Why Do Organizations Need A Managed Security Services Provider?
Today executives have become overwhelmed with exploding security budgets, threat of a breach, minimal understanding of what information security is all about and how it is best managed. This is one reason that more and more enterprises are turning to Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs), in order to gain security expertise and reduce the workload of their in-house security staff. It helps them empower their security organizations with people, processes, technology and secure their critical assets and data.
What is Managed Security Services?
Managed Security Services are a systematic approach to manage an organization’s security needs and administer their security process. The services are usually conducted in house or outsourced to a service provider (MSSP), typically via the cloud. Managed Security Service Providers facilitate a wide range of security services, starting from setting up infrastructure through security management, round-the-clock monitoring and management of intrusion detection systems and firewalls to performing security assessments, security audits and responding to emergencies. Some MSSPs specialize in certain areas, while others offer full outsourcing of organisational information security programs.
Some enterprises hire MSSPs to conduct security audits or respond to and investigate incidents, while others choose to work with them when there is a lack of in-house resources or expertise for certain areas of security or if there is a need for security monitoring and management outside of normal operating hours.
Benefits Of Hiring A Managed Security Service Provider
MSSPs allow managing security processes from an off-site location. This helps organisations to conduct businesses as usual with minimal intrusion due to security initiatives, while MSSP interface maintains a constant line of communication and seamless reporting to the business. They ensure that the organisation’s IT is always up-to-date with the status of security issues, audits, and maintenance. This enables the enterprises to focus on security governance rather than administrative tasks.
Today MSSPs offer a wide range of security services, ranging from full outsourcing of security programs to specialized services focusing on a specific component of the organisation’s security like data protection, management of network security tools or threat monitoring. Hiring a Managed Security Service Provider helps organisations with faster deployment times and improved time-to-value on security investments.
Why Do You Need to Hire A Managed Security Service Provider?
There has been an increase in the awareness of the need for proactive security measures, yet many organisations continue to ignore implementing sound security initiatives until they have suffered a loss due to a data breach. The frequency of cyber threats has grown exponentially, and it is crucial that organisations prioritize IT security. Whether an organization wants to expand their security capabilities or is lacking in security program maturity, Managed Security Service Providers are a valuable option:
- Managed security services provide continuous oversight, 24 x 7 x 365. Handling enterprise security in-house, without the help of an outsourced vendor, needs a large investment in technology and manpower.
- With cyberattacks evolving at an incredibly fast pace, there is always a risk of having a new threat after another. Without proper security tools and resources in place, recovering from incidents detected too late, keeping up with evolving threats and addressing them as they arise can consume substantial resources.
- Most of the MSSPs operate worldwide and their focus on monitoring the threat landscape signifies that they often have a distinct advantage over organisations with a core business function unrelated to security and technology. This means that MSSPs specialize in early threat detection and protection. Therefore, hiring an MSSP allows the organisations to focus on core business activities, while leaving security concerns to the experts.
Neumetric, a cyber security services, consulting & products organization, suggests that there are many other advantages of hiring an MSSP, like these vendors can perform security scans routinely, conduct vulnerability and penetration testing, freeing up enterprise IT to shift their focus to security program oversight, take care of other security management functions for the enterprise, and also handle other activities that advance enterprise goals.
Best Practices To Hire A Managed Security Service Provider
Today, there are a wide range of managed security services and MSSPs in the market, and therefore it is crucial to identify your organization’s needs and engage the best MSSP to address them. Before evaluating a service provider, IT and security teams should carefully plan around which functions need to be outsourced. Second step is to meet the business unit leaders and management to determine the budget and processes that would be required for the partnership. Once the organization has mapped out all the requirements, you should research your potential options and create a short list of vendors to engage for an evaluation. Most importantly, you must meet the vendors and check for customer references before you decide on hiring an MSSP for your business needs.
