What is an outsourced security services provider?
Outsourced cybersecurity services are managed by an external organization that engages and coordinates with a business to mitigate cyber threats through 24-7 prevention, detection, and monitoring.
Cyberattacks are becoming more advanced through social engineering or artificial intelligence methods that can easily bypass conventional security mechanisms. Traditionally, organizations used IT teams that were multidisciplinary to manage a vast number of tasks across the business.
In today’s digital world, companies are moving more to cloud-based services, using smartphones, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and the Internet of Things (IoT) while having to accommodate employees who work from remote locations.
It can be a daunting operation for an IT team to oversee. This role is transforming to providing a fully-managed business solution that lays down the business’s security foundations, keeps abreast of cyber risks, and effectively ensures the business is always secure.
Why is it necessary for businesses and industries to protect against cyber threats, in general?
Cybersecurity encompasses the protection of sensitive company data, personally identifiable information, health information, employees’ personal information, financial data, intellectual property, and government and industry information from damage and theft by criminals.
Weak security configuration of networks and cloud services are easy targets for sophisticated cyber rogues. It is no longer sufficient to use basic firewalls and general antivirus programs as the primary measures for cybersecurity.
Risks exist at every level of an organization and if staff are not properly trained against the potential scams they can be exposed to, the inevitability of a security breach costs an organization millions and irreversible damage to their reputation within the industry and with their consumers. Therefore, it is critical to find a security team like Clearnetwork that you can trust in intrusion prevention.
How outsourced security services adds value to businesses
Managed cybersecurity services such as cloud security monitoring protects and recovers networks, devices, programs, and data from any form of cyberattack. They are focused on an organization’s security and have the right expertise, experience, and capacity to execute effective measures against any cyber threat.
There are several ways in which partnering with an outsourced security provider can add value to any organization.
Cost Savings
While outsourcing security services comes at a monthly or annual fee, it saves the business money in other ways. Having to employ the right specialists to build an in-house team, keep them skilled up, as well as purchasing the required cybersecurity programs is an expensive exercise and ongoing cost.
If individuals do not perform as expected, or go on vacation or get sick without sufficient backup plans, it can increase the business risk and additional cost.
Manage Risks
Vetting employees who have administrative access to a company’s network is crucial but not always successful when done in-house. These employees need to be trusted, reliable, properly trained, and mentally and emotionally stable. If an employee develops a grudge at work or goes through personal issues at home, it can trigger malicious behavior that could be disastrous for the company.
External security services scrutinize their employees in order to build a highly-reputable team that has the highest standards.
Security Expertise
An outsourced provider offers the best in their security knowledge through a team of experts who are at the forefront of ever-changing cybersecurity threats and defense. They have specific expertise and proficiency in VPN configurations, firewalls, DDoS attacks (distributed denial of service), and vulnerability scanning across on-site and remote devices while immediately responding to potential threats and active breaches.
24-7 Customer Support
An external cybersecurity company provides real-time security monitoring and reporting 24-hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. This is crucial because it is not possible to predict when or where a cyberattack will occur. Companies can discuss and sign service level agreements with security providers that suit the business’s needs to always guarantee full network protection regardless of the time of day or year.
Compliance
A wave of regulations has come into play as a safeguard against data protection, which are often changed and updated, such as GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards), and HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act).
There are also country- and region-specific laws around data protection like CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act), Canada’s PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents), Brazil’s LGPD, and many more that need to be considered to ensure businesses are meeting the requirements. Cybersecurity companies fully understand what needs to be implemented to manage risk and compliance on a daily basis.
Scalability
As businesses grow, so does the network and the number of connected users increasing the efforts for technical support. Outsourcing security services offers greater flexibility around an organization’s growing or changing needs. Outsourced providers easily adapt to a company’s transition without the business having to incur additional costs to manage increasing security measures.
Better Focus for the Core Business
When companies know their security is well-managed through outsourced cyber solutions, it allows better focus, management, and investment on core business activities. Resources can be concentrated in areas where they add the most value without the added concern of trying to keep the network and its users safe from cyberattacks.
Conclusion
Using outsourced security service is becoming prevalent as organizations move to building more robust security capabilities. Outsourcing a business’s security services requires careful selection, planning, and management but will offer many opportunities in reducing costs and risks while increasing the quality of security architecture and offer better use of company resources.
Businesses can decide on the level of involvement external providers have in security management. So, while the work is the responsibility of the outsourced party, the business has full control and transparency of their interaction.
