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What are Managed Cybersecurity Services?
With rising cybersecurity threats, more businesses are opting to offload their cybersecurity services to third parties. Known as managed cybersecurity services, this vendor-provided security as a service is a better value than attempting to build an in-house cybersecurity team.
Outsourcing cybersecurity services is becoming increasingly common, with 83% of IT leaders outsourcing some part of their cybersecurity to a managed services provider. The cost of hiring in-house staff combined with the risk of laying cybersecurity on an existing employee with other duties leaves outsourcing as the most attractive option for many businesses.
Are managed services right for you? Let’s find out.
What are Cybersecurity Services?
Many businesses simply don’t think about cybersecurity. For one reason or another, they think that cybersecurity threats wouldn’t target them. Whether they think they’re too small or their data not valuable, they incorrectly think they have nothing to fear.
But cyber attackers target businesses of all sizes and types. Some businesses do consider cybersecurity, but only to the extent that they buy tools that are marketed as secure. But information security, disaster recovery, and threat detection and response are all processes that require trained employees and dedicated managers to execute.
An appropriate cybersecurity strategy involves dedicated staff to manage the day-to-day cybersecurity affairs of the organization. Someone needs to be monitoring your network and responding to threats in real time to limit the impact of data breaches and other cyber threats.
With the global nature of the internet, breaches can happen at any time. Without constant monitoring and threat response, your data can be stolen and your systems shut down.
Cybersecurity Consulting: Supporting an Independent Strategy
One route some businesses go is to build an in-house cybersecurity team and consult with outside vendors when it’s time to upgrade or expand. This can be a good option for larger organizations with especially sensitive or complex IT infrastructure.
Often the task of a cybersecurity service provider (CSSP), your cybersecurity consultant will help you configure your network security, build out your toolkit, and develop your threat intelligence.
Some businesses forgo an in-house team but need a cybersecurity consulting company to help them set up their cybersecurity tools. Though this route is probably the most cost effective as far as outsourcing goes, it’s also the least secure.
Without someone to monitor your networks 24/7 and keep your systems up to date, you leave yourself vulnerable to cyber attacks. What you may be saving in cybersecurity professionals, you lose in the event of a breach.
The costs of a breach can add up. In addition to the possibility of directly stolen funds, you may be extorted into retrieving data or IT systems. You may have legal fees or damages to pay. Then there’s the cost of a forensic audit to find out how the breach happened. This is definitely not cheap.
The drawback with building an in-house team, however, is that cybersecurity professionals aren’t cheap. Most businesses can’t afford to run a security operations center (SOC) to monitor company networks and respond to cybersecurity threats.
Learn about Foresite's suite of cybersecurity solutions:
Security as a Service
Another route businesses take is to hire one or a small number of cybersecurity professionals to manage strategy and resources while outsourcing monitoring and response to a managed security operations center. This can be a cost-effective way of managing cybersecurity.
The security as a service model gives businesses the control of an inhouse cybersecurity team while not bogging them down with mundane monitoring and threat management tasks. This frees your team up to develop your threat intelligence, build out your toolkit, and reconfigure your network security.
One drawback to this co-managed security services model is that there can sometimes be a disconnect between the in-house team and the managed services team. An outsourced security operation center needs to be flexible and willing to take direction in order to function as an auxiliary to your cybersecurity team.
Turning to a Managed Cybersecurity Services Provider
Given the risks and costs inherent in attempting a co-managed services relationship, some turn to a managed cybersecurity services provider. Often shortened to managed security service provider (MSSP), they handle your entire security operation for you.
Since most small and medium businesses can’t afford to build an in-house cybersecurity team or manage coordination between an in-house team and outsourced services, it makes sense to turn to cybersecurity managed services. An MSSP can get you the cybersecurity coverage you need for a price far less than the cost of even one cybersecurity staff member.
With the technological advances in every industry, issues like cloud security, data loss prevention, software as a service patching, and security for the internet of things become vital concerns for any business of any size. An MSSP is an excellent choice for any business looking to keep up with cybersecurity best practices without having to partially become a cybersecurity services company itself.
With average data breach cost estimates ranging from $120,000 to $1.24 million for small businesses and $3.92 million overall, the cost of managed cybersecurity services is a huge bargain. You simply can’t afford to take a chance with cybersecurity.
Choose Foresite for Your Managed Cybersecurity Services Needs
- IT security services
- Cloud security services
- Encryption and monitoring of protected data
- Real time detection and alerting of security events
- Network security configuration and protection
- Patch management
- Updated threat intelligence and best practices
- A full-service SOC
Our proprietary ProVision software is an essential part of our security package that locally monitors your network endpoints and automatically responds to security threats.
Our systems support 2,156 software applications for patching. Because of ProVision’s customizability, our approach is never one-size-fits-all. Dashboards and reports will be tailored to the security needs of your particular business based on the criticality of particular technology to your operations.
Even small businesses on a tight budget can afford the robust service offering from Foresite with our flexible pricing options. Managing security is not what your business does, so why should you try to handle it yourself? Let Foresite manage your security profile and you can focus on growing your business.
Interested in learning how Foresite can help your business stay secure? Contact us today for a quote or to learn more.
Tristin Zeman
Tristin Zeman is the Digital Marketing Manager at Foresite. For the past 10 years, she has helped organizations of all sizes create and scale marketing programs through digital and traditional marketing channels and efficient marketing operations.
