benign business activity and detailed alert reporting that reveal how much noise a tool creates during an attack. These signals show where solutions generate unnecessary alerts, detect legitimate activity as malicious or force analysts to stitch clues together without a meaningful view of the attack.
In MITRE ER7, WatchGuard did not block the benign activity created to emulate normal organizational workflows. Only three high-fidelity alerts were needed to detect the full attack, and all signals were correlated into just three incidents that explain the attack from start to finish.
No noise, no unnecessary tickets, no added burden for analysts.
Why This Matters
Different audiences, same takeaway.
If you are an MSP
Full attack visibility means fewer surprises and faster triage across multiple tenants. Strong, consistent prevention means fewer escalations and fewer incidents that turn into late-night emergencies. Low alert volume, contextualized incidents through correlated signals, and zero benign activity blocks keep workloads predictable, allowing you to scale customers without increasing operational strain. These three outcomes directly protect your margins and improve service quality.
If you’re an internal security team
Full attack visibility means no blind spots and a faster understanding of what is really happening in your environment. Strong, consistent prevention keeps threats from turning into outages or headline incidents. Low alert volume, contextualized incidents, and zero benign activity blocks reduce noise and tickets, allowing your team to focus on strategic work instead of firefighting.
Your Next Step: See the Data for Yourself
We have analyzed the full MITRE ER7 data set and distilled it into clear, practical resources you can use. Visit our MITRE ER7 web page to explore the results, understand the evaluation, and see how real attack scenarios turn into clear, measurable security outcomes.
Explore WatchGuard Endpoint Security
To explore the implications of these results in greater detail, visit our Endpoint Security page. There you will find how WatchGuard delivers strong protection, full visibility, and low noise across real customer environments.
Learn Why Efficiency Matters
You can also visit our Endpoint Security Efficiency blog series, where we break down how superior security and minimal operational friction work together. These posts explain how we reduce analyst workload, cut noise, and deliver protection that stays out of the way while keeping organizations safe.