Security Operations Tools
Mean Time to Detect Calculator
Enter security event count and sum of detection times to compute mean time to detect, dwell time, and benchmark against industry averages.
No data is transmitted — everything runs locallyTool
Example — 10 detected events · 250h total · 2 missed incidents
MTTD
25.0 hours
avg across 10 detected events
vs industry avg
✓ Better than 21d avg
IBM Cost of Breach 2023
Detection rate
83%
2 missed incidents
Missed incident risk
⚠ Improve detection coverage
About this tool
Mean Time to Detect Calculator
The Mean Time to Detect Calculator computes MTTD, dwell time, and detection rate from event data with IBM industry average benchmarks.
• Calculate MTTD for a quarterly security metrics report
• Benchmark current MTTD against the IBM 21-day industry average
• Track MTTD improvement trend from a detection engineering investment
• Identify whether MTTD is within target for a security SLO
Affiliate disclosure
Uptime, incident, and on-call management. Better Stack provides status pages, incident management, and on-call scheduling for engineering teams.
View detection with Better Stack
External site · Independent provider · We may receive a commission · Not a recommendation
FAQ
What does this tool tell you?
The Mean Time to Detect Calculator computes MTTD, dwell time, and detection rate from event data with IBM industry average benchmarks.
What affects the result most?
MTTD: time from attacker action to detection — industry average 21 days (IBM Cost of Data Breach 2023). MTTR for security: time from detection to full remediation — separate from MTTD. Dwell time: MTTD when measured from initial compromise — longer dwell = more damage.
How should I use the result?
The calculation is deterministic — the same inputs always produce the same output — so the most useful workflow is to vary one input at a time and see which factor moves the result most. That tells you where to focus your attention before committing to a decision.